Family, friends and fellow soldiers gathered to lay Sgt. Noam Hamburger to rest. The 23-year-old technology and maintenance combat soldier in Battalion 9 of the 401st Brigade was killed in a Hezbollah explosive drone strike in northern Israel over the weekend.
Lt. Col. Rotem Bornstein, commander of a unit in Battalion 9, paid tribute to Hamburger during the funeral ceremony.
“Throughout your service you regarded your work as a mission of utmost importance," Bornstein said. “In a month you were supposed to finish your mandatory service and continue into career service, but even in the final moments you performed your duties with love, devotion and in a way that inspires."
His sisters, Yuval, Adi and Roni, tearfully eulogized their brother, describing him as deeply principled and devoted to the country.
“Noam, our brother, how can you be summed up in a few seconds? How did we get to this situation?" they said. “We miss you so much. You were the most principled person, the best brother we could ask for. From the moment the war began you enlisted and did not stop. You chose your country, you chose the people, you chose to defend. We are so proud of you."
Earlier in the day, Hamburger’s mother spoke emotionally in an interview with Kan Reshet Bet, recalling the shock of losing her son.
“No one believes that something like this can happen," she said. “He enlisted into a war. He spent almost two and a half years inside Gaza. He fought and was proud. Recently they moved north, and like every mother here, every time he went in our hearts raced with fear."
“This time," she added, “we were calmer because he was at the base, and we did not imagine such a terrible scenario. And it really hurts the heart and is sad to a degree that’s hard to describe. And then boom, after 23 years of raising a child, suddenly he is no more."
She also described their final conversation before his death. “We spoke to him the day before and arranged that we would come to the outpost in Birnit for the holiday, and said we would bring the guys Shavuot foods that Noam loved so much. I called on video - like every time, because he is so missed here. He was a child with so much presence and charisma. He didn’t answer and that was suspicious. I started calling and he did not pick up, I started texting and he did not reply. Until the news arrived."
Remembering her son, she described him as kind, wise and independent. “Noam was as his name suggests - simply pleasantness. A good boy, kind-hearted, a good friend, a devoted son who was his mother’s child. I never heard the word ‘no’ from him. A smart child, so wise. I looked at him with admiration at how he would overcome every obstacle in life with a smile. I would be anxious from the side and he would tell me, ‘Mom, let me, I've got this.’ And he achieved everything."
“He was my best teacher in this life," she said. “Many times I wanted to intervene, and wanted to do, and wanted to say, and he would tell me, ‘Mom no, it’s mine.’ And I listened to him. He taught me so many life lessons, but this lesson - of how to live now without him - that I no longer know how to do. I hope someone teaches me how to do it."