Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, head of the Ethics Center at the Tzohar rabbinical organization and a former deputy company commander who fought on the outskirts of the Sultan Yaqub battle, spoke with Arutz Sheva - Israel National News following the IDF's announcement that the remains of Yehuda Katz, the last soldier missing from the battle, had been identified after approximately 44 years.
"Missing persons are the worst thing for families, for the circle of friends, and for everyone around the missing person," Rabbi Cherlow said. "This situation, where you don't know what happened, with a flicker of hope and despair, this is the most terrible reality that there is."
He said the identification of Katz's remains provides a measure of comfort to his family. "There is a certain measure of comfort in the fact that the bones were found and will be transferred for burial at the Israeli cemetery. There is a combination of personal feelings and spiritual significance. This is definitely a day on which great pain is awakened anew, alongside great consolation, as well as sorrow that the parents did not merit to reach this moment."
Rabbi Cherlow also stressed the significance of knowing that soldiers who go missing in battle will not be forgotten. "The fact that a soldier knows they will not forget him, that he will not disappear; that every effort will be made to bring him back, is part of the motivation for the war. Last Shabbat, we read in the weekly Torah portion about the importance of mental calm in the battlefield, in other contexts, and this is how we see that both the feelings and the Halakhic worlds and sources come together in this issue."
Yehuda Katz was the last soldier from the Sultan Yaqub battle whose fate remained unknown. His remains will now be brought to Israel for burial.