Live broadcast: Gabi Newman
The funeral of Staff Sergeant Yehuda Yekutiel Katz began Friday morning at the Kerem B'Yavneh Hesder Yeshiva.
The remains of Katz, the last soldier missing from the Battle of Sultan Yacoub, was found and returned to Israel this week, 44 years after he fell.
His family, friends, the yeshiva's rabbis, alumni, and students gathered in the study hall where he had studied and from which he left to fight in the First Lebanon War. Eulogies were delivered in his memory.
Following the ceremony, the funeral procession departed the yeshiva for the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, where Katz will be laid to rest.
The Union of Hesder Yeshivas said: "For 44 years, Yehuda Yekutiel Katz, may G-d avenge his blood, was missing from his family, his friends, the Kerem B'Yavneh Yeshiva, and the entire Hesder Yeshiva community. Generations of students were born and grew up since that battle, but the prayers for his return never ceased.
"Yehuda embodied the fundamental principle upon which the Hesder Yeshiva world was built: the connection between the study hall and responsibility for the people and the Land; between dedication to Torah study and the willingness to leave the books behind at a moment's notice, put on a uniform, and go out to defend Israel. We embrace the Katz family, his friends, and the Kerem B'Yavneh Hesder Yeshiva family."
