IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir paid a special visit on Tuesday to the Yeruham Hesder Yeshiva, where he met with the yeshiva rabbis and the Hesder Yeshiva Association officials, was told about the yeshiva's ten students and alumni who fell in the war, and spoke with wounded soldiers who returned from the battlefield.
The military chief later entered the yeshiva study hall and addressed the students. During the address, after hearing about one of the yeshiva's wounded soldiers who shouted "Shema Yisrael" before losing consciousness, Zamir chose to share a personal story about his grandfather, Aharon, who immigrated from Yemen as a child, resided in the Kerem HaTeimanim neighborhood in Tel Aviv, and fought in the Irgun underground.
"My grandfather made aliyah from Yemen when he was five, on a long journey on foot, on his father's shoulders. He was a fighter in the underground and during the War of Independence partook in the Battle of Negba," Zamir shared. He said that during the battle, his grandfather found himself in a face-to-face battle with an Egyptian soldier who stabbed him in the stomach. "Seconds before losing consciousness, he shouted 'Shema Yisrael,' and with his last remaining strength, pulled the knife out of his stomach."
Zamir said that the story of the wounded student immediately sent him back to the story he heard as a child: "This story about 'Shema Yisrael,' a minute before he fainted, accompanies me to this day. When I heard you say that, I was moved. 'Shema Yisrael,' which is so meaningful to every Jew, this faith, even in the toughest times, I think accompanies all of us."
Zamir also connected his family story to the significance of spirit in military service and stressed the importance of Torah study for the IDF's power. "I do not doubt that part of the strength of our spirit is the connection to our Torah. The Torah intensifies and strengthens the spirit. I see great value in Torah study and strengthening the spirit. The IDF's strength is the multiplication of physical and spiritual strength; just one is not enough. What comes out of these study halls is the nation of Israel's power and leadership. We need this leadership."
