A particularly powerful and moving moment was captured during a unity event organized by Nifgashim (“We’ll Meet"), when Rabbi Tamir Granot and Rachel Goldberg took the stage together and delivered a performance that deeply moved the audience.
Granot lost his son, Amitai Tzvi Granot, in combat in northern Israel, while Goldberg’s husband, Rabbi Avi Goldberg, was also killed in the war. Together, they performed “Shir Shel Abba" (“A Father’s Song"), one of the well-known songs by the late Naomi Shemer. Goldberg accompanied the singing on violin, and for long moments, it was clear that many in the audience were struggling to hold back tears.
Granot sang an additional refrain he wrote for the song, inspired by words his son, Amitai Granot, of blessed memory, wrote in his diary: “The most important thing in leadership in the army is to turn them from citizens into soldiers, so that they know they are soldiers. So that they know they are fighting for the construction of the Third Temple."
“If in battle you fought, young man, and you won, forever. You gave your heart, young man, for our lives, with the world," Granot sang. “Not in vain, your sons fell, not in vain, all of them. Because from these heroes, the people will be built. It will be built, it will be built, the people!"