Acharei-mot Kedoshim: Sacrifices remembered

In the coming weeks we will read the portions of Acharei-Mot-Kedoshim which, translated literally, means “after the death of the holy ones,” a reference that is all too appropriate as we enter the period in the calendar which includes Yom HaShoah (Holocaust memorial) and Yom HaZikaron and Yom Ha’Atzmaut (Israel’s Memorial and Independence days). This column, a portion of which was originally published for Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmut in 2012, is dedicated to the blessed memory of those Israeli soldiers whose selfless sacrifice gave and gives us a State we can call our own.

His name was Chaim Avner. The name was familiar to me for a long time, but I never really knew who he was, until one year on Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s national Memorial Day. I had seen them before, but I never wanted to intrude.

Chaim is close to a very dear and old friend of mine — about as close as you can get; his grave lies next to Dani’s on Mount Herzl, Israel’s National Military Cemetery.

To me, Dani Moshitz of blessed memory will always be 20 years old, which is how old he was when he was killed in an ambush at the Kasmiyeh Bridge in Lebanon in 1985. He was killed two days after Chaim of blessed memory, who was 27 at the time. Chaim was doing a 16 day stint of reserve duty in Lebanon when a Hezbollah terrorist drove his car bomb into their safari truck, killing him, along with 11 other soldiers on patrol in Southern Lebanon.

Every year at Yeshivat Orayta on Yom Hazikaron, the thought of staying isolated in our study hall in the Old City of Jerusalem while the entire country gathers in her cemeteries and memorials to remember those who fell in defense of the State of Israel, conflicts with the equally strong desire not to allow such a holy day to pass without the study of Torah, which after all, is the reason we had a home to come back to after 2,000 years. So every year we study Torah together at the entrance of Mount Herzl Military Cemetery, after which many of the students join me at Dani’s grave to pay our respects.