Even for unintentional error, atonement is needed

Thirty years have passed since Dani Moshitz, David (Didi) Cohen and Baruch Stern fell in Lebanon in 1985, and we came together with their families to let them know we had not forgotten. Dani and Didi will remain 20 years old forever, while we have moved on, with children and some of us even with grandchildren.

Many of the men came to pay tribute and share their memories — some were like old photographs that I had seen many times, but some were new. One caught me by surprise.

It was Erev Pesach and Baruch Stern was supposed to be getting out and making it home for Seder. He was actually finishing his army service and would have been done, but he volunteered to stay in Lebanon for the Seder so someone else could make it home — after all, come Sunday, Baruch would have as many weekends at home as he liked. But alas, it was not to be.

That morning while on patrol, a Hezbollah terrorist set off a massive roadside bomb whose blast threw Baruch into the air. When the medics got to him seconds later he did not appear to be seriously injured. However, when Company Commander Yaakov Rachimi arrived, he objected to the chief medic’s decision to evacuate him in an armored personnel carrier, insisting instead on calling in a helicopter evacuation. After some argument, a chopper was summonded and it flew Baruch to Rambam hospital, but byy the time he arrived his situation had deteriorated and he fell into a coma from which he never recovered. On the eve of Israeli Independence Day, the fifth of Iyar, he succumbed to his wounds.

Doctors would later say the few minutes that delayed the helicopter evacuation might have made all the difference. A simple mistake, a few moments, a boy’s life; Thirty years later, it’s hard to hold anyone accountable for mistakes made under such intense pressures. And yet, someone made a terrible mistake.

Do we hold ourselves accountable for the mistakes we make in life, or do we learn to let go of honest mistakes, recognizing we are far from perfect, and always will be?

This week’s portion, Vayikra, begins the fascinating journey into the world of the biblical sacrifices.