Jerusalem – Father Of Murdered Soldier Speaks About Stepson

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    Jerusalem – Rabbi Eliyahu Merav, the stepfather of Yossi Cohen, one of the soldiers who fell in the shooting attack at the Givat Asaf junction earlier today, spoke to Channel 10 News about his son’s final words.

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    “Yossi was a beautiful and pure soul. He was on a mission. We sent him with great love,” the bereaved father told the news station. “When we sat at [our last] Shabbat meal and everyone thanked us for something, Yossi said, ‘I thank God that I have the right to protect the people of Israel with my body.'” Yossi was a pure soul, a devoted child who only wanted to help since he was a little boy, and G-d took him.”

    He said that he sent his son to serve in the Netzach Yehuda Battalion “with love, out of a sense of mission.”

    “I served in the IDF and became religious after the Yom Kippur War. I am an Israeli, I am the product of a crisis in secular Israeli society,” Rabbi Meirav said.” I understand that everyone has to live by his faith and values, but mutual respect must be preserved, this hatred must end. It is impossible to build a home and a state like this. Beyond all the arguments, why do we only meet after a bereavement and say ‘we are brothers?’ Let’s meet at celebrations.”

    “Yossi was an Israeli guy, a haredi man with a heart of gold who was dedicated to the glory of the people of Israel. Yossi wanted to be a dentist after the army and now he is guarding us from above,” the rabbi added with tears in his eyes.

    Yossi, is the biological son of Rabbi and Dr. Eitan Cohen z’l, who passed away in 2013 after a lengthy illness.

    Rabbi David Fuchs, a rabbi at the Nahal Haredi Organization, who was acquainted with the soldiers who fell today in the terrorist shooting near Givat Assaf, expresses in anguish: “They were such sweet boys, always wore smiles on their faces. Their friends loved and admired them; they were friends with everyone. I saw them today, just a half-hour before the attack. They were in the midst of guarding the station as I passed by them in my car on my way to deliver Torah lectures in pillboxes, but I didn’t want to stop to avoid disturbing them. To hear that guys like that, boys who were so full of energy, happy, upbeat, have fallen is indescribably painful. I met now with their friends; everyone is in terrible shock. The anguish causes them to focus now even more intensely on their duties. The residents of the settlement where they fell loved them and shared a close relationship with them.”

    Rabbi Tzvi Klebanow, President of the Nahal Haredi Organization, which accompanies Haredi soldiers throughout their army service, adds, “We are terribly pained by the tragic news of the death of our precious soldiers, and we express our sincere condolences to the bereaved families and friends. In the upcoming days, we will increase and reinforce our activities with the soldiers in the brigade in order to encourage, strengthen and support them during these difficult hours. We likewise join the nation in collective prayer for the full recovery of our wounded soldier.”


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    2 Comments
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    lazy-boy
    Active Member
    lazy-boy
    5 years ago

    bd”e

    BoruchH
    BoruchH
    5 years ago

    I read some news and it said that the two terrorists got out of the car and approached the hitchhiking station. Standing in front ofthem were at least two soldiers.
    Why didn’t the soldiers fire at them?Perhaps you were afraid of being prosecuted?