JERUSALEM (VINnews) — BDE: On Erev Yom Kippur, thousands gathered to pay final respect to Major (Res.) Netanel Hershkovitz who fell in battle in the Gaza Strip.
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Hershkovitz and two other reservists, Tzvi Matityahu Marantz and Ori Bornstein, fell after an explosive device detonated near the Hammer humvee they were riding in.
Netanel Hershkowitz (r) Ori Bornstein and Tzvi Mattityahu Marantz HYD
Bornstein (32) from the town of Moreshet in the Galilee was 32 and an officer, Hershkowitz (37) from Jerusalem was the deputy company commander and Marantz(32) from the village of Bnei Adam outside Jerusalem was a squad commander.
During the funeral of Hershkowitz, the family sang a tune from the Yom Kippur prayers. Netanel’s father revealed that along with the prayer shawl that he had with him during the final battle, there was a Yom Kippur prayer book and a shofar which he intended to blow at the end of the fast.
One of Netanel’s brothers asked Nissan Levi, a member of the family’s community, to blow the shofar which Netanel did not merit to blow, and no eye remained dry. Levi himself choked up while blowing.
השופר של נתנאל.
נתנאל הרשקוביץ נפל בקרב אמש בעזה ועל גופו נמצאה טלית עם שופר בו תכנן לתקוע בצאת צום יום הכיפורים.
בהלוויה, אביו של נתנאל מילא את צוואתו הלא כתובה.
יהי זכרו של נתנאל ברוך. pic.twitter.com/oZO6AQwhRs— יוסי שחבר (@yosi_shahbar) October 11, 2024
Netanel’s father, Meir, eulogized him: “You weren’t just a son, you were a friend. We would speak almost every day. It’s very difficult for a father to eulogize a son. The way of the world is that the son eulogizes the father. Netanel, give me strength. This decree is too difficult for us. We won’t get to see you again.”
Liron, Netanel’s widow, lamented: “I don’t believe I’m standing here right now. Just a moment ago you came home, how I feared this moment, how I tried to push away the thoughts. I part from you today against my will. You were my entire world, and today, my world is destroyed. I don’t know how to live this life without you. Who would have believed that I would talk about you in the past tense and that I would lay you to rest? You are still so alive. A good soul, pure, innocent. You were a great man, destined for greatness. Everything you did, you succeeded, there wasn’t a thing in the world that you didn’t know. You were my support pillar, I can’t imagine myself without you. You were everything to me, you filled my life with love and meaning. Without you I’m nothing.”
Netanel, a graduate of Yeshivat Shaalvim, is survived by his wife Liron and three children. Zvi, a graduate of the Sderot hesder yeshiva, is survived by his wife and three children. Bornstein, a graduate of the Ohr Veyeshua hesder yeshiva, is survived by his parents and siblings.
On Friday, another soldier, Itai Fogel from the town of Yakir in Samaria, fell in action in Gaza. Itai (22) was the oldest of four brothers, and was a graduate of yeshivat Nechalim. His cousin, Elkana Hoffman, was killed in action in Jenin a month ago.
Itai Fogel HYD
BDE. Today so many Yidden cried for you and all the people we lost in this terrible war of attrition. Our enemies want us dead and gone,%but Hashem has another plan for us. There was not a dry eye in the Shul
The same happened during Neelah as we beseeched Hashem’s Rachamim.
Let the left wingers who hate us and even want to destroy our Yom Kippur davening read how these pure neshomos, all men who sat and learned Torah and practised it, died serving in the army if the State of Israel.