A Tale of A Tzadik and A Stretcher - Stories of the Yeshiva Students during the Shmini Atzeret War of October 7th

Among the communities of Israel mourning the fallen of the war, a distinct place is reserved for the unique grief of the small community of the Hesder yeshivot, which was struck with an especially severe blow. The proportion of Hesder casualties among those killed in the war is many times greater than their share of the population, and the yeshivot were plunged into mourning and sorrow.

Within this dark grief, a resolve took shape in our hearts: we must not forget these fallen. Not only their deaths, but above all their lives. The students of the Hesder yeshivot embody a human type that is rare in Israeli society, and none reflect this figure more fully and gloriously than the holy martyrs of the war, of blessed memory—the finest among them, those who rushed forward first.

The acts of heroism displayed by these fallen in the battles of the war are breathtaking, as though taken from ancient epics; yet no less remarkable are the extraordinary deeds of their everyday lives.

These are their stories.