Sgt. Eliyahu Moshe Zimbalist, 21, from Beit Shemesh, fell in battle alongside seven soldiers in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. Zimbalist, a soldier in the 601st Battalion in the Combat Engineering Corps, was killed alongside seven other soldiers from his unit, the IDF announced on Saturday.
Zimbalist was promoted to the rank of Sergeant-Major posthumously.
According to Nefesh B’Nefesh, he made Aliyah with his family in 2005.
Zimbalist attended high school at Ahavat Yisrael in Beit Shemesh and studied for a year and a half at Yeshivat Shaalvim – a hesder yeshiva, which combines Torah and Talmud study with IDF service – before drafting into the Combat Engineering Corps. Nefesh B’Nefesh said that his friendliness was noted wherever he went.
MAY HIS MEMORY BE A BLESSING | ברוך דיין האמתIt is with broken hearts that we mourn the loss of Sgt. Eliyahu Moshe Zimbalist z"l. We send our love and deepest condolences to Simmy, Sara and the entire Zimbalist family who made Aliyah in 2005, on their tragic loss. Sgt.… pic.twitter.com/nVyAjaS4kk
— Nefesh B'Nefesh (@NefeshBNefesh) June 16, 2024
Speaking to 103FM radio, Rabbi Michael Yammer, who heads Shaalvim, said about Zimbalist that “the one thing he wanted to do in life was to do good for others. And he always did this quietly, humbly, constantly asking, ‘Who can I help next?’”
Rabbi Zechariah Rabinovich, who taught Zimbalist at Shaalvim, said he had “golden hands, always ready to help. He did everything in simplicity and humility. He loved the yeshiva and was happy there. He always walked around with his head held high and believed in the rightness of his path. He fought until the very end.”
Zimbalist was laid to rest on Sunday. He leaves behind his parents, Simmy and Sara, and his siblings.