The Yeruham Hesder Yeshiva lost two of its students in Gaza this week, when Sgt. Yakir Yedidya Shinkolevsky and Capt. Eitan Fish were killed in action.
Fish leaves behind his parents and seven siblings, and Shinkolevsky leaves behind his parents and five siblings.
The two soldiers were two years apart in the Yeshiva but both served together in the 53rd Battalion of the Armored Corps’s 188th Barak Brigade.
“Eitan was a leader, a man with a spine and with real inner truth,” said the Yeshiva’s head Rabbi Chaim Wolfson. “Throughout his journey in the army, he strongly expressed his commitment to the things he did, whether in relation to the military or his studies. He always had a will to combine the two and be committed to both.”
Wolfson added that he was a gentle person who always projected a sense of security.
Fish’s brother Yechiel promised in a Facebook post on Wednesday to make sure everyone knows about his brother and who he was, and his sister Hadas posted on Instagram that she would miss him forever.
“My Eitan, since the beginning of the war, I’ve had a tradition of praying for you after I recite the Shema at night,” she said at his funeral on Wednesday. “You died in a way that more characterizes you as a hero.”
'Wherever you are, you are still worried about it'
His other brother Itamar mentioned how Eitan had always taken good care of his team.
“I have no doubt that, wherever you are, you are still worried about it,” he said.
About Shinkolevsky, Wolfson said that he had been forced to enlist separately from the students in his year of yeshiva because of health requirements, but that he had been an outstanding soldier from the beginning.
“He was a kibbutznik, a working man who loved working the earth,” he said. “Also in the yeshiva, he was a man who worked heard and had a strong connection with the Torah.”
At his funeral, Shinkolevsky’s mother Tovah said he had been a gift for the 21 years that he lived.
“You were a special boy with an inner strength, even when you were going through challenging times,” she said. “You developed so much when you went to yeshiva and enlisted. You had such depth and sensitivity. Last Wednesday, we got to see you and you looked so good, I was calm and happy. When you left, I was relaxed, but then that knock at the door came and ruined everything. Yakir believed that we are privileged to be in this country even if we have to fight for it. May we learn to fight for the important things together.”
His brother Aviraz said he had been a great uncle whose nieces and nephews loved to play with him.
“It’s weird for me to talk about you in past tense because I still feel your presence so strongly,” he said. “Since yesterday, I have felt like I’m in a bad dream and I was sure that I would wake up at any moment to a different reality. You died for this country, and we will make sure it wasn’t in vain. We will continue to build, plant, grow, and unite as a people because that was your way.”
“We were supposed to have more time with you,” said Shinkolevsky’s sister Renana. “You were supposed to dance at my wedding and be an uncle to my future children. Your story wasn’t supposed to end here. I didn’t tell you this enough, but I love you. There’s no part of me that isn’t screaming at the pain of your loss.”
The yeshiva made a statement saying that it mourns the loss of its students and sends its condolences to the family.