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Baruch Ben Yigal, the father of the late Sergeant Amit Ben Yigal who fell four years ago in 2020, commented on the Memorial Day: “Leave the political disputes outside the cemeteries”
Four years ago today, on 12.05.24, the late Amit ben Yigal was killed in an operational activity. Baruch ben Yigal, Amit’s father, recalled the difficult moments and dealing with his son’s death at the time. As his father, I could not prevent the dream
“This morning at half past six in the morning, that’s the time they knocked on my door and informed me of the death of a colleague. Every morning at half past six I say the same prayer, I turn to the Father in heaven and tell him give me the wisdom to understand, to be educated, to learn and to teach myself how to cope Beside the bereavement,” he shared.
“It’s just that this morning was a different morning,” he added, “on this Memorial Day at six thirty in the morning on the right side I looked at the room of a colleague and on the left I looked at the room of my new son who was born 8 months ago Or-Chai, and I have no words and the thanks are to the people of Israel. When I came I felt homeless after Shava. I had no parents, no other children, I arrived completely empty and the embrace of the people of Israel was not taken for granted, we are a special country.”
You are now raising a new baby, how will you raise him?
“When Or was born, when he was two days old, I put him in Amit’s room, and I said to him, ‘Dear Or, Amit, your older brother, it took me two months to sign, you, I’ll sign after a minute,’ because we don’t have another country. We don’t have another army. We have one and only one country , we are not surrounded by Scandinavian countries, we are surrounded by countries that do not want us here. If my son does not join the army and that one’s son does not join the army, who will join the army?”, he said painfully.
“As his father, I could not prevent the dream of the late colleague”
He also said: “I saw not what Amit Ben Yigal did for the army, but what the army gave Amit Ben Yigal, we as parents gained a child twice, more valuable, better. Amit fulfilled his personal dream, this is the scale of values on which he was educated, this is what He wanted and I, as his father, could not prevent his dream, and the new child is my Or, that he will be healthy when it is his turn to contribute, I will sign him.”
“This Memorial Day is a very tough day. I comforted over 500 bereaved families and I accompany many families, there were days when I collapsed. But I told myself that I was there too, I know what this reinforcement is. There were days when I cried like a little child. I would go into the house , stop myself and I would go out and fall apart” he admitted, “unfortunately in the overwhelming majority of homes I was the most well-known person there and when I entered the parents would tell me that they were waiting for me. I hug these families and say that I am part of them.”
At the end of the conversation, the bereaved father addressed the listeners with a personal request: “Please let us pass this day in peace, leave the political disputes outside the cemeteries.”
Editing: Eliezer Ben Yehuda
12/05/2024
