It isn’t easy to think of anyone who has given more for his nation than Yehuda HaYisraeli.
He finished his studies at the Maale Eliyahu yeshiva in Tel Aviv and served in the elite Rimon army unit in 2014. He was a young, happily married guy and the father of a newborn.
When the Protective Edge war began, HaYisraeli had just started an officer’s course as a career soldier.
While participating in the campaign, Yehuda sustained critical injuries after being struck in the head by shrapnel on August 1st, 2014.
Yehuda spent more than a year in rehabilitation after being brought to the hospital.
He steadily regained some of his motor, verbal, and cognitive abilities during this time.
His wife Rivky, who gave birth to their second child a few weeks after the injury, was devoted to him, taking care of him and attempting to mend their marriage until she recognized in 2017 that it simply couldn’t work and filed for divorce from him.
She later remarried and had two more children from her second marriage. During a later interview, she claimed that “it wasn’t my Yehuda, the Yehuda that I knew.”
Yehuda has persisted; this year, after spending years confined to a wheelchair, he even participated in a portion of the Jerusalem marathon while jogging. Yehuda still has three dreams despite his severe wounds, including losing an eye: to work, drive, and find love again.
The yeshiva in Tel Aviv, which has regrettably been caught in the crossfire of secular-religious tensions in a city that has come to be associated with anti-government riots, was the destination his father chose to take him back to on Monday.
Thus, Yehuda’s return was not timed randomly. As a Jewish Zionist yeshiva, Maale Eliyahu’s students are active in the military, identity with Israel, and engage in volunteer work in Tel Aviv, which includes weekly trips to the nearby Ichilov hospital.
After the murder of Rabin, the yeshiva was established to bridge the growing gap between the national religious camp and the secular left-wingers.
Despite this, when the yeshiva was asked to move and given a sizable building by the Tel Aviv municipality, secular residents of the area were incensed and started a smear campaign against the “messianic” and “homophobic” yeshiva, which they claimed was trying to influence their children and change the character of their neighborhood.
The yeshiva leaders have been frantically attempting to counter the media smears and underline their love and respect for all Tel Aviv residents, regardless of their political views. Additionally, a few prominent secular personalities have defended them.
It is extraordinary that the bitter disagreements between the right and left over judicial reforms should cost a yeshiva whose alums, like Yehuda, have sacrificed so much for their nation and are driven to spread goodwill and make a good image.
JOIN US ON WHAT'SAPP, TO GET INSTANT STATUS UPDATES AND BE IN THE KNOW.
CLICK HERE
