menu
Friday, November 15, 2024
histadrut
Created by rgb media Powered by Salamandra
© Davar- All rights reserved
News

21-Year-Old Fallen Soldier Remembered for Passion for Education, Justice

Cmdr. Ido Ben Zvi, 21, fell in battle on Friday in northern Gaza | Ben Zvi’s uncle: “I’m sorry that we didn’t build a better future, and I promise that after we wipe our tears, we will think about what needs to be done”

טקס הפרידה מסמל עידו בן צבי בקיבוץ שמרת (צילום: אמיתי פרץ)
טקס הפרידה מסמל עידו בן צבי בקיבוץ שמרת (צילום: אמיתי פרץ)
By Amitai Perez

On Sunday, 21-year-old Ido Ben Zvi was laid to rest in his hometown of Kibbutz Shomrat after falling in battle on Friday in northern Gaza. Dozens of military commanders, relatives, and friends paid their respects to Ben Zvi, who was a trainee in the tank commanders course in Battalion 196, Bnei Or Brigade (460). “We were lucky to have you, lucky that you touched us,” his mother said in her eulogy. “And we won’t forget how you touched the world.”

Kibbutz member Dorit Dekel remembered Ben Zvi as a committed educator in the HaShomer HaTzair youth movement who loved all the children he worked with. “Today we bring you to eternal rest, a youngster whose future no longer lies before him,” Dekel said.

Before enlisting in the army, Ben Zvi spent a gap year living with a group of other young people as part of the Nitzana program in Neve Midbar. According to the Nitzana’s website, the program is “based on values of love for humanity and nature, where young people, adults, and families from across Israeli society and the Jewish people live and grow together.”

Ben Zvi’s friends from his gap year said of him, “Justice was always burning in you, protecting the weak. We agreed as a commune that maybe that was the thing we most admired in you, the ability to always tell the truth even when no one wanted to hear it.”

Ido Ben Zvi’s funeral on Kibbutz Shomrat. (Photo: Amitai Perez)
Ido Ben Zvi’s funeral on Kibbutz Shomrat. (Photo: Amitai Perez)

Shira Zukerman, Ben Zvi’s girlfriend, expressed how lucky she was to have known him. “We knew each other for two and a half years. What a mark you left on people, on me,” she said. “It helps to feel how much people love and appreciate you. People talk about how good a friend you were, a son, a nephew, a cousin. We knew that this was forever, that we were family. Now I need to think up a new path, because all that I ever imagined was you. Thank you for teaching me how to love, each day anew.”

His childhood friend Yahli Dotan described being close with Ben Zvi throughout middle school and high school, a gap year, and service in the armored corps. “We were so excited to be together in the same company,” Dotan said. “You were a friend who was like a brother. You were always there for me.”

Ido Ben Zvi’s funeral on Kibbutz Shomrat. (Photo: Amitai Perez)
Ido Ben Zvi’s funeral on Kibbutz Shomrat. (Photo: Amitai Perez)

Ben Zvi’s uncle Elisha asked his forgiveness that the young generation was the one to pay the price for the ongoing violence. “I’m sorry that we didn’t build a better future, and I promise that after we wipe our tears, we will think about what needs to be done,” he said.

This article was translated from Hebrew by Leah Schwartz.

Acceptance constitutes acceptance of the Website Terms of Use