Tefillin and Unity: A Rabbi’s Mission Among Soldiers

Rabbi Eliyahu Rabuach never stops moving. For nearly eight years, he served in the Israeli military. Yet, even after leaving the army, his sense of mission only grew stronger. One of his recent efforts involved helping connect the Hidabroot organization with families of IDF soldiers who lost their lives during Operation Protective Edge. Hidabroot had committed to writing a Torah scroll in memory of those fallen soldiers, and Rabbi Rabuach helped bring the families into this sacred process.

Now 40 years old and a father of 11, Rabbi Rabuach lives in Kiryat Arba. He grew up in a traditional home in northern Israel. Just six months before enlisting in the army, his father suddenly passed away, leaving him with many questions and a deep need to search for answers.

“I joined the Air Force and worked as a helicopter mechanic at Wing 1 Base in Ramat David,” he recalls. “We had a military rabbi who gave Torah classes, and sometimes we’d get invited to Shabbat experiences through different organizations. I slowly became more observant. Eventually, a small group of us formed including two pilots who were all exploring Judaism.”

Naturally, this sparked some tension. “Whenever there was a news story about religion that bothered the secular guys, they’d come straight to us,” he says. “‘You religious people...’ That was always how it started.”

"If You're Man Enough..."

Despite the pushback, Rabbi Rabuach stayed focused. He wanted his fellow soldiers to discover the beauty and depth of Judaism. One officer in particular stood out to him, someone he felt drawn to help.

“For eight months, I kept trying to bring him closer,” Rabuach says. “We debated, I posted inspiring stickers inside the aircraft, I asked him to pray for me. I knew something would eventually take root.”

Then, during Operation Accountability, he took a bold step.

“I said to him in front of everyone, ‘If you’re man enough, come to the synagogue right now.’ He agreed and followed me. I asked, ‘When was the last time you saw a Torah scroll?’ He said he never had, only on TV. I couldn’t believe it.”

That’s when Rabuach took a leap of faith. “I told him, ‘If you’re really man enough, put your hand on the Torah and swear there is no God.’ I opened the ark... and when I turned around, he was gone. I never saw him again at the base.”

A Surprise Invitation

Not long after, Rabbi Rabuach was discharged from the army. Then, a year and a half later, he received a wedding invitation but he didn’t recognize the names.

“I opened it and saw phrases like ‘Let it be heard again in the cities of Judah’ and ‘Please dress modestly.’ I thought it must be a mistake and planned not to go. But Hashem had other plans.”

That same day, at the same time, and in the same area, he was attending a cousin’s bar mitzvah. On a whim, he decided to peek into the other hall.

Inside, he saw the very officer he had once challenged in the synagogue now sitting next to Rabbi Reuven Elbaz, who was officiating the wedding.

The officer stood up, whispered to the rabbi and his father, and then walked straight to Rabbi Rabuach. “He hugged me and said, ‘This wedding is thanks to you. I only have one request: walk me to the chuppah instead of my father. He agreed already.’”

Rabbi Elbaz came over, embraced him, and said simply, “You have merited.”

It turns out that after their dramatic encounter, the officer had been deeply shaken. He began learning more, found his way to Rabbi Elbaz’s yeshiva in Jerusalem, and eventually became fully observant. Now, he was marrying a woman according to halachah, under the chuppah, in a kosher Jewish wedding.

Bringing the Light of Judaism to Soldiers

In 2007, during the Second Lebanon War, Rabbi Rabuach and his family were living in a northern town that came under heavy missile attack. They were evacuated to Efrat, and one day while praying at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Chevron, he met the Chief Rabbi of Central Command.

The rabbi recognized him immediately. “Would you like to serve in the Military Rabbinate?” he asked.

Rabbi Rabuach said yes on the spot and was assigned as a rabbinical aide in the Judea Brigade. That’s when his outreach to soldiers truly took off.

Working with Chabad, they made sure the soldiers experienced every Jewish holiday meaningfully. “We brought dried fruits on Tu B’Shvat, hamantaschen on Purim, menorahs and donuts for Chanukah, and we made sure everyone could hear the shofar on Rosh Hashanah,” he says.

Even more remarkable, Rabbi Rabuach and his team have distributed about 1,250 pairs of tefillin to secular soldiers from across Israel. During Operation Protective Edge alone, they handed out 35 pairs, many donated by Jews who weren’t religious themselves. Another 120 pairs are waiting for funding.

The Admor of Alexander even joined the effort, sending a representative and declaring, “For every soldier who takes on tefillin, I personally guarantee he gets the best quality.”

Partnering with Hidabroot to Honor the Fallen

After Operation Protective Edge, a representative from Hidabroot reached out to Rabbi Rabuach. The organization had begun writing a Torah scroll in memory of soldiers who fell during the war, and they needed help connecting with their families.

Rabbi Rabuach made sure each family had a chance to send someone to participate, helping write the final letters of the scroll in their loved one’s merit.

“I’ve Never Seen Unity Like During That War”

Reflecting on Operation Protective Edge, Rabbi Rabuach is still moved. “I’ve seen a lot of military operations, but never anything like the unity and love among Jews during that time.”

He recalls soldiers who had so many donated items, socks, shirts, food that they could treat them like disposable goods. “That’s when the words ‘Who is like Your people Israel?’ came alive for me,” he says. “There’s no force in the world that can defeat that kind of unity and love.”