Rabbi Aryeh Levin and the Gaon's Verdict: Unearthing the Leys' Graves

The tragic story of the Lamed He unit is one of the most well-known tales from the War of Independence: a rescue delegation whose life ended in a desperate battle and became legendary. Yet, especially wondrous is the story of identifying the Lamed He's graves through a sacred biblical lot.

In the month of Shevat, 5708, the Etzion Bloc consisted of four settlements: Kfar Etzion, Ein Tzurim, Masu'ot Yitzchak, and Revadim. The bloc had been under Arab siege for several months, and supply convoys from Jerusalem failed to reach it. On the 3rd of Shevat, the bloc's defenders repelled a massive attack from local Arabs, but there remained a severe shortage of weapons, ammunition, bandages, and other necessary supplies. Due to this distress, the Jerusalem district commander decided to send reinforcements to the bloc: the Lamed He unit (originally 40 fighters, though five were forced to stay behind for various reasons) led by Dani Mass. Unfortunately, Arab women noticed the unit on their way to the bloc and reported to the commander of the Arab forces in the area. About two thousand Arabs - regular forces and villagers - surrounded the Lamed He unit, who fought to their last bullet and were entirely massacred.

Two and a half days after the battle, the bodies of the fighters were brought to Kfar Etzion by the British Hebron police. British armored vehicles brought the fallen's relatives to identify them, along with members of the Chevra Kadisha led by the righteous Jerusalemite Rabbi Aryeh Levin. The burial took place in a mass grave in the Etzion Bloc cemetery. Despite immense efforts to maintain identification order, war conditions did not allow for creating a map that would enable individual grave identification. When the Lamed He coffins were later brought to Jerusalem, extensive efforts were again made for accurate identification to bury each fallen properly, but 12 bodies remained unidentified with certainty.

In their despair, some bereaved parents turned to the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank zt"l. Rabbi Frank heard them and decided that the Gaon's Lot should be used to identify the fallen.

The Lamed He section on Mount Herzl (photo: Tamar Hayardeni)

The Gaon's Lot is a special lot performed with the Bible to find answers to complex questions, attributed to the Gaon of Vilna. Only great sages were considered competent to perform this lot. Rabbi Frank asked Rabbi Aryeh Levin to carry it out.

A journalist, Yitzhak Deutsch, was present for the lot casting and described it thus:

It was Thursday, late at night. They ascended to the study in Rabbi Aryeh's small and modest home at "Mishkenot". In the dark hall, 12 candles were lit, illuminating the eastern wall where the Holy Ark stood. Present were: Rabbi Aryeh and his son-in-law, Rabbi Aharon Jakobovitz, and his son Rabbi Rafael Benjamin Levin shlit"a. Among the bereaved parents were two: Mr. Reuven Mass and Mr. Yitzhak Dov Hacohen Persitz (they began with the recital of "Tehillim"...)

The lot was traditionally done using a Bible whose pages are divided into two columns. An old Bible, printed in Amsterdam in 1701, was found with Rabbi Aryeh...

A sacred silence pervaded the hall. The burning candles added to the eerie atmosphere. The Bible was opened without knowing or intending the page or column. After each opening, seven times seven turnovers were performed, and thus repeated, determining to whom an unidentified grave belonged before marking the gravestone. The well-known rule was: the last verse on the page should include the name, or a hint, of one of those being identified.

Amazingly, one of the first verses encountered was "To Hashem belongs the earth and its fullness – the world and those who dwell therein." At the verse's beginning was Lamed-He ("To Hashem" in Hebrew begins with the letters Lamed and He), and each page bore subjects of heroic battles and the commandments of Eretz Yisrael fitting this special occasion. If nothing in the last verse pointed to the matter sought, the last letter was taken, and, using it, a verse starting with that letter was sought for the required answer - explicitly or implicitly.

This was repeated 11 times - as there was no need for 12; after determining eleven, the twelfth was known. Remarkably, every page spoke decisively. The first verse reached explicitly identified the fallen, and each verse's subject suited, reflected, and matched precisely as if describing these events in the verses. One after another, each time performing the seven times seven turning - the identity of the fallen was established.

The Lamed He fighters being brought for burial

In Rabbi Aryeh Levin zt"l's handwritten lot protocol, the astonishing match between the chosen verses and the fallen's names is evident. Binyamin Bogeslavsky was identified by the verse "and from the tribe of Benjamin by lot". Oded Ben Yemini was identified by the verse "is he not a Benjamite". Eitan Gaon was identified by the verse: "and the pride of Israel will be humbled", and so on.

Rabbi Frank endorsed the lot, and the Lamed He's graves in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl were marked according to the lot's results. "He who rides on the heavens will heal broken hearts, they shall rise and live again from the dust when Hashem restores His people." Rabbi Aryeh Levin signed the protocol.

(The full story of the Gaon's Lot carried out by Rabbi Aryeh Levin appears in the book 'A Tzaddik in Our Time' by author Simcha Raz)