"We Celebrated the Brit on the Base with All the Soldiers and Nothing Was Lacking"

Four months have passed since Uri Yitzhak Iluz was killed in an encounter with an Egyptian at the Egyptian border. Four months of indescribable heartbreak for his family, alongside an enormous desire to act for the elevation of his soul and commemorate him. It turns out that his father, Shai Iluz, is one of the largest advocates for soldiers on the northern border, tirelessly looking after them.

Child of Light

"When I hear today about the soldiers being killed, I can't help but cry with the families," says Shai, "The parents talk about their children, about how good and special they were, and I think to myself that it's true – Hashem takes the best, and our Uri Yitzhak was one of them. He was a good boy who never complained about anything. He studied in a religious school and then at a yeshiva in Safed. He always succeeded in what he did, completed a commander's course with excellence, and was supposed to start an officer's course two weeks after the event."

Shai takes a deep breath and adds: "The truth is, throughout Uri's military service, I felt there were many failures and problems in the area where he served. I'm an army man from the past, released a year ago after 32 years of service, and I understand military issues. I offered Uri several times to address these failures, and I had ways to do so, but Uri insisted he wanted to handle these things himself. The truth was on the wall."

As a believing Jew, Shai emphasizes that since his son was killed, he invests less effort in trying to understand the failures that occurred during that incident at the Egyptian border, and more in commemorating his son. "Even before, I was involved in event production, but since Uri was killed, I do everything to commemorate him. Furthermore, I organized lectures by Rabbi Shneur Guetta and Rabbi Yigal Cohen in Kiryat Shmona, attended by hundreds, and I organize people to collect cans and bottles for recycling, and with the money raised, I purchase tefillin stands. Today, there are eight tefillin stands across the north purchased thanks to all those people, which is very moving. Also, there are two synagogues named after Uri, and a lot of other activities I do in his memory. I constantly think about how to increase merits so that he will look down from heaven and be happy with our actions."

Brit on the Base

Four months after Uri's passing, a surprise attack in the south brought his father back to his personal tragedy. "We received the news of Uri's death on Shabbat, when we were in the synagogue, in the midst of a Shabbat Chatan. Those were terrible moments I will never forget, and then four months later, again on Shabbat, Simchat Torah, as I was about to be Chatan Torah, which I've done for the past thirty years, once more harsh notifications caught me and brought everything back. The feelings were terrible, and already then, when we still didn't comprehend the enormity of the disaster, I knew I would help in every way possible for IDF soldiers and war victims, and all these actions would be in Uri's memory."

Shai mentions that on the evening after Simchat Torah, he took the bulk of the food purchased for the holiday – more than 30 kilos of pastries, dozens of bottles of drinks, and 400 bags of candy for children, and together with members of the 'Achi Bnei Yisrael' organization and other neighborhood people, he distributed everything to IDF soldiers in all the bases in the north. "Since then, I make sure to travel almost every day to the posts," he says, "I know the sector well from my days serving it myself, and each time I try to talk to the soldiers, hear what they lack and need, and also treat them, give them food and good things, and make them feel good."

About a week ago, one of the soldiers approached him and shared that his son was born and now they are facing a big dilemma, as they do not know how to celebrate the brit in such a situation. "At that moment, I had no doubt that I would organize a brit on the base for him, voluntarily," he recalls. "Everything happened, of course, quickly and it wasn’t simple, as it wasn’t a hall equipped with tables and chairs, but an open area. But we insisted, and in the end, the result was amazing, b'ezrat Hashem – a particularly moving event where, aside from family members, the soldiers on the base were also present, and nothing was lacking, there was even music and a photographer."

Since then, Shai has taken it upon himself to organize events during the war as needed, and he has already done so several times. "This is my contribution to the people of Israel," he explains, "Money isn't everything in life, and when I can reach such places and enable soldiers to celebrate even under such conditions, it is the greatest satisfaction possible."