So many good boys…

This week we attended the funeral of Sgt. First Class (res.) Benyamin Asulin. He was 28 years old. His family lives one road above mine.

This is the picture that Ben used on his LinkedIn profile.
He was a Senior Systems Administrator at MyHeritage.

Everyone’s heart broke seeing Ben’s mother walking behind his coffin, moaning: “Ben, Ben. My son.”

She described telling him: “You served so many days in this war, maybe it’s enough? Please come home.” And his answer: “Mom, I am defending our nation and if I die, I will die a hero.”

When she heard that something horrible had happened where his unit was, she tried to call him but he didn’t answer. He always answered her. At 2:00 am, she finally went to bed but with a terrible feeling. A few minutes later, the knock on the door came…

So many good boys…

The habit of placing stickers commemorating the fallen has become so widespread that they are even in the cemetery. It seems friends and family felt a need to see living smiling faces of those they loved and not just their cold headstones.

When the funeral was over, many of the people, still crying, stopped at other graves. Friends of their sons killed in this war and in other ones. We did the same. Our friend’s son Osheri Butzhak. Adi Eldor, who was in school with our boys. Alina, who defended her soldiers to the last bullet on October 7th.

Others whose funerals we attended. Shivas we went to.

So many good boys…

Like Ben, they knew why they were fighting.

Those who saw the horrors of the invasion, the defilement of our sisters, the brutality towards our brothers, know that this evil cannot be left standing. Those who entered the homes in Gaza and saw the terror tunnels under children’s beds, books of hate in every living room, and pictures of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, learned that there is no peace with an entire society geared to erasing our existence.

They fought for our future. For the hostages. To return our stolen dignity.

They fought so that we can live.

But the price we pay for insisting on living is excruciating.

3 thoughts on “So many good boys…”

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There are no words to express the sorrow of the loss of these lives. They are part of Hashem’s plan, but we cannot see the whole picture. Being in the United States, our media distort the truth, make the Israelis look like the aggressors. Social tension and antisemitism rise. To what end? To what end? May the redemption come speedily. Baruch Dayan HaEmes.

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