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And another knock on the door: When bereavement struck twice | Israel today

2021-04-12T05:58:46.814Z


| Military news The Naftali brothers and who fell an hour apart in the Yom Kippur War • The Nahum family lost Nir and Avichai 5 years apart • Eli Tahar felt that his world was destroyed when his younger brother Yosef was killed, and after 20 years he lost his son, Roi • Special project The common grave of Asher and Naftali Photo:  Courtesy of the family In May 1974, seven months after they were killed, the b


The Naftali brothers and who fell an hour apart in the Yom Kippur War • The Nahum family lost Nir and Avichai 5 years apart • Eli Tahar felt that his world was destroyed when his younger brother Yosef was killed, and after 20 years he lost his son, Roi • Special project

  • The common grave of Asher and Naftali

    Photo: 

    Courtesy of the family

In May 1974, seven months after they were killed, the brothers Tali (Naftali) and Ashi (Asher) Siddar were laid to rest together in the military section of their kibbutz, Mishmar Hasharon.

It was one joint funeral for the two brothers who went through almost the same life trajectory in their lives, were declared missing together after their traces disappeared in the Sinai sands during the Yom Kippur War, and their deaths were not separated and buried that day and at the same time in one common grave. 

"When they both arrived at the cemetery there was silence, and not even a bird chirped. There were three of us, and I remained an only child. They both had friends, but had no children, and after the stain there were no families left to fill the house on Saturdays and holidays. Suddenly everything was empty, there was silence." , Says Yona Sidrer, Naftali's bereaved sister and Asher.

"Our father lost his joy of life, contracted cancer, and six years after their fall - he passed away.

Mother, who was a believing woman, continued to live 30 years after them.

She was a noble and heroic woman. "Ashi enlisted in the IDF when his older brother Tali was discharged from compulsory service - in November 1970. Like his brother, he also joined a pilot's course, but a few months later dropped out, and like his brother - asked to join the Armored Corps.

When the Yom Kippur War broke out, Ashi was 21 years old, and still served in the IDF as an armored officer. His brother Tali was already a student of electrical engineering at the Technion, and when he was drafted into the 8th Reserve Reserve, he was 24. Both were sent to the southern front. 

"From all the investigations that took place, it turned out that they were both killed on the night of October 15-16, 1973, a few hours and a few kilometers apart. Tali was killed on the Chinese farm, and Ashi was in the Suez Canal area," their sister Yona Sidder continues.

"They were both beautiful, smart and good guys."

As in their lives and deaths, so in every place and monument commemorated with additional spaces, their mother made sure that the names of the two remained close to each other.

After she left, Jonah saw this as an unwritten will left by her mother.

"At the memorial ceremonies in Mishmar Hasharon, their names are read one after the other. Also on the armor website, Mother made sure that their names would be side by side, because before that they were separate," Sidderer describes.

"When they opened the memorial hall on Mount Herzl in recent years, they placed their names separately, even though it goes by dates. In the end, according to our request, they arranged it, and put their names next to each other. The longing for them does not fade. I see their remaining classmates. "In life, they started families on the kibbutz, and they already have grandchildren. It hurts that Ashi and Teli did not get it."

Lieutenant Bar Nahum, a 23-year-old IDF officer from Karmiel, lost two brothers. Nir, the second son, was an artilleryman and fell in October 2002. "He got on a bus at the Karkur junction, and at the same time a suicide bomber got on the bus and detonated the explosive belt." The fifth sister in the family. "In this attack, 14 people were killed, including two soldiers, my brother and another soldier.

He was 20. " 

Avichai, the third son in the family, fell five years later, in 2007. "He really wanted to enlist in combat service after my brother was killed. He asked his parents to sign him and finally approved him and he was annexed to the Nahal Brigade. He was on an officer track. In June 2007 he was killed in action. "Operation in the north, near the village of Ajar. He was 19 years old." 

On attending graves at Memorial Days Bar shares: "On Memorial Days I always accompany my mother as the youngest daughter. At Memorials we always go first to the grave of the person whose memorial is that day and then to the grave of the other brother. They are buried in the same military plot in the Carmiel Cemetery, "Only 100 meters apart. At the Memorial Day ceremony we do not stand near any grave, because you can not choose one of them. You can not choose, it is not something you choose. It is important for me to emphasize that memory and pain are everyday, and not just on Memorial Day." 

"Because of the age differences I mostly remember Nir as my big brother returning from the army. We had a special connection, which started with him offering my parents my name (bar meaning: B - daughter, R - first) and until every Friday he was home , He would sit me on the window and we would listen to music together and watch the neighborhood. 

"From Avichai I remember his love for the world of stage and media, he loved ballroom dancing and used to shoot and edit videos. One of my biggest memories of him is that we would go to the park together, and he would do me a hairstyle and makeup and make a video and prepare and edit it with investment and seriousness."

"There are very few families who have lost two sons. It's hard to explain how it feels. Obviously it's harder, because it's double. Everything is double - of course the pain."  

Eli Tahar is a bereaved father and a bereaved brother.

In 1981 he lost his brother, the late Lt. Col. Yosef Tahar, and 20 years after he lost his son Roi.

"I enlisted in the paratroopers, and one cycle before my release Yossi enlisted. It was natural that he followed me. We were not only brothers, we were also good friends. About a month before Yossi was killed, I was in Lebanon in operational activity (in reserve) and he was in the area. "About a plasterer here, a plasterer, what's up? What's the matter? Take care of yourself, do not do nonsense and we will meet." That is, we have not met since. "

Eli recounts the moment he realized that his brother had been killed: "One morning I went to work and heard on the news that there was an IDF raid and there was a death.

A friend called me and said he should come talk to me.

He told me 'your brother is injured and I want you to come home'.

I told him, listen - my brother was killed.

He told me no, could not be, I told him 'I heard in the morning that there was one killed, so it's my brother killed' ".

Yossi enlisted in the IDF in early May 1971, and volunteered to serve in the Paratroopers Brigade, where he also completed his career as a Major and as an AGM officer in the regular service. Yosef was 28 at the time of his death. After his fall, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. , Parents, four brothers and two sisters.

Three months before Joseph's death, Eli had a son, Roy.

"I offered my wife to change his name to Yossi, but she did not agree. 20 years later he killed me. He finished a combat track, got the ranks and had a knee problem. He did not want to leave the guys from the battalion and remained a combat supporter." 

Eli recounts his son's accident: "He left the house and after less than 3 km, guys from the nearby village came, climbed the path in the field without stopping, and just turned it over.

A path where whole days pass without vehicles getting on it. "Roy was killed on the spot and he is twenty years old. He left behind parents, four brothers and a sister.

Both Joseph and Roi are buried in the military cemetery in the village of Warburg. "I try to come earlier, move in with my brother and stand next to my son. My children and my wife's luck stand next to my son. I'll be next to Roy and at home we'll all meet. "The movie started when Roy was killed. It was a part of me that died, I learned to live with the living part, and to keep the dead part."

Source: israelhayom

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