In the military section of the cemetery in Kfar Etzion, Sergeant Yakir Yedidya Shinkolevsky, 21, from Kibbutz Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion, an armored soldier in the 53rd Battalion, the Barak Brigade (188), who fell in battle in the Gaza Strip, is laid to rest. He fell along with two other armored fighters from the same battalion, Capt. Eitan Fish, 23, from Pedu'el in Samaria, and Staff Sergeant Tuval Yaakov Sanani, 20, from Kiryat Gat. Yedidya is survived by his parents and four siblings.
The funeral of Sergeant Yakir Yedidia Shinkolevsky, z"l, today, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
He studied in the fourth grade at Yeshivat HaSeder Yeruham. The Union of Yeshivas HaSeder said: "We mourn bitterly the loss of Yeshiva HaSeder students Yeruham, armored officer Capt. Eitan Fish and armored soldier Sergeant Yakir Shanklovsky, who fell in a mitzvah war. On behalf of the heads of the Seder yeshivas and all the rabbis and students, we embrace the families in their difficult hour and pray for the crushing victory of our heroic soldiers over our vile and cruel enemies. May their souls be bound in the bundle of life."
"From the first moment, he was outstanding in my company." The funeral of Sergeant Yakir Yedidia Shinkolevsky, z"l, today, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Rabbi Wolfson, head of the Seder Yeshiva: "Yakir enlisted separately from the guys from his class at the yeshiva due to a health problem, but from the first moment he was an outstanding member of my company, a man of the Land of Israel in the deepest sense of the word. A kibbutznik, a man of toil, loves the land, the work, and about him it can be said, 'A great man who enjoys his hands more than the fear of Heaven.' He enjoyed working the land and it gave him life. Even in a beit midrash he was a working red, he really liked the connection to the Torah, and he really liked the connection between manual labor and the spiritual world. He was also a working man within the beit midrash. In his progress, determination, diligence and he always had a smile on his lips and was loved by the people around him."
Yakir Yedida Shinkolevsky, Photo: IDF Spokesperson
His parents last saw him on Wednesday, when he went out for a brief refreshment. They met in Arad and made plans for the future, but never imagined that they would be cruelly cut off in a single moment. "Dear as its name implies. Cute, dear, interested in everything and brilliant, diligent and hardworking. In high school, he did five units of physics just on the road, so he would be. Completed his course in the army with honors. We are very grateful to the army and the yeshiva that really matured him," said his uncle, Yona Goodman.
Yakir was the fourth of five children, always with a shy smile on his face. "My great-grandfather and grandmother were murdered in a pogrom in Ukraine and have no grave. My nephew fell as a fighter in the turret of a tank, against our enemies, and in a certain sense it gives meaning to the pain, gives meaning to the crazy journey we are all experiencing and gives some strength to deal with the pain," the uncle added.
Last photo inside the tank in Gaza. Sergeant Yakir Yedidia Shinkolevsky (right) and Capt. Eitan Fish, photo: None
Gush Etzion Mayor Shlomo Ne'eman eulogized him: "Dear friend, you fell in the war for our right to live in this land and build the future of the nation there. A kibbutz member, a member of a dear family of Migdal Oz veterans. Gush Etzion is hurting today with the Shinkolevsky family. Your pain is also the national pain of the entire community. We are accompanying the Shinkolevsky family at this difficult time."
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