An evening of appreciation and fundraising by the "IDF Widows and Orphans" organization was held yesterday (Thursday) at the David Intercontinental Hotel. The event was attended by widows and orphans who have joined the organization since the October 7 attacks.
Scorching the heart: The widow of Ari Yechiel Zenilman z"l eulogized him // Yoni Rikner
Captain (reserve) Itai Yehoshua from Ra'anana, immediately put on his uniform that Black Sabbath, and went down to the south, where he fought for hours dozens if not hundreds of terrorists, going in and out of the surrounding communities, until he was defeated in a heroic battle in Bari.
His widow, Daphne Joshua, still can't fully digest that her husband is no longer with her. She talks for the first time about her lover, and it's not easy for her, every time she talks about him, tears come to her eyes: "I understand that he's gone, but I haven't internalized it yet. It happens in the small, everyday things, suddenly this realization falls on me. For example, one day I was shopping at IKEA, and when I got out I realized that you can't take the cart to the car, but you have to bring the car to the cart. Usually people come in pairs, one keeps the stroller and one brings the car. And I stood there and started crying when I realized I was alone," she says.
Daphne Beck, the new widow of Capt. Itai Yehoshua, who fell in battle in Bari, photo: Gideon Markowitz
Daphne is 32, too young to be a widow, and her daughter, Hayley, not yet 3, is too young to be orphaned by her father. "That Shabbat," she recalls, "Itai woke us up when there was an alarm and we went into the safe room. I didn't even understand what was happening. He started getting updates from friends from elite units about what was happening in the south. When we left the safe room, we saw the news and drank coffee, and then I went to work." Daphne works as a makeup artist, and on the same day a bride who was supposed to get married went out to do makeup, but in retrospect the wedding was canceled.
A few minutes later, Itai, who served as the chief of staff's security guard and as a security guard for the commander of the 36th Division in the south, left the house. He didn't tell her, and called her mother to look after their little girl. It wasn't until about two hours later, when Daphne called her mother, that she found out that Etty had left. "We talked throughout the day, both in messages and on one video call, until he stopped answering at eight forty-six in the evening." In retrospect, she knows that he went in and out of the communities occupied by Hamas terrorists, fought the terrorists for hours on end and killed many of them.
Daphne Beck, together with Yossi Cohen, former head of the Mossad, and Tami Shalach, chairman of the organization, at last night's event,
For three days she waited for a knock on the door. She didn't know what was going on with him, but deep down she already understood. "I contacted his friends from the reserves, tried to find out what had happened to him. Somewhere I already knew, but I didn't want to know. One day my cousin asked if I wanted to come with Hailey to be at their house and I told him I needed to be home in case they came to inform me about Itai." On Tuesday, the news arrived. They had been together for seven years, and she says that the thing that was most identified with Itai was his smile and dimples. "With me all the time in my thoughts," she says painfully.
Tami Shalah, head of the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization, noted that since that Saturday, 600 new people have joined the organization – 200 families of widows and orphans of the fallen security forces – soldiers and soldiers, police officers, members of the alert squads and CSOs. "There is no more terrible feeling than the moment you knock on the door," she says, continuing: "The events of October 7 tore the hearts of everyone in Israel, and since then the lives of each of us have changed forever. Time for the families froze at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday."
Funerals on Mount Herzl, photo: AP
"I, too, am part of the bereaved family, and even after fifty years I remember every day the damn knock. Those of you who have joined the language of bereavement, I want to say - you are allowed to hurt. Unfortunately, this is not the end of the campaign, and new families join our organization every day."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us