A new rocket-proof dining room was dedicated at a yeshiva in Sderot last week in the final hours of Israeli Memorial Day, in memory of four IDF soldiers who were killed by Gaza terrorists while defending Israeli communities on the border during the seven-week Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014.
Funding for the construction and fortification of the dining room at the Max and Ruth Schwartz Sderot Hesder Yeshiva was provided by three “very generous” donors in the United States, who asked that the dining room be dedicated in memory of these four soldiers:
* Lt. Col. Dolev Keidar (38) from Modi’in,
* Sgt. Nadav Goldmacher (23) from Be’er Sheva,
* Warrant Officer Baynesain Kasahun (39) from Netivot, and
* 1st Lt. Yuval Heiman (21) from Efrat.
All are remembered as heroes who gave their lives defending their country.
“They were killed right on the border of Sderot, so it makes sense for a yeshiva in Sderot to dedicate in their memory,” said Rabbi Ari Katz, a spokesperson for the yeshiva.
“There’s a hilltop in Sderot that tells the whole story of that battle; there were terrorists dressed as Israeli soldiers hiding there. They had already crossed the [security] fence, they came out of the tunnel and if it wasn’t for those four soldiers who spotted them and who fought – gave their lives really – those terrorists would have been in Sderot, God forbid, and committed a very serious massacre,” Katz emphasized.
“They were loaded with ammunition and explosive belts. Because of these four soldiers, they were stopped, and of course afterwards the terrorists were finished off, like we say, by another unit that came; but not before [the four soldiers] were killed.”
Two of the three donors were present at the dedication, along with Sderot Yeshiva head Rabbi Dov Fendel and all the boys in the yeshiva, in addition to 100 boys from the overseas program for Americans at Yeshiva Netiv Aryeh in Jerusalem. One of the fathers of the soldiers who were killed also came to the event.
“It was a very emotional dedication,” Katz said.
Among the speakers were Rabbi Fendel, one of the donors, one of the rabbis from Netiv Aryeh, and one of the fathers of the four soldiers who were killed.
Immediately following the dedication, the boys went into the yeshiva’s Beit Midrash for Independence Day dancing.
