On Monday, May 1, Israel’s Memorial Day for its Fallen Soldiers, ZAKA volunteers, Haredi soldiers and civilians visited the grave of fallen lone soldier Pinchas Soloveitchik, who was killed at age 22, on August 13, 1948, in the battle to breach the walls of the Old City near Mount Zion. A lone soldier with no family to honor his memory, Soloveitchik is buried in the courtyard of the Shaarei Zedek hospital in Jerusalem.
ZAKA Chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav said in a statement: “In recent years, my friend and fellow Jerusalemite Yisrael Geliss and I have organized a minyan at the graveside of this lone soldier. Today, the Memorial Day for Israel’s Fallen Soldiers, we stood together by his grave, prayed and remembered – lighting a memorial candle, reciting Psalms, and saying Kaddish and El Male Rachamim (two prayers for the dead). May his memory be blessed.”
Private Pinchas Soloveitchik, son of Ya’acov and Chana Soloveitchik, IDF personal number 0173732, was born on October 10, 1926, in Jerusalem. He studied in a Talmud Torah and was one of the brave young men who fought in the Old City of Jerusalem during the War of Independence. He took great care to observe the mitzvot, even during times of war.