Baruch Ben-Yigal is the father of Amit Ben-Yigal, h’yd, the 21-year-old IDF soldier who was murdered by an Arab during an operation in an Arab village west of Jenin on Lag B’Omer 2020. Amit was his only child and his whole world.
After HaRav Chaim’s petirah, Ben-Yigal told Channel 14 News about his moving meeting with HaRav Chaim, z’tl. “We had a personal meeting,” he said. “They brought me into the room with the Rav. And his grandson Yanky said: ‘Saba, do you know who this is? This is the father of a hero in Israel.”
“HaRav Chaim, z’tl, touched Amit’s dog tag that I wear around my neck and patted my face and began to cry. And he said: ‘You should know that your son is a hero of Yisrael and he is sitting the closest to the Kisei Hamalchus.’ And then he told me: ‘You should know that your son is together with Reb Shimon bar Yochai and Rebbe Akiva.'”
“I’ll remind you that Amit fell on Lag B’omer, the day of the yartzheit of Reb Shimon Bar Yochai.”
“His grandson Yanky told me afterward: ‘You should know, Saba doesn’t cry over everyone.'”
“I left and I stopped at the gas station,” Ben-Yigal continued. “I was filling up my car and a woman approached me and said: ‘Hello Abba of Amit.’ I said hello. And she responded: ‘I dreamt about Amit, that he was sitting the closest to the Kisei Hamalchus, and Reb Shimon bar Yochai and Rebbe Akiva are sitting next to him.”
“I was so astounded that I raised my hands and I asked the Borei Olam: “What do you want from me?”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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13 Responses
Powerful story
Protecting eretz Yisroel is a crucial step in our journey toward geula
Wept, not weeped.
Wow wow wow!
ywn should not put in such a story that reb chaim touches a dogs tag where is kwod hatorah
Woodman516, and that’s why you’ll never be anywhere near the level of Rav Chaim or any tzadik. It’s sickening that you should decide and opine what a deceased Gadol HaDor should and shouldn’t do, simply because you connect to all Jews, like Reb Chaim accomplished.
what’s not kavod hatorah is you making it sound like r’ Chaim lowered himself by doing that.
that is a beautiful display of ahavas yiasrael that we can all learn from
Is that a true story??
woodman516 – I don’t understand your comment. You apparently don’t know what a dog tag is when referring to soldiers. It’s a metal ID tag that all soldiers wear around their necks. It was Amit’s ID plate that Rav Chaim stroked. There is plenty of kavod haTorah in a gadol feeling another person’s pain.
Don’t focus on the negative! YWN is trying to put out a really touching story about R’ Chaim Z’TL, and you point out the one slight wrong! Talking about R’ Chaim touching the dog tag is acknowledging that he felt the father’s pain and mourned his son.
Woodman: nice try at leitzanus. You know well and good what a “dogtag” means, when applied to what a soldier wears around his neck.
ladler-apparently you dont know what means kvod hatorah
1818:
Not really. Torah and Mitzvos is the ticket to our geulah.
Besides, Eretz Yisrael needs no protection. The land itself is not under any threat. It is the Zionists who’ve created a cataclysmic mess there in the areas of the holy land that the Zionists invaded a century ago.
We are allowed to live in Eretz Yisroel