Simchas Torah at the Kerem Shalom kibbutz, a mixed religious-secular kibbutz that is less than 100 meters [.06 miles] away from the Gazan border, began with a celebration at night in shul – with all the residents, secular and religious.

On Simchas Torah morning, rocket alert sirens began blaring at 6:30 a.m. About an hour later, the terrorist infiltration warnings began. The nine members of the civilian defense team gathered, including close friends Amichai Yisrael Witzen, Hy’d, and Moshe Yedidya Raziel (Rosenberg), H’yd, along with six soldiers. They broke into pairs and each pair launched a fierce gun battle with the dozens of terrorists who crossed the fence into the kibbutz, which consists of about 35 single-family homes scattered over a relatively large area.

During the first hours of the battle, which lasted for about six hours before IDF forces showed up, the members of the defense team eliminated a large number of terrorists. But tragically, after several hours of fighting, one of the terrorists managed to surprise Amichai and Yedidya from behind and killed them.

At 1 p.m., IDF troops arrived and by the evening, the soldiers managed to gain control of the yishuv. The heroism of the defense team, including Amichai, H’yd, a 33-year-old father of five, and Yedidya, Hyd, a 31-year-old father of three, saved the residents of the kibbutz from a mass massacre and abductions. Three members of the kibbutz were injured – two others on the defense team and a man who was badly injured when the terrorists threw explosives at the door of his safe room.

Amichai, z’l and Yedidya, z’l, grew up together on the Pisgot yishuv in Binyamin, studied social work together in Ashkelon and both settled in Kerem Shalom as part of a religious “seed” program to revive the kibbutz, which was slowly dying.

Hashem Yikom Damam.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)