Before Pesach last year, I visited Machane Shura, the headquarters of the chief rabbinate of Tzahal, accompanied by five members of my immediate family. Rav Binyamin Zimmerman, a member of the rabbinate of the Israeli Army who arranged the visit, introduced us to the head of the halacha department, Harav Avihud Shwartz. His presentation of the complex questions dealt with by the department was scintillating. He demonstrated a depth of knowledge and a finely-tuned approach to the halachic system worthy of a posek well beyond his approximately forty years. His reverence for mori v’rabi Harav Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l, with whom he learned for nine years, was remarkable. The combination of broad Talmudic scholarship, halachic mastery, and personal sensitivity that permeated Harav Schwartz’s brilliant and lengthy shiur reflected his rebbi’s unforgettable persona and is a tribute to both rebbi and talmid.
If Harav Schwartz dazzled our minds, the next presenter, Rav Menachem Wechsler, penetrated our hearts. A twenty-seven-year veteran of the army chevrah kadishah, his vast experience in the excruciatingly holy work of honoring the remains of fallen Israeli soldiers has done nothing to dim the emotional aspect of his virtuous personality and powerful presentation. Speaking in the spacious new (two-year-old) facility, he showed us the rooms used for taharah, cleaning the body. One was designated for female soldiers; another had a mikvah.
On October 7, 2023, Simchas Torah, hundreds of bodies overwhelmed the facility. Most martyrs were civilians, and thus, Tzahal did not have the identifying data that they record for all soldiers. There was no record of who was missing and no knowledge of who was taken hostage. Many bodies were burned beyond recognition.
Rav Wechsler’s heart-rending description of the heroic non-stop work of identifying the bodies, often using DNA, was overwhelming and unforgettable. The professionalism, including a trip to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, which is the top DNA lab in the world, matched the idealism of the devoted male and female chevrah kadishah in establishing certain identity, legally and halachically, as quickly as possible. Rav Wechsler’s final speech in the “cheder preidah,” the room where families of the victims bade them farewell, was emotionally overpowering. He called the room “Kodesh Kodashim,” the Holy of Holies, and read a letter written by a bereaved father, filled with faith and pathos.
Rav Zimmerman then took us to a room filled with sifrei Torah from all parts of the world, donated to fulfill the needs of the soldiers throughout Eretz Yisrael and in Gaza. Even the ones unfit for use represent the eternity of our people, despite the constant efforts to destroy us. According to Rav Yaakov Emden (Sulam Beis El, p. 8), the unique historical phenomenon of a nation that has outlived all of the powerful empires that sought to destroy it and has survived with the Torah intact is a greater miracle than those that Hashem performed for our ancestors in Mitzrayim.
RABBI MORDECHAI WILLIG
