4/22/2007 This time we will stand at attention
This time we will stand at attention
By Eric Weiss translated
This Yom Hazikaron will have a completely new meaning for soldiers of Nahal Haredi (Netzach Yehuda Battalion). This time, death came knocking at their door. A close friend, a soldier, Staff Sergeant Roi Ferjon was killed at a checkpoint in the Jordan Valley, and became the first battalion casualty. “The Haredi alternative to standing at attention when the sirens sound is reciting chapters of Tehilim". "This time we will do both”, a soldier from the battalion said.
Yom Hazikaron: Jerusalem
This evening, at eight o'clock, a deafening siren will be heard throughout the country symbolizing the start of Yom Hazikaron. For two minutes the State of Israel stops to contemplate and share its respect for the soldiers that have fallen. Major highways come to a standstill, silence engulfs the cities. This year, the soldiers of Nahal Haredi will dedicate its minute of silence to a friend, Roi Ferjon, of blessed memory. Roi’s friends say that for them, Yom Hazikaron now has an added meaning. Most of the battalion’s soldiers come from families that refuse to stand during the siren. It is defined in Haredi circles as a pagan custom, or “the ways of the gentiles”. Haredim are quick to explain that they honor the dead through prayer and study, and not through a custom of the frivolous masses. In the Yeshivot where the soldiers studied, daily prayer was scheduled to coincide with the siren so as not to put the students in an uncomfortable situation. However, for the battalion's Haredi soldiers who lost one of their own in 2006, this time it will be different.
“We are a new breed, we are Israeli -- Haredim ", said a friend of Ferjon, Sergeant Yonatan Manovich of B'nei Brak."The alternative to standing during the siren on the Haredi street is the recitation of a chapter Tehilim in memory of those lost and today we do both. You have to understand that in the Haredi world it is very difficult to connect emotionally with the siren; it is not an accepted social norm and is perceived as problematic to our Jewish lifestyle. However this year is special and we will combine between both worlds".
The death of staff Sergeant Ferjon has put a spotlight on this unique infantry unit that supplements its daily combat duties with regular prayer and daily Torah classes. David Ben-Gurion once famously said "every Jewish mother shall know that she has bestowed her child into the hands of competent commanders". This quote hangs proudly in the battalion's mess hall as it appears in the mess hall of tens of other military units. However, not far from it hangs another quote: "and you shall remember that God the Almighty is the one who gives you the strength to wage war". Ferjon’s friends are in a constant battle between those two philosophies.
"A day after Roi was killed, I returned to the site where it all happened, and tried to bring my soldiers back into the routine, but they were still shocked by the funeral", Manovich says. "As I was getting briefed by the commander whose shift was just ending, we suddenly realized that we were standing on top of a giant bloodstain that was still splattered on the asphalt. This was the moment when I finally realized how dangerous our job really is, we always had this feeling that our faith in God served as an extra body-shield that no other soldier had, but after Roi's death things look different".
“I have to ask mom”
On Saturday, August 19, 2006, at 12:01 p.m., a terrorist arrived at the Bekaot checkpoint in the Jordan Valley; reached for his gun, and started shooting at the soldiers operating the checkpoint. A single bullet penetrated Roi Ferjon's chest, who was then the commander onsite. He was killed instantaneously. The remaining soldiers chased after the terrorist and killed him.
Ferjon was 21 when he died; he is one of quintuplets (three boys and a girl) that were born two or three minutes apart to Tammy and Emanuel. When the quintuplets were two years old, Emanuel was killed in a work related accident and Tammy was left to raise the children alone. This tragedy made the family very close and after Roi’s enlistment, he maintained a unique relationship with his mother.
“Roi was killed only a week after I came to the battalion, but I distinctly remember him and his warm personality,” The battalion commander lieutenant colonel Itzik Gai said in an interview. “He was the second commander I met while surveying the sector and I was immediately impressed with his demeanor and inquired whether he was planning to go to officer training school. I’ll never forget his answer; he said ‘I need to ask my mother’. That's not something you hear everyday from a soldier. Then I understood what a special and warm relationship he had with his mother.
“But that is exactly what made him a special soldier. He embodied all of the qualities that we would like to see of every soldier: on the one hand he showed love and dedication towards all his soldiers and on the other hand he was dedicated unequivocally to the highest standards of professionalism from himself and his soldiers, without compromise”.
Ferjon’s drill sergeant, second lieutenant Daniel Atali, remembers a remarkable soldier. “Although being his commander we had to keep our distance, I still had a special relationship with him. What stood out about Roi was how quiet and reserved he was on the one hand, yet on the other hand, how he was always the first to take initiative and eager to help his friends”.
Ferjon, as opposed to most of the soldiers in the battalion, did not come from a Haredi home. He studied in a Mechina (preparatory yeshiva) connected to the Yeshiva in Bet-El, where he decided that the unique environment offered by the Nahal Haredi battalion was more suited for him. Alongside the battalion combat activities in the Jordan Valley and Jericho, Nahal Haredi offers regular Torah classes, food that is kosher le'mehadrin, and a base that has no female soldiers. In addition, after the shooting incident at the checkpoint, rabbis were brought in to counsel the soldiers instead of psychologists. "There is no doubt that psychologists serve an important role in such situations, however in our battalion things must work a little differently",
Lt. Col. Gai explains: "We have a supporting team of commanders and rabbis who deal with things in a different manner. The fact of the matter is that we returned to the checkpoints without incident and there was no tension between the soldiers and the local Palestinian population. This proves that the battalion is strong, mature, and understands the gravity of the situation that it is in.
We find consolation in our faith
The battalion has come a long way since its establishment in 1999 as the initiative of a small group of rabbis who joined forces with the Ministry of Defense. Nahal Haredi started as a company within battalion 50 of the Nahal Brigade and recently joined the Kfir Brigade associated with the central command. (Upon joining Kfir, Nahal Haredi switched from the Green Beret to the splotched camouflage pattern used by the Kfir Brigade).
Many attack the battalion and claim that it was created as a decoy in order to halt legislation that would have led to a mass draft for all Haredi men. In addition, some claim that most of the soldiers are in fact religious Zionists and not Haredim. However, according to the battalion's commander the number of Haredim enlisting in the battalion is growing from year to year. Today, the battalion has close to 700 combat soldiers, and approximately 70% are Haredi.
"Even if we don't see the fruits immediately, we must persist with this important venture", insists Avigdor Kahalani, head of social -- security affairs in the Ministry of Defense and a liaison between the battalion and the ministry. "It is the act of an Israeli, a Zionists, and a nationalist, that serves as an example for the coming generations of the community. I see these Haredi young men as role models and symbols of trust and citizenship; we must encourage them and help them overcome any barriers that stand in their way”.
The Haredi community was skeptical towards this new battalion and the possible influences that "the boys" would be exposed to from the secular world. The reaction was harsh: "they were afraid that our secure community bubble would burst, and the Haredi world reacted with anger and violent demonstrations", Sergeant Manovitch says.
"The feeling was that all the barriers had been broken, the Haredi community was breached by the outside world. Social reform is not something that comes easy in our community. There were soldiers whose families sat in mourning after they heard that their sons enlisted. It had also become more difficult for us to find a shidduch (a match), since we are outside the loop. There were even extreme cases where family members were hurt by our actions, since families of soldiers were perceived to have something rotten about them.
“However, since the Lebanon war people started looking at us differently, there was suddenly a change in perspective. As I walked through the streets of B'nei Brak, people would stop me and ask how I was doing and wishing me to keep safe. There has definitely been a change in attitude within Haredi circles towards the Nahal Haredi. This is due, to some extent, to the increasing number of Haredi soldiers seen on the streets. On the other hand, some feel that the threat to the Haredi community is greater than ever. Today, the soldiers that are enlisting are not only boys who couldn't find themselves within that confined world, today even regular yeshiva students have chosen to get up from their studies in support of the country, without compromising their faith".
The first death in the battalion was definitely a turning point for the soldiers and in their opinion a turning point for the Haredi world as well. People now understand that these soldiers are stationed in dangerous combat situations. "Suddenly people realized that we put our lives on the line in order to protect them” Manovitz said. “It might sound horrible, but for most people it took one death for them to realize that we are real combat soldiers, and not just picture boys for the paper”.
“I remember when I heard about Roi's death on the news, I was in B'nei Brak for Shabbat and I could see people's reactions -- it shocked the Haredi world. I started receiving telephone calls from friends that studied with me, people I hadn't spoken to in a long time, friends from yeshiva; they all wanted to make sure I was okay and that I was taking care of myself”.
How does an event like that affect your faith?
“No doubt that there was a feeling of pride, a belief that no one in our unit would be killed because God was protecting us. After all, since basic training, we have scheduled times for studying Torah and prayer, and we have an on-staff rabbi who accompanies us into the field, even brings a Torah scroll when needed. We really believed that some higher force was watching over us. Nevertheless, counter to what you might think, this belief motivated us even more. It was understood that we needed to be as professional as can be in all our endeavors, whether that be combat operations or our faith in God and our prayers. For us it was all interrelated: just like I pray well, I go out into the field prepared and I do my duty to the fullest”.
Another soldier from the battalion sergeant Yaakov Kimchi pointed out that "from a Jewish perspective, death is not a tragic thing. In Judaism life is merely a corridor into the next world, as such, death in our unit was met with more optimism than in the secular world".
Notwithstanding that statement, where do the emotions and pain go?
“We are constantly fighting an inner battle between pain, mourning, and sorrow, but then you start thinking and you realize deep inside that it is an honor to die for God and our country. Sadness is sadness and pain is pain, but faith is the true consolation.
