Tomb of the Unnamed Soldier

[EDIT: on July 2nd, the Defense Ministry finally relented and allowed the inscription. It’s disgraceful that the nominally Jewish State left the tombstone of Yisrael הי”ד blank for all this time and put the grieving Yudkin family through this harrowing struggle. Moreover, there are other families still waiting for permission to have the same inscription added to the tombstones of their own loved ones, so I’ll leave this post up for now.]

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You've probably heard of the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier," but did you know that the State of Israel has a Tomb of the Unnamed Soldier?

Here's the shocking tale:

Last month, Captain Yisrael Yudkin (may Hashem avenge his blood) was killed while searching for terror tunnels in Gaza.

His bereaved parents, Rabbi Tovia and Tzippi Yudkin, understood that their son died as a kadosh (holy martyr who died because he was a Jew) while defending God's holy people and His holy land. Consequently, they planned to bury him NOT somewhere close to Kfar Chabad where they live, but in the holiest possible place, on the Mount of Olives facing the site of our Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

However, the Defense Ministry had other plans. In an initial conversation with the Yudkins’, Ministry officials insisted that he get buried on Mount Hertzel in the cemetery that honors Israel's fallen soldiers . They assured the Yudkins' that it would be fully in accordance with halacha (Jewish law), Jewish tradition, and the family's wishes. The Yudkins' assented.

After the burial during shiva, the Defense Ministry sent the parents the proposed wording for the tombstone inscription. It was not in accordance with chabad tradition in numerous ways. The Yudkins' submitted their corrections. The Defense Ministry agreed to all but one. They refused to put three small initials הי"ד (which stands for השם ינקום דמו May Hashem avenge his blood) following Yisrael's name on the tombstone.

Mrs. Yudkin relates how she cried to the government officials by phone: "But my son lived and died as a Jew defending our Jewish land, and this is what Jews wrote on their tombstones for thousands of years..."
All her pleas fell on deaf ears.

Finally, a high-ranking officer called her up from an anonymous number (!) and rudely berated her -- in the middle of shiva for her son -- ordering her to sign on the Ministry's proposed second draft, and she refused. Then he threatened: "So his tombstone will remain blank!"

And blank it remains to this day some five weeks later, a departure from chabad tradition that requires its adherents to honor the departed by erecting an engraved tombstone without delay, well before the siyum hashloshim (thirtieth day from interment).

Mrs. Yudkin then became aware of some 15,000 bereaved families of fallen soldiers who also earnestly requested that הי"ד be inscribed on their child's tombstone but were heartlessly refused by the Ministry.

Mrs. Yudkin was dismayed to discover that the Defense Ministry typically agrees to requests from secular families to modify the regular inscription to accommodate alternative lifestyles and identities. LGBTQ and throuples, etc., are entitled to express themselves as they wish on their or their child's tombstone, but no such luck for traditional Jews.

Mrs. Yudkin bewails the fact that they'd refuse her request even though she has dutifully sent four of her children to serve in IDF, two of whom are still in active duty, and she as a mother paid the ultimate price for her country by delivering her son Yisrael to die defending his people and our holy Land. She also emphasized that her son served his people as a JEW, not as a Zionist, and that it would have been his sincerest wish to be buried as a Jew consistent with Jewish tradition in the fullest sense. And yet, here in our Jewish Land, a supposedly Jewish state refuses to accommodate a Jewish family of a Jewish martyr in upholding basic Jewish tradition, and would allow his hallowed resting place to remain blank and disgraced.

When asked, "So what will be?," Mrs. Yudkin responded:

“It's difficult for me to even say this [choking up with tears]…

“If we'll need to disturb the holy body (of our martyred son Yisrael הי"ד), remove him from Mount Hertzel, and give him another levaya and bury him in a holy place, just in order to write the initials for 'May Hashem avenge his blood'... this will be the end of the State."

So there you have it folks. An intractable standoff between a grieving Jewish mother and a Zionist regime.

Meanwhile, the unmarked tombstone of a fallen soldier stands silently atop Mount Hertzl for the first time in the State of Israel's 76-year history, in silent protest to the Godless government's attempt to erase millennia of Jewish values and tradition.

The regime responds with stubborn silence.

The entire Israeli population waits in silence.

The silence is deafening.

Video link: