Sweet memories
His life story
Ori was born in Kiryat Arba, on Shevat 21, 5761, the son of Joshua and Shulamit. Ori is the younger brother of Navah, Bat Zion, Yishai, Tsofiya, Elisha and Malachi. As a child, he was the playboy of the family, standing out for his joy of life, wisdom and leadership. When he was 3 years old, he traveled with his family on a short mission to New York and it was amazing to see that within months, Ori had mastered the language, speaking and singing in English. In elementary school, he studied at Talmud Torah Kenin Torah, often showing exceptional leadership and leadership abilities, organizing activities and sweeping friends and teachers after him. At parent meetings, we were always told about the ‘problem’ that he talked a lot about politics and was worried about the state of the Jewish people. The teachers in elementary school did not know how to deal with a student at such a young age with knowledge and the ability to debate the situation. He would regularly read books, spend hours in the library and won first place in summer reading competitions. He usually wouldn’t stay in school until the end of the day and would come home early, it was a bit of a waste of time and he also didn’t get along with the teachers… Ori really loved his brothers who always spoiled him, he loved playing with the nephews who were closer to his age than his older sisters.
In high school, Ori transferred to the Dimona Yeshiva, where he had years of blossoming, personality development, high-level religious studies, and also invested in secular studies. He traveled a lot during vacations and also a little while studying, and invested endlessly in his friends.
Ori was active in the youth of Kiryat Arba, a guide in the Ariel Youth Movement, volunteered at the Friends for Medicine, and was one of the organizers of the summer camp. Despite all his activities, he did not give up on a high-level matriculation certificate, studied and invested in all subjects. About a year after graduating from high school, he received a scholarship at Ben-Gurion University for free undergraduate studies because he was one of the five highest matriculation certificates in the Southern District.
At the end of high school, a friend of his was killed in a terrorist attack, and Ori decided with his friends to mobilize the youth of the Kiryat Arba and establish a fountain in his memory. They worked day and night for an entire summer under his leadership, and an amazing project emerged.
Ori started his Shiur A in the Ramat Gan Yeshiva and after about two months in the Yeshiva, his good friend was killed. The crisis was very difficult. Ori left the Yeshiva, worked for a while, and after a while he decided to pick himself up and move forward. He gathered friends and teenagers from Kiryat Arba and built a promenade and lookout in his memory, further to the spring. This was an amazing project. At the same time, he began studying at the higher Yeshiva in Dimona. He progressed and flourished steadily in his studies.
Even in the higher Yeshiva, he made sure to keep in touch with his friends in all circles, from the high school Yeshiva and from Kiryat Arba. He would invest in organizing meetings and trips, working in all kinds of odd jobs, learning about construction, renovations, plumbing, flooring, pergolas, and more… Ori loved to experiment with everything without worrying about whether or not he had enough knowledge. He was constantly busy, accomplishing a lot in every area of life.
Ori smiled a lot and was happy in life, loved his family very much and always wanted us to organize family gatherings, loud music, games and gifts. He tried to call and talk to his brothers on all sorts of topics, each according to what was appropriate. Some helped with studies, some with advice on trips and some just had fun conversations. If anyone moved or needed help with anything, Ori would always show up to help with a lot of strength and desire.
At the beginning of class C, Ori decided to enlist. After much effort, he received the blessing of the yeshiva’s head, who wanted him to continue his studies. But when Ori wants something, it’s hard to stand in his way. At first, Ori wanted to enlist in the Golani, and he had to turn the world upside down to make it happen, and of course, he succeeded in the end. Two weeks after enlistment, during the scouting exams, Ori was drafted into the Egoz unit. It was difficult for him, but he decided to go for it with all his might. He completed a course in Egoz, received a short assignment, and went on to the officers’ course.
A few months after enlistment, he began dating Miriam and soon they decided to get married. During their demanding service, in Adar 5782, we were able to celebrate our wedding with all our friends from the kriya, yeshiva, and the army. Ori completed an officer course and was assigned to Battalion 51 in Golani. Ori invested a lot of energy in the soldiers and promoted them professionally, along with a great deal of investment on a personal level.
Ori always made sure to invest endlessly in his new relationship, with trips, gifts, and endless love, in parallel with his military service. On 20 Sivan 5783, his son Roy was born, who brought a lot of light and happiness to his parents and the entire family. Despite all the difficulties Ori had in the army with commanders who did not always appreciate his investment and did not listen to his concerns about security, he always had the joy and relief of Miriam and Roy.
Ori went home every second Sabbath. On Sabbaths when he didn’t show up, Miriam and Roy would come visit him at the base. Last Friday, on the eve of Simchat Torah, Miriam and Roy visited him at the Kissufim outpost, where he had been stationed for several months.
On Simchat Torah morning, the last morning of Ori’s short life, he went out with five of his soldiers on a routine patrol of the perimeter fence. At 6:40, a barrage of mortar shells and rockets began, in an unusual quantity. Minutes later, and at a distance close to Ori’s force, a Nuhva force breached the border fence using a tractor, with dozens of terrorists riding motorcycles and pickup trucks breaching the fence. Ori deployed his soldiers for a battle of resistance that lasted for hours. During the battle, Ori and the force eliminated dozens of terrorists, while moving through a field infested with terrorists and about four kilometers from the outpost. After four hours of fighting, when Ori sensed the soldiers’ exhaustion, he gathered them under cover, spoke words of encouragement to them about the great right they had to defend the people of Israel, pulled out his phone and took a joint selfie. Later, the ammunition ran out and due to a significant numerical disadvantage against the enemy, Ori tried to call for help and when he was not answered, he was forced to deal with the complex and impossible reality himself. At this point, Ori brought his professional experience from Egoz in the field of navigation, and led the soldiers in flanking and unusual ways while dodging the hundreds of terrorists around them until they entered the outpost again. The fighting lasted about nine hours against the terrorists. At the entrance to the outpost, Ori ordered his soldiers to rearm to continue fighting at the outpost itself. As Ori walked towards the base gate, there was a barrage A heavy barrage of shrapnel, one of the shrapnels fell on Ori and his soldier who was next to him and they were killed on the spot.
Ori was promoted to the rank of captain after his death.
Ori managed to do in his short life what people don’t manage to do in decades, he left behind a lot of photos, videos and endless written materials.
May his memory be blessed.
Fragments in his memory
Iron swords
On Simchat Torah night, Ori danced in the synagogue of the Kissufim outpost in honor of the Torah.
There were few people in the synagogue, but it felt like there was a large congregation.
At 4:00 in the morning, Ori and 5 of his soldiers went out to be on alert at dawn on the fence.
Around 6:30, heavy barrages began, Ori and his soldiers unloaded from the savannah and took cover, after a few minutes many terrorists began to approach the fence, some on foot and some on motorcycles and pickup trucks. Ori and his soldiers immediately began fighting. Ori divided them into 2 squads and reassured them that they would do as they had been taught. In the first few minutes, they eliminated terrorists and bravely defended the border. At some point, they realized that they had been exposed, that they were few against many, and that their savannah had been bombed. Ori and his soldiers retreated from the fence back toward the orchards and hid there. The entire time they were in the plantation, Ori tried to contact the base and secure a rescue.
At 12:45, Ori contacted Nir Chen, the sniper company commander, trying to call in a force through him to come help.
Nir Chen feared that Ori and his soldiers were kidnapped, he did not believe that the force would hold against all the enemy. Therefore, Ori sent signals like: “Mariam, Roy…” so that he would believe that he was talking to him, but still, with all the hustle and bustle, they were unable to send them a force to help.
Ori ordered his soldiers to save ammunition and shoot only those who saw them, and to put any terrorist they killed into the bushes so that they would not recognize that there was a force here.
They waited in the plantation for hours, and all this time they saw crowds of terrorists passing by them and occasionally eliminated terrorists who had discovered them.
Ori understands that he needs to cheer up his soldiers, so he decides to take out his cell phone and give the order to smile for the camera! (The last photo in “His Life Story”)
He told them that he would send it to their mothers, so that they would be proud of them! And his message was that at this moment they were protecting the people and the country!
When Ori realized that rescue was not coming, he decided to lead his soldiers back to base on foot.
Ori knew the terrain well, during his duty he made sure to study and know the terrain from every direction and in every way, everything that was happening in the area.
He navigated towards the outpost in an area infested with terrorists, but did so wisely while having trouble. They continued bravely towards the outpost, Ori led them through a streambed so that they would not be noticed. Their force eliminated about 80 terrorists, according to military estimates.
After hours of walking and fighting in which they ran out of water and ammunition, they managed to reach the outpost safely. There were a few moments of joy there – everyone at the post thought that Ori and his soldiers had been killed or kidnapped and when they saw them they were very happy.
Ori took out his credit card and ordered one of his soldiers to go buy everyone cans, which is not surprising because throughout his time on duty he always took care of his soldiers, treating them like sons.
After that, Ori ordered them to arm themselves in the company. They renewed their readiness with cartridges, drank water and then went out to the SHG to continue defending the post. As they left the company, a barrage of mortar shells began, Ori managed to tell his soldiers to take cover but then a mortar shell fell that led to the deaths of Ori and Ram Meir in the Tito 14th Battalion.
The battle lasted about 9 hours, during which they marched about 7 km and ended it heroically.
Articles by Ori
Principles of War - 30.08.2022
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האומץ להביע דעה – מטלת מג”ד בה”ד 1 – נובמבר 2022
איך הצוות שלי יראה במלחמה – מטלת מ”פ בה”ד 1 – ספטמבר 2022
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