Yishai Shani - Memorial Day Ceremony 5775

Things I said in memory of Uri at the 2015 Memorial Day ceremony: (Video after the image below)
Remembrance Day for the fallen in Israel’s armed forces and victims of hostilities is a heavy day, a day when we look up to those who paid the most expensive price so that we could continue to live here, in our home.
I want to tell you today about my brother, Captain Uri Mordechai Shani, who fell in the Battle of Kisufim on October 7, 2023, and his way of honoring all IDF soldiers who fell for us.
Uri was 22 years old, assigned as a platoon commander in the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade after a grueling commando career. He grew up in Kiryat Arba, a young man full of light – as his name suggests – with a smile that could illuminate everyone. He was married to Miriam and father to Roi, who was born four months before his fall.
Uri was a man of big dreams and a deep mission. He wrote himself a list of life tasks, the main ones of which were: to have a good eye, to fall in love with the Torah, to love every person, and to make the most of every minute of life. And so he lived.
On the morning of October 7, on Simchat Torah, Uri was at the Kissufim outpost with his soldiers. When the heavy barrage began and the alert came about the infiltration of terrorists, he did not hesitate. He took Carmel A., a standby team at the outpost consisting of five of his soldiers, jumped to the fence, and saw before his eyes hundreds of terrorists breaking in. For long hours, he and his soldiers fought bravely, eliminating dozens of terrorists, and defending the outpost and the nearby kibbutz. They stood there, few against many, until the ammunition ran out. Uri tried to call for help, and when it did not arrive, he guided his soldiers back to the outpost under fire. At five in the afternoon, as he stood at the base gate on his way to the bunker to arm himself, he was hit by an mortar shell. He fell there, along with his contact, Ram Meir Batitto, Y.D.
Uri’s story is a story of heroism, but it is also a story of sacrifice. He knew what was happening in Gaza in the months before the war. He warned again and again that something big was coming and personally told me about the concerns the day before, but his voice, like the voices of others, was not heard at all. And yet, when the moment came, he stood there, on the front line, as he always did, and fought to the last bullet and beyond, to the last drop of blood.
Uri left behind a wife, a baby, a family, and dreams – and above all, a legacy of devotion to this people and this country.
When I think of Uri, I also think of all the other soldiers and victims of hostilities who have fallen – more than 30,000 since the establishment of the state. Each of them was a whole world, with a family, hopes, and a story of their own.
Thanks to them, we are here, continuing to work, to build, to live.
Memorial Day is not only a day of sorrow, but also a day of commitment – ​​to continue what they started, to turn this pain into meaning.
Tonight, when we hear the siren, I will stand and think of Uri – of the brother I had, of the hero he was. And I ask you to think of him and of everyone, and to ask ourselves: How do we continue their light? How do we continue their path..?