Closing a circle of generations: The Torah scroll in memory of the 14 fallen was read at Beaufort

More than forty years have passed since that night in June 1982, when Golani reconnaissance fighters stormed Beaufort in a battle etched in the country's history. Recently, a circle of generations was closed there – a Torah scroll written in memory of 14 of their friends and commanders who fell over the years was brought up to the fortress in Lebanon, and the heroic soldiers of our day read from it with emotion.

Behind the initiative stands Menachem Goldberg, a resident of Hosha'ya, who personally knew all the heroes commemorated in the scroll. About six years ago, the Torah scroll was introduced to the settlement in memory of his friends and commanders, members of the teams that enlisted in the late 70s and early 80s.

The idea to bring the scroll specifically to Beaufort was born after Goldberg's son, who also served in the same unit, raised the suggestion:

"My son called me and said: 'Dad, I think it would be nice if they took the scroll up to Beaufort and read from it there'. I started thinking about it and said, if it will do someone good, why not?"

The approval from the Military Rabbinate did not take long to arrive. Earlier this week, in the morning hours, the scroll from Hosha'ya was brought north, crossing the border into Lebanese territory. On the summit of the fortress, under the open sky and in the place where the blood of their comrades was shed, the moving Torah reading took place. Around the scroll stood the young Golani fighters, 20 years old, who listened with reverence to the story of the historic battle and the names engraved on the mantle.

"I understood that there was tremendous excitement there," Goldberg recounted, describing the rare sight: "To see young soldiers connecting to the names of people who fell 40 years ago, it is not taken for granted. This connection, to the Torah scroll, to the names, to the fortress itself, simply spoke to them. They asked to be called to the Torah and to be part of this moment".

For the friends from Hosha'ya, commemorating the 14 is a life's work. "These are people who are so missed by Israeli society. When we take out the Torah scroll on Shabbat, I always stop and deliberate which of them to give a kiss on the mantle this time. It accompanies us in our daily lives, a great sorrow alongside a huge privilege to commemorate them in something timeless," Goldberg described with emotion.

When the scroll returned to its home in the Galilee, it brought with it a living greeting from the field. "It returned late at night, its suitcase was full of Lebanese dust," he noted with a bittersweet smile. "I felt that there was a closing of a circle here that we had been waiting for".

The journey to Beaufort also carries an eternal message. Precisely in a period of disputes and tensions in society, Goldberg wanted to remind of what makes the people of Israel unique: "We fought there in Lebanon then, and we are fighting there now too. When fighting, no one asks which party you vote for or what kind of kippah you have. We are all fighting together".

According to him, this unity is the testament of his friends. "We need to overcome the disputes with love. Every mention of a fallen soldier reminds us that we are not living here for nothing. There are those who paid with their blood so that we could continue to live here, and we must be worthy of this price. If we are not dependent on each other, we will be dependent next to each other".

Now, as the Torah scroll rests again in the Holy Ark in Hosha'ya, the Lebanese dust may have been cleaned, but the spirit of the Beaufort fighters, those who were and those who are, continues to blow between its letters.