He recited Kaddish at the spot where his father fell in southern Lebanon: "Mom said - you have a mission to complete"
About two years have passed since the day the Moyal family's heart was broken, when Shaul, a father of 10, fell in battle in southern Lebanon. His son Yehuda was drafted a few months later, and last week he closed a circle: he recited Kaddish at the spot where his father was killed, in a video that went viral. "I am continuing his path," he says in a special interview. "He chose to be at the forefront, knowing there were generations who would continue after him."
"My life changed on the Shabbat of Parashat Bereshit at two in the afternoon," says Corporal Yehuda Moyal (21) about the day he heard about his father's fall in battle. Sergeant Major (res.) Shaul Moyal (47), of blessed memory, was a father of 10 and a frontline fighter in the 8207th Battalion. He fell about two years ago in battle in southern Lebanon. Last week, his son completed a circle and recited Kaddish at the place where his father fell.
The Nahal Brigade commander spoke at the place where his brother fell in southern Lebanon: "Let our enemies know that our spirit is firm."
"In the ground here is a part of me that changed the moment Dad was killed. But we are continuing forward with the mission that Dad left us," Yehuda said. Facing a pile of stones and an Israeli flag, he stood with his brothers-in-arms on the land where his father fell and recited Kaddish in his memory. It was not only he who saw this as an emotional closing of a circle, on the anniversary of his enlistment for combat service, like his father. The video of him saying the Kaddish went viral.
"Before the battalion entered combat across the border, I called Mom and asked her if it was okay for me to enter Lebanon, and Mom, without hesitation, gave me her blessing and told me that I had a mission to complete. Dad left it to me," he told Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth about the moment whose documentation was distributed on the networks. "We try to continue Dad and the mission he left, and to give as much of myself as possible for the people of Israel. It is not for nothing that we passed by the place by chance with a minyan of friends. It was very important to me that when I reached this point I would recite Kaddish, to close this circle. I was privileged to reach the place where Dad and his comrades in battle were killed and gave their lives for the sanctification of God, I recited Kaddish and a few words in his memory," he shared.
"Dad had a conversation with my brother, who asked him: 'Dad, why are you going? You have 10 children, you are leaving a family here,'" Yehuda said. "Dad answered him: 'What is with you? I have achieved a lot in life and left a lot here, let the young ones remain.' Dad chose to be at the forefront even when he had 10 children, when he knew there were generations who would continue after him, while around him in the team were mostly single fighters."
When Yehuda arrived at the site of the fall, he discovered that the terrain had changed since the difficult encounter with terrorists in which his father fell in October 2024 - when the entire area was strewn with houses that hid terror infrastructure: "My true joy is that you come to a place and you simply see that everything is flat. They placed a pile of stones and above it an Israeli flag. It expresses something much stronger, that the people of Israel are here. I asked to thank and said - Dad, all this is thanks to you and your friends who gave your lives for the people of Israel."
"My father told me before he went out to the first maneuver in the fighting in Lebanon that he had a mission to return the residents of the North home," the son added. "And that is what happened, thank God. Even if he is not here with us to see it, I am sure he sees it from heaven. The settlements are blooming again and the children's laughter is heard in them again. Dad Shaul is not here with us to see it, but we were privileged and his will was fulfilled."
The contact with the clods of earth, the concrete fragments and iron splinters that cover the blood of his father and his friends was not easy for him, but this meeting was for him a kind of reconciliation with the broken reality of his life. "I felt that I was in a place that has a part of me here," says Yehuda.
Moyal studied for two years at the Tfachot Yeshiva in the "Hesder" track. Two weeks after his father fell, he reported to the induction center for enlistment, and eight months later he was drafted into the Kfir Brigade and moved to the Netzah Yehuda Battalion. Recently, he also received a new status and became an uncle to a little niece: "My sister had a little daughter, and Mom became a grandmother. I haven't met my niece yet but I saw her in pictures they sent me on the phone and she is so sweet and a sign for all of us - a sign of continuity. This is the true victory. That we continue and build and are built and the family expands. Dad's path was not cut off, we are the ones who continue it."
