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Abutbul, Yosef (Yossi)

Abutbul, Yosef (Yossi)


A beautiful and handsome son. He was born on August 27, 1986 in Haemek Hospital in Afula. The eldest son of a family of seven. The eighth child was born after his death. Yossi was born and raised in Beit Shean. As a member of a religious-Haredi family, he studied at a cheder from the age of three, then in a religious kindergarten and a religious school. From the sixth grade, he studied for four years in a yeshiva in Rekhasim. The rabbis who taught him said that he was destined for greatness, and he won a prize for his excellence. When he was fifteen, his parents moved to the settlement of Gan Ner. Yossi completed his high school studies at Yeshivat Or Hadash in Kfar Hasidim and moved on to continue his studies at Yeshivat She’erit Yaakov in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of Jerusalem. “A talented and intelligent boy, introverted and full of pomegranate,” said Danny Atar, head of the Ma’aleh Gilboa Regional Council and a friend of the family. “I saw him as something special, he was my angel, I have seven children, but he was a sweetheart, a good boy, quiet and modest, who always cared, loved and helped us by our parents and brothers.” As if the mitzvah of honoring parents was a supreme value for him, the sentences such as “Mother, what is missing, what do you need?” They were in his mouth. “Last Shabbat he stood and washed dishes, generous and kind,” the mother said. The family describes him as “a little father” to his brother. Shyness and modesty characterized him. Ruth Chayat, his aunt, tells of him: “A child with many values, a great tzaddik, a lot of humility and simplicity, he was satisfied with what he had. At the age of eighteen, Yossi hesitated whether to enlist in the IDF or to continue his Torah studies as a yeshiva student, but at first he did not want to enlist and asked for exemption from the rabbi, but his parents preferred not to enlist. Dudu Gilad, who served in the Golani brigade and told him about the value of the service, and chose to join the Golani Brigade as well: “We did not want to prevent him, we did not pressure him, On March 20, 2005, Yossi was pleased with his military service as a fighter, and was very attached to his good friends in Battalion 51. The fact that he wore a black skullcap and preserved the religious values ​​on which he grew up did not prevent him In the two years he served in the army, he only wanted to contribute to the state, because he believed that this was what he had to do, and when he finished his training, Yossi entered Lebanon and his parents took great care of him. Yossi Ben-Moga: “Yossi underwent a commanders’ course and even received a certificate of excellence for his performance as a combat soldier.” During the second week of fighting in the Second Lebanon War, Yossi was wounded in a battle in Bint Jbeil, where eight soldiers were killed: his officer and his good friends. The soldiers entered Lebanon on Sunday, July 23, 2006, and settled in houses on the outskirts of the town of Bint Jbeil. Two days later, during which the fighters carried out operational activity in the area, the battalion began to move into the town at night. Early in the morning they reached the town and settled in houses. The battle lasted about six hours, face to face and heavy fire from all directions, and at the end the fighters of the 51st Battalion of Golani managed to defeat Hezbollah soldiers, kill more than forty of them and destroy a number of Katyusha launchers used to fire at northern communities. This battle was among the main battles of the Second Lebanon War, the most difficult and heroic. The 51st Battalion received a battalion commendation, and seventeen of the battalion’s soldiers received various decorations, including the decoration of courage and bravery for demonstrations of courage and brotherhood in battle. On Thursday Yossi called and told his mother: “I am wounded at Ziv Hospital in Safed.” His mother thought he had been wounded in training because she did not know he was N.Conference in Lebanon. She said nicely: “During the war, when I asked where you were, he answered: ‘Regavim.'” At the hospital, Yossi told his parents about the inferno to which he had infiltrated Lebanon. His company, Rubayat G, was hit by a grenade thrown by a Hezbollah terrorist. The battalion commander, Major Roi Klein, managed to shout to the soldiers to get away, and Yossi jumped to the side, and then his commander leapt out of the grenade and was killed, while Yossi was lightly injured by shrapnel in the legs, shoulder and head. One of the commanders on the scene told his father Nissim: “After he helped carry the stretchers, he missed the helicopter and stayed for two more days on the ground, But he did not complain or cry. “The doctor recommended that he stay in the hospital until he recovered, but Yossi objected, and demanded that he return home, neither the requests of the doctors nor the persuasion of the R ‘ 2 (Medical Link Unit) that required him to remain monitored. Yossi insisted on being released, signed the papers and came home with a swollen leg. His body ached, he suffered from ringing in the ears and mental distress – the scenes he saw in battle when his friends were wounded and killed, and the harsh conditions of the fighting, left him with a very difficult impression. Yossi received seven days of rest, among them he managed to recite HaGomel blessing in the synagogue in his settlement, to accompany one of his comrades in the company and to visit the members who were hospitalized. At the end of the seven days, despite the pleas of his parents and brothers, Yossi returned to Lebanon to defend the homeland. The sense of commitment to return to the unit and join his comrades in the combat unit at the front did not allow him, and overcame the fear and the physical and mental scars. The day after his return to the army, Yossi called his parents and told him that his unit had gone out to freshen up in Ginosar. It was the last phone call, but the parents did not worry, they knew he was calling when he was able to: “We were sure he was in training and we did not want to disturb him,” the mother says. The next day he returned to the battles in Lebanon. The commanders feared for his safety and gave him security tasks until he returned to himself. But he refused to accept mere reserve duty and demanded to return to fighting alongside his comrades on the first line of combat. Five days later, during the last sixty hours of the war, Yossi was killed with his friend Corporal Tamar (Tomer) Amer in an operational accident when an IDF tank accidentally ran over them in the village of Hadata in the central sector of southern Lebanon. It was Saturday at 5:30 in the morning when the fighters lay in the ditch. Next to Yossi was the tefillin he kept on every day. When the news was announced, during the Sabbath, a cry of a shriek screamed and fell on the stairs leading to the second floor of the house, endangering the fetus in its womb. The news spread immediately in the community community Gan Ner at the foot of the Gilboa, and the house filled with neighbors and friends. But it was heavy for the first time that he lost his first son as a soldier in the IDF, and the family preferred not to call the family until the end of the Sabbath.The symbol of Yossi Abutbul was supposed to celebrate his 20th birthday five days after he fell in battle in southern Lebanon. He was buried the next day in the military cemetery in Afula, in the wake of the many sirens that were heard at the time, but hundreds of people accompanied him on his last journey. After his death, Yossi Abutbul was promoted to the rank of sergeant and received a medal from the commander of the Northern Command (Battalion 51.) During the shiva the house was filled with rabbis and rabbis from the yeshiva. And learnedOn Sabbaths when Yossi stayed in the army, he would make Sabbath meals, talk to his friends about Judaism, and try to bring them closer to it. At home, too, he would offer his own innovations and Torah readings on the weekly Torah portion. “The secular soldiers liked to have a Shabbat meal with him and they always asked him to ‘give us kiddush,'” his friends said. “Yossi was born in Av and died in Av … On Tisha B’Av he was at home … he came to say goodbye, and we did not know!” Painfully said his father miracles. Yossi’s family and friends eulogized him: “A handsome and handsome young man, modest, noble, quiet and pleasant, devoted to his parents and admired by his little brothers and sisters.” His death is a great loss for his family and friends. At the end of the shiva, dozens of families participated in a special Jewish seminar in memory of Yossi. Yussim was a favorite student of Rabbi Yosef Fogel, who runs the kolev activity of “values” in the northern communities. Rabbi Fogel spoke of Yossi with great emotion: “I always had the pleasure of talking to him, and he was very thoughtful, thoughtful and profound in the Gemara and in his philosophy of ethics and faith. Brother Moshe was born about two months after Yossi’s death. “Yossi did not know that his mother was pregnant, it was supposed to be a surprise for him – a young brother,” said Father Nissim, describing the sad joy. During the sermon at the circumcision ceremony, Rabbi Fogel mentioned the words of the Zohar that according to them, as a close relative of the first degree, Yossi is the soul of the place. “We must be strengthened to the height of his soul,” he said, offering to participate in Torah lessons and prayers, and especially to strengthen himself with the blessing of Asher Asher, which is a great virtue.

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