Benshalom, Eitan

Son of Yonah and Hadassah. He was born on the 13th of Sivan 5707 (May 13, 1956) in the Massada group in the Jordan Valley, named after the late Eitan Harari, one of the best in the Paratroopers, who fell into his position a few days before his birth. Life on the eastern border of the country, which was often shelled by the enemy, left its mark on the boy’s soul and also instilled in him the recognition that the homeland must be protected, whatever the case. Eitan studied two grades in the elementary school in Badgania Bet. Afterwards, the family moved from Netanya to Netanya, where he completed his elementary studies at the Alumot School. He studied for one year at the ORT vocational school in Netanya. Eitan’s interest was not in his studies. He preferred the practical life, so he hoped that the studies at the Air Force Technical School in Haifa would be more suited to his dynamic personality and here he could combine Torah and action. And when he realized that when he finished the technical school, he would have to serve in the army as a ‘jobnik’ – and he longed to be a paratrooper – he abandoned his studies and began working as a construction engineer and earning a living from his work. Eitan was a nice guy, his speech was quiet, his face always smiling and he said beauty and splendor. Whatever he did, he did with his Lev, and the success illuminated him. He loved the social life, the pastimes, the preoccupation with the youth movement Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed in which he had a friend from childhood, and the soccer games – he asked his deportees to go with his father and his brother. In May 1974, Eitan was drafted into the IDF and volunteered for the Paratroopers Brigade, but the red beret did not show up on his first vacation home. About two months after his enlistment – on 28 June 1974 – Eitan fell during his service. He was brought to eternal rest in the cemetery in Netanya. Survived by his parents, two sisters and a brother.