Yesterday (Sunday), the Gush Etzion community center hosted the premiere of Noam Demski’s film From Last Yom Kippur. The film was produced by Har Etzion Yeshiva to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, during which the yeshiva lost eight of its graduates in battles in Sinai and the Golan Heights. The film focuses on the figure of the yeshiva’s head at the time, Rabbi Yehuda Amital z”l (Demski’s wife’s grandfather), his journeys to the frontlines during the war, the speeches he gave, and the profound impact the losses had on his leadership and worldview.
Demski began producing the film last year, when suddenly the current war broke out, bearing similarities to the Yom Kippur War in the circumstances of its outbreak. So far, Har Etzion Yeshiva has lost seven students and alumni in the current Operation Swords of Iron, a toll that almost equals that of 1973. Damski decided to shift the film’s focus, drawing a comparison between Rabbi Amital’s experience and that of the current yeshiva head, Rabbi Yaakov Medan. Both wars affected Rabbi Medan personally: in the Yom Kippur War, he fought on the frontlines and lost many friends, while in the current war, his son Elisha was critically wounded, came close to death, and lost both his legs.
“In the Yom Kippur War, I saw the Divine Presence on the battlefield. People risked their lives, declaring, ‘You shall not pass,’ doing everything for the revival of the people of Israel in its land… and it was no less significant than the splitting of the Red Sea and the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai,” Rabbi Medan shared in the film. “In this war, although I wasn’t on the battlefield, after my son was saved, I felt God holding my hand and saying, ‘Do not fear, My servant Jacob.’ I believe in Him, and I only ask that He continues to hold my hand in this difficult time.”
There is no doubt that in the current war, the Hesder Yeshivot students have carried a significant share of the burden of the fighting and casualties, proving their value and dedication to the state. They exemplify a high level of Torah study that does not come at the expense of faith in the need to defend the land and its people. “Since the days of Rabbi Akiva, there hasn’t been anything like this,” said Rabbi Amital in a famous 2008 speech also featured in the film, “where yeshiva students go to war and return to study Torah? A historic phenomenon!”
