Hundreds arrived this morning (Monday) at the cemetery in Ashdod to accompany on his last journey the late Major Shlomo Yonatan Hazot, a resident of the city, 36 years old, a fighter in Battalion 9207 of the Jerusalem Brigade (16), who was killed in battle in the center of the Gaza Strip. Shlomo left behind a beautiful wife and a two-year-old toddler.
“I still don’t believe it, I hope you come back,” his father painfully eulogized Eli. “When you didn’t answer the WhatsApp messages I sent yesterday, I already had a bad feeling. Shlomo, our eldest and oldest son, was the second father of the house, always taking care.”
Eli, the father of Major Shlomo Yonatan Hazot, photo: Yossi Zeliger
“The message was very difficult, I’m still in a bad dream,” Eli added. “How good you were. Ever since you were little, from yeshiva, after that in Bnei Akiva, you were always holy and pure. You strengthened and helped us, wherever I wanted you, you were always there, I never heard ‘no’ from you. From you it was always possible to learn what it means to respect a father and mother .When I was angry with you you never raised your voice, you always kept your head down.
“My dear son, this story is very difficult for me. I don’t know how we will get through this year. I told you, ‘You have done enough. You have been called to Gaza three times, you are fighting, your wife is pregnant, a little girl, stay at home’. You told me, ‘Dad, 25% of the company They weren’t recruited, if I don’t go others won’t come either and we have to eliminate these terrorists, these wrongdoers, for everything they did to us.’
Melki, the widow of the late Major Shlomo Yonatan Hazot at his funeral,
Malki’s wife said goodbye to her husband: “My peace, my love, my man, I can’t stand it. I’m here now and I can’t believe you’re not here to hug me, I can’t digest. When we found out I was pregnant, it was a point of light in our chaos, all You were so excited to hear that we were expecting a son, I was already waiting for you to come back from the reserves so we could tell family and friends.
“I can’t imagine that we won’t have moments of just a busy work day and receiving a WhatsApp from you with a picture of a trip we did together. I already miss the laughter and the playful smile, the wise advice, the shared outings, the Saturdays together.
“My love, you are the most special person I have ever met, loved by everyone. Wherever we traveled in the world, everyone was always attracted to you, consulted you and changed the route to join you. Very quickly since we started dating I realized that you are not only my peace, you are everyone’s peace. Everywhere I went everyone called you my peace. Even now, in your death, you chose to be everyone’s. You were the source of my pride and gave me all the confidence possible.”
The funeral of the late Major (res.) Shlomo Yonatan Hazot, photo: Yossi Zeliger
Malki added and gave a tearful eulogy: “You always said, ‘Everything will be fine, I’m calm, you can too.’ You were the best father that Yaeli and our son will ever have. You are our pride, it pains me that the son who will come will not get to experience and know you and will not get to receive all the good things that I and Yali experienced from the time we shared with you. I will always remember your smile and take it with me.”
“You and mom meet again”
Yisrael his brother eulogized: “Elder brother, the pillar of the house, I deliberately chose to call you that, as my mother would have called you. Our mother, whom we only lost eight months ago and we are still not done grieving and digesting it, our mother who loved so much, you are connected as one To the second in such an unusual way that not even a year has passed and you are meeting again.
“I am sure that your mother accompanies you up and watches over you. You fell in the battle for the sanctification of Hashem, a martyr’s death that only a few of the people of Israel have earned. You were the hero and the object of my personal admiration, but your heroism and legacy belong to everyone. You were a big brother who was a father to everything. Always taking care , interested, pushing us forward, just like mom did.”
Shlomo’s uncle, Rabbi Shlomo Amsalem, also said goodbye: “My dear nephew, eight months ago we lost your mother, who is dearest to us of all. The difficulty of you, the children, and that of Father Eli has not been healed. What we did not fill came upon us in the most tragic way possible, as we read In the book Lamentation on Tisha B’av, not long ago.”
The funeral of Major (acting) Shlomo Yonatan Hazot, photo: Yossi Zeliger
“We lost you, when death appeared at our window in complete surprise, that you leave a young widow with a little daughter. Yesterday when I heard this bad news and I was upset, I asked the Holy One, blessed be He, what is happening to us? Give me a sign that we will wake up. When I got home I received a sign of the initials of your name And there is your mother Miriam. You are the 702nd space, we are not able anymore. We ask the Holy One to save us, we have no strength anymore.”
“We won a professional fighter”
His unit mate Asahel Rosenberg also said goodbye: “We won a professional fighter who was dedicated to every mission. You were a significant figure in the company. You taught that when you work you work and when you rest you rest. The future of the country was important to you, you left a huge hole in us. We will remember you forever.”
His brother-in-law, Yair Froman eulogized: “You are the big brother, with all the responsibilities of the big brother. In our house you are married to Malki, my little sister, the little brother-in-law of the Froman family, in English a brother-in-law is called a brother in law – you were a full brother. Eight months ago your mother Miriam passed away from the damn disease, you were so attached to her, not five months passed and your father, our father passed away, we saw that you knew how to be the big brother at my father’s funeral, you were in the corner of the eye to bring us water where we were not functioning.
“My friends thought you were a biological brother, you said Kaddish with us about your mother and we about our father. You said almost nothing about the army so that we wouldn’t know that our little brother is in Gaza, on Saturday a week ago you said you hoped to be released and arrive, I didn’t understand what was so complicated about arriving. But you managed to come, and we were privileged to spend an entire Shabbat with you, you didn’t let us feel that you were in Gaza, you smiled, you told funny stories as usual.”
Yesterday when the unit commander came and told us that you were a fighter, we were very surprised, I didn’t know that, a poisoned fighter who wants to bring security to the people of Israel, we were shocked how with your team you are expanding the Netzer corridor to bring security to the people of Israel. You gave everything for Israel. You left my sister’s kings with a fetus a few months old and not like your upbringing but only from stories and a two-year-old girl who doesn’t know that your father went to a battle from which he will not return.”
Ashdod Mayor Yehiel Lesri, “The heart is broken, but the spirit is still strong. These are very difficult days for the State of Israel. Days in which we are burying the best of our sons. In a bad and bitter war with cruel enemies, whose only mission on earth is to destroy us. Just because we are Jews.” .
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