When Faith Becomes Action - The Soldier Who Saved His Unit | The Land of Israel Fellowship

uh, in this season of of mourning, there's one soldier I've been thinking about even more often than usual because for about 10 years now he has been living in my heart. Not only because of the way he left the world, but because of the way he lived when he was in it. Um, he fell in the summer of 2006. In these very weeks, in the three weeks. And I think his story is deeply powerful. Um, it gives us a window, I I think into understanding this week's Torah portion on a deeper level. His name was Ro'i Klein. And he was only 31 years old. A deputy battalion commander in the Golani Brigade, which as you know, I served in the Golani Brigade as well. I remember back in the days when Jeremy and I hosted Tuesday Night Live in Jerusalem. Anyways, I don't know if you guys remember that, but we did an entire program about him and we interviewed his family. And and uh, some of his soldiers were there. Their testimony and it really stayed with me ever since. Not only with me, but you know, even after all these years, his name is familiar uh, here in Israel. He was a real hero. Um, Ro'i was a deeply religious young man. He'd studied Torah in what was called a Hesder Yeshiva, which integrates military service with Torah study. That's also where I went. He lived in the community of Eli in the hills of Samaria, north of our mountains here in Judea. Um, he had a wife and two little boys waiting for him at home. And and here's a detail that has always stayed in my mind. Now, in the three weeks specifically Ro'i's parents, just think about this where we are in history cuz the three weeks, it's not just about the temples. It's about every single tragedy that seems to have happened again and again and again during the three weeks, culminating on the ninth of Av. Ro'i's parents, they were Holocaust survivors. Most of his mother's family was murdered in the Shoah. Right? Most of his family mother's family was was murdered in the Holocaust. So, just take a moment and think about the whole arc of that one life. A family that Europe tried to erase and one generation later, their son is standing on his own land in his own country in the uniform of a Jewish army that did not exist when they were being hunted. That's not a footnote. That's the entire story of our people compressed into a single family into a single story. Now, in that summer of 2006, Roi and his men were fighting house to house in a town in southern Lebanon called Bint Jbeil and they were ambushed. And in the middle of that ambush, a live grenade came flying over the wall and landed right in the middle of Roi's soldiers. And Roi Klein did not hesitate. He shouted a warning and then he threw his own body onto that grenade using his own flesh to absorb the blast so that the young men around him would live. And and just, you know, open your your hearts to that for a moment, my friends, because as if that legendary heroism and selflessness wasn't enough, what happened during those two seconds between throwing himself on that grenade and the grenade exploding is what will live in my heart and the hearts of our nation forever. In that fleeting moment between throwing himself down and the explosion that would take his life, Roi cried out at the top of his lungs. His men all testified to this. He cried, "Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad." Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. The oldest declaration of faith we have. The same words Rabbi Akiva cried out as the Romans tore his flesh off of his body. The same words a thousand years of Jewish martyrs whispered as they were led to their deaths. And Roi Klein's last conscious act on this earth was to fuse the ultimate prayer to the ultimate deed in a single motion. And it didn't even end there because he didn't to die instantly. A lot of people don't know this. As he lay there mortally wounded with his soldiers rushing to try to save his life, Roi used the last strength he had to tell them to stop working on him and to go treat the other wounded men lying beside him instead. Even dying, his mind was on his fellow soldiers and never himself. And I've I really carried that story with me for so long because it asks in some ways I think the exact question that this week's Torah portion asks, one of the hardest questions that we can ask ourselves. You know, our portion of Pinchas opens with the most zealous, most ferocious, perhaps the most uncomfortable act in the entire Torah. And it forces every one of us to answer something almost impossible to answer honestly for ourselves. When it When is passion holy and when is it deadly? When are you meant to throw your whole body into the gap the way Roi Klein did and when is the bravest, holiest thing you can possibly do to actually hold your fire? Right, Rav Dessler says and I quote this all the time. He says, "The greatest service of God lies in the refinement of motivation." >> My name is Ari and I live here on the edge of the Judean frontier. And just as the prophets foretold, the mountains of Judah are coming to life. The in-gathering of the exiled is taking place right before our eyes. And the final prophecy is manifesting as the righteous of the nations are coming together with humble hearts here in the land of Israel fellowship. And now I'm inviting you to join us along with hundreds of Jewish and Christian families from all around the world to experience the beauty and the holiness and the magnificence of our fellowship. So, click below so you can taste the beauty and the holiness that is happening on this mountain. >> [music]