Hagai Luber, a religious actor and the father of Yehonatan Luber HYD who fell in battle in Gaza, expressed his shock and pain after seeing an anti-draft notice in a charedi shul in Netivot.
In a Facebook post, Luber wrote that :”You must not mistreat any widow or orphan (or bereaved father).”
“Yesterday I finished a show in the south and went to the Sephardic Shtiblach in Netivot to say the Maariv prayers. Near the entrance I saw a notice, which took away my breath and left me paralyzed to the ground.
“A war of religious zeal,” the notice thundered. “Whoever receives a draft notice should tear it up. Even a loafer who isn’t learning shouldn’t go there, there are terrible things there etc. etc.
“I debated whether this was the proper place to say kaddish for my son Yehonatan HYD who was a Talmid Chacham, a fearer of G-d and an IDF soldier, as in this shul they believe that they should have fought my righteous son with a holy war. In this shul they believe that my son who was meticulous in performing mitzvos was a “compromiser” and rotten. In this shul they believe that my courageous son should have gone to jail and not saved his comrades in his last heroic battle. My son Yehonatan who studied Torah daily should have called 02-579-5252 and asked for help in dealing with the awful and terrible army.
Yehonatan Luber HYD
“As I debated, the prayers began and I prayed with them and when Kaddish came and there was nobody besides me saying Kaddish, I started: Yisgadal Veyiskadash Shemei Rabo.
“My tongue was dry, my eyes became cloudy and the words came out broken and stuttering, and youths in white shirts, the age of my son Yehonatan, looked at me perplexed and impatient. They didn’t know that my heart was tinged with humiliation, that the notice had stabbed me like a knife, that my prayer was that Hashem wouldn’t exact my humiliation from them, as I was so humilated and bereaved and Hashem loves those oppressed and stands up for them.
“They didn’t know that I prayed that Hashem light up their eyes and they would expound their views in a soft way as is the wont of the Talmidei Chachamim in the land of Israel who are pleasant to one another, and not in a harsh and insulting manner which humiliates and pains a bereaved father like me who lost his son fighting to save them and to save Am Yisrael.
“And I finished Kaddish with the words “He who Makes peace in his spheres, may he make peace for us and for all of his nation of Israel and they answered Amen, and I returned to my car and sat there for a long time in pain, and went back to my hilltop home.”
Hagai Luber
A bereaved father whose pain just increased.
Luber requested that any responses should not include criticism towards any rabbi or community in Israel as he would have to erase them.
May Yehonatan's memory be for a blessing and may his neshama have an aliyah. We mourn along with you from a far for all who have fallen while protecting Hashem's land and people. May you find comfort knowing that there are those who stand with you and are offering you the strength to continue on despite your sorrow.
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