Bereaved Israeli Father Condemns Anti-army Chants at at the Tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai

 

Jonathan Luber HY"D

Hagai Luber, whose son was killed fighting in Gaza, condemned chants against Israel’s military and state after witnessing them during a religious gathering at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

Luber, chief executive of the Aspeklaria Theater and the father of Jonathan Luber, an Israeli soldier killed in combat in the Gaza Strip in late 2023, described the episode in a social media post published Monday night.

He said he traveled to the Meron shrine to observe the Zot Hanukkah pilgrimage, a tradition his son loved, and joined thousands of worshippers in song and dance.

“I imagined your face in every bearded countenance,” Luber wrote, addressing his son. “I danced with joy, and you were with me.”

The atmosphere shifted suddenly, he said, when a speaker called for blessings for those imprisoned for refusing military service and denounced the army. Dancers then chanted slogans rejecting Israel’s government and the military draft.

Luber said he withdrew from the crowd, overcome with pain.

“My son, whom they call ‘impure,’ would have stood with his body to protect them,” he wrote. “Because he reported for duty, he took the bullet — instead of their wives and children.”

Jonathan Luber was killed while serving in the Israel Defense Forces during the war triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

Despite his grief, Luber said he remained to pray with the crowd.

“I mourned among them,” he wrote. “And I knew that in his righteousness, he would ask for mercy even for those who rejected him.”

As worshippers recited the Shema Yisrael prayer, Luber said he nearly collapsed while declaring the final word.

“I was there,” he wrote, “alone.”

Hagai’s Poem

And in your place, my son, the fallen one,
as if to fill your absence,
I went to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, whom you so loved,
to keep the custom of the hilula on Zot Hanukkah.

And I danced as one body, hand in hand,
with throngs of Hasidim, men who bore your likeness.
And I imagined seeing,
in every bearded face and sidelocks,
the purity of your face.
And I danced with strength,
and I wept with joy.

And you were with me,
and I was with you.

And suddenly, an almost-silence fell.
And someone on the microphone cried out:
“May He who blessed… bless those sitting in prison,
to save us all from the depths of impurity in the army.”

And cries of booing rose from all around.
And the dancers began to sing, with those same leaps,
with those same fluttering sidelocks:
“In the rule of the heretics we do not believe,
and in their offices we do not present ourselves.”

And I withdrew to a corner,
and in my heart I felt a terrible stab of insult.
And I met the gaze of each of the fervent dancers.
And I knew
that from “the depths of impurity”
my righteous son, in all his sidelocks,
was shielding them with his body,
each and every one of them.

And by standing in “their offices,”
he received the bullet –
instead of their wives and their children.

And I was mourning among the dancers.
And I knew that in his righteousness,
in his love, and in his devotion,
he would also plead mercy for them.

And I stood with them to pray.
And we recited, “Hear, O Israel.”
And my soul almost departed on the word “One.”

And I was alone.