Tearful Kaddish by Soldier’s Son Stuns Mourners at Mount Herzl

 A hushed stillness fell over Israel’s Mount Herzl military cemetery as the young son of fallen reservist Asa’el Babad struggled through the words of the Mourner’s Kaddish, his voice trembling and breaking with tears beside his father’s grave.

When the prayer ended, grief turned into a collective cry of faith. Hundreds of mourners — soldiers, family members and strangers drawn by loss — began singing “Ani Ma’amin,” the ancient declaration of belief in redemption, their voices rising together through the cemetery in a moment of shared heartbreak.

Babad, 38, died after succumbing to severe wounds sustained months earlier during fighting in Rafah. He was laid to rest Thursday at the national military cemetery in Jerusalem, a place reserved for Israel’s fallen, as his wife and five children stood beside his coffin.

Friends and relatives described a man of quiet strength and unwavering faith — someone who never complained, even when the burden was heavy. “That’s how God wanted it,” his wife, Hagit, recalled him saying, even in the hardest moments. “Without questions. Without doubts.”

During her eulogy, Hagit spoke through tears of a husband who built their home with steadiness and love, who listened more than he spoke, and who lived simply but bravely. She told mourners that his organs were donated to save others, calling it a final act that reflected a life devoted to helping those around him.

Babad, a resident of the Binyamin region, served as a reservist in the Israel Defense Forces. Fellow soldiers remembered him as someone who acted without fanfare, saying only, “I’m doing what I need to do.”

As the singing faded and the mourners slowly dispersed, many lingered — unwilling to leave the sound of faith that had risen from unimaginable loss. For one family, and for a nation at war, the funeral became a painful reminder of the human cost carried by those left behind.