Master Sergeant (Res.) Michael Gal, 29 years old, who fought in the supporting company in the 450th Battalion of the Bislamah Brigade (828) was killed tonight (between Saturday and Sunday) in the battles in the Gaza Strip. Today (Sunday) his family was informed of his death and he was laid to rest at home The cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
Education Minister Yoav Kish came to the funeral to pay his last respects to Gal, whose father serves as a senior official in the Ministry of Education. Kish placed a wreath in the name of the government on Gal’s grave. The battalion rabbi, an officer with the rank of captain, read a chapter of Psalms in memory of the late Michael.
In a heartbreaking voice, broken by tears and accompanied by tears from the hundreds of participants in the funeral, Michael’s father, David. Kaddish said about his son.
Lt. Col. Daniel Rodinov paid tribute to Michael on behalf of the IDF: “We accompany you on your last journey to eternal rest. The pain is great and the sorrow is deep. You enlisted in 2013 in Givat and served as a fighter. In the reserves you served in the auxiliary and did active reserve service in the battalion and there was no employment that you didn’t reach and the same was true in the war. Your superiors say that you were exceptionally professional, always helping your friends and investing when modesty was ahead of you. Your friends say they adored you and you were everything to them. You always made sure to raise morale and always spread goodness around you. The void created by your passing is unbearable.”
Michael’s department commander eulogized him: “A stomach ache that penetrates all the bones, I will never come across a person like you. Funny and powerful and humble. People will never understand how big of a soul you had, you are the most colorful person in the gap. Your smile and humor helped – you were an exemplary friend and brother. Pretty sure your mustache will stay with me forever. You were like a brother to me, I won’t forget you. We have all become a bereaved family, we miss you, give us strength from above.”
“Only on Friday did you tell me father – next Friday is Shabbat dinner”
Father David paid tribute to his son with a heavy heart: “First of all, I would like to thank everyone for coming to pay their last respects to my son Michael. My eldest son, beloved of my heart, I cannot believe that I am standing here to eulogize you – this damned war brought bereavement to our home. You only spoke to us on Friday evening – You were sure of yourself and said: Next Friday is Shabbat dinner – everything is fine, father.”
“For months, months I have been waiting for these guys from the army, sitting in the office – one eye to zoom and one eye to see if they come. As much as I tried to prepare for this, you surprised me today. I am shocked that they entered my office. From now on everything will look different. We the Gal family will be strong – Don’t forget who your father is – we will be strong. I was sure he would come back from this in a day or two.”
“I want everyone here to know how proud I am of my son. We paid a heavy price as a family, but even in these difficult times I believe that Michael did the right thing – even if they asked him one more time he would have done it. We don’t have another country. This My son and I thought he had to be there because he needed to be there – the price is heavy. Michael was a unifying factor in the family and was very significant – you will always remain in our hearts both in the beautiful moments and in the difficult moments. And on a personal note it is important to me that you know that you were the love of my life and the pride of my life, and today you changed my life For complex and difficult things like I couldn’t believe. Rest in peace my beloved, I salute you with the salutation of my life.”
The mother mourned her son in tears: “Michali, my child, you have already celebrated 29 and now you were still a child forever. How I waited for you to move forward with life. You returned from the war for four weeks, quit your job and took time off to rest in Tel Aviv, sit in libraries and complete the studies you missed. You came back from the war and decided that time is precious – maybe you knew that time was limited and was being spent, but nothing prepared us for this delusional morning when three uniformed men came towards me. I’m sorry, my child, for the days that I didn’t understand you, that I expected things from you that might not have suited you because maybe I refused to believe that you were a free bird that the straight path doesn’t always match you. I’m releasing you, our chick, we’ll love you until our last day.”
One of his sisters paid tribute to him: “How lucky I am to have grown up by your side, you are our beating heart. I can’t believe I will have to grow up without you. Michaeli, you are my oldest and best brother, a great gift I received – I didn’t want to share you with anyone – you are here and you will always stay here Your last way will come when our last way comes. I am proud of you and love you. I would write to you every day in the hope that you would get stronger, and forever I will continue to write to you.”
“I prayed every day and it wasn’t enough”
Brother Roy: “Michael, my beloved brother, it’s not a cliché – I really can’t find the words and I think I never will. My heart is broken, I can’t think about you not being here, I’m crushed and my body hurts. It didn’t deserve you or anyone. How innocent and good you were – how did such a disaster happen to us. I prayed every day and it wasn’t enough.”
“Only last Friday we talked and found out that you were going to leave Gaza and how relieved I was. The beam that fell on me I waved at it wherever you got out of this hell, but it turns out that Monday was too united. How sorry I am for the life you missed. I didn’t take advantage of you enough, I didn’t enjoy the person You. We’re running out of time too quickly. Keep me, if not by my side then over me, make sure your light shines over me always. I love you my beloved hero.”
Yotam, Michael’s friend: “I’m writing these lines and I can’t believe it. The night before the first entrance, we sat on your balcony and you said that this is the most important task for you, that you go knowing that you might not return, but with faith in the rightness of your path. Everyone knows Michael, always walking around with Freedom. Everyone loves you, everyone agrees that you are a great man that you can’t help but love. You see it in friends from the army or anyone who talked to you for ten minutes. Michael lived life to the fullest and loved those close to him with all his heart – his family, his team, friends from home, From studies. You left us too soon, I love you brother.”
His friend Yotam said that Michael chose to play the song Under the Bridge by the band Red Hot Chilli Pepper and only told his close friend about it.
Sometimes I feel like I don’t have a partner
Sometimes I feel like my only friend
Is the city I live in, the city of angels
Lonely as I am, together we cry
I drive on her streets ’cause she’s my companion
I walk through her hills ’cause she knows who I am
She sees my good deeds and she kisses me windy
Well, I never worry, now that is a lie
I don’t ever wanna feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way
Among the obituaries, Eric Einstein’s poem “Ameru Lu” was played at the funeral, in memory of Gal who supported Hapoel Jerusalem in football. His sister said that on one occasion he played her the song and told her that it was written about him. “Even when he went to football, he wasn’t just looking for victory, and with the enthusiasm of a calf he gave up peace and security, and to this day he is with the flag, and with the wrong color. They told him that the red shirt was not a bargain,
They told him that he was getting into trouble here, and there was no way out…”.
His funeral procession left his mother’s house on Tschernihovsky Street in Jerusalem at 4:30 p.m., and ended at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl. Those close to the bereaved family invited the general public to express their support for it, to stand by the roadside on Tschernihovsky, Herzog, Niot, Bezalel, Bezeq and Herzl streets, and to hold Israeli flags or heart-shaped signs as a sign of solidarity.
Gal’s friend, Tamar Frank, wrote this on her Facebook account upon learning of his death: “The most king, the funniest, the most fun to be in his company. You were a true friend. May your memory be blessed!”. The Ministry of Education, where Gal’s father works, said: “The Ministry of Education mourns and grieves together with our co-worker, David Gal, director of the Ministry’s Senior Examinations Division, for the death of his son, Master Sergeant Michael Gal, in the fighting in Gaza. May his memory be blessed.”
The Ministry of Education is saddened and pained together with our co-worker, David Gal, Director of the Ministry’s Senior Examinations Division, over the death of his son, Master Sergeant Michael Gal, in the fighting in Gaza. Of blessed memory pic.twitter.com/UB2VsJjrmk
— Ministry of Education (@edu_il) March 10, 2024
The Minister of Education Yoav Kish also joined the Ministry of Education’s words of condolence, who wrote: “I share in the unbearably heavy grief of David Gal and his family for the death of his eldest son, the late Sergeant Major Michael Gal. Michael fell heroically in battle in the southern Gaza Strip while defending our homeland. David, a senior in the Ministry of Education, the salt of the land and an exemplary father. Dear David, this hour is difficult and unbearable. Michael was your son and friend, and a source of your pride. I, along with all the employees of the Ministry of Education, hug you and stand by your side on this difficult day – may you find comfort and strength to deal with the heavy disaster. May his memory be blessed and may you know no more sorrow.”
The Hapoel Jerusalem fans’ organization, the team he supported, paid tribute to him: “Our brother, our friend fell to the stands while performing his duty in Gaza. The late Michael Gal – we will forever be remembered and loved. Your kindness, a huge smile and a heart of gold, red forever. At 18:00 we will pay our last respects to our brother at a funeral on Mount Herzl. If one of us goes astray, something dies in us.”
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