Hundreds Attend Funeral of Sgt. Noa Havshush at Mount Herzl

Hundreds of relatives, friends, soldiers, and residents of Binyamin attended the funeral procession for Sgt. Noa Havshush on Sunday evening at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl. Havshush, 20, from Geva Binyamin, served as tank commander of the battalion commander’s tank in Battalion 52 of the 401st Brigade. He was killed in combat in southern Lebanon together with the rest of his tank crew.

His mother, Einav Havshush, said she is pregnant. In an emotional eulogy, she said that amid the darkness she carries new life inside her, and that after losing her “beloved child, my only son,” the heartbeat in her body forces her to get up each morning and keep living. She added, “Maybe this is the small gift you left me. Before I say goodbye, I want to thank you for the privilege of being your mother. You will be my son forever. I prayed for this boy, and I will continue to pray for him all my life.”

His father, Chaim Havshush, said he had received a final message from his son shortly before he was killed. He described Havshush as having “gone up in a storm to heaven together with the tank crew of Battalion 52,” said his WhatsApp status still read, “Do not cry that it is over, smile that it happened,” and said, “I feel like I have lost my compass. I do not really know how to continue without your smile. Thank you for the privilege of being your father.”

His sister Noam said she never imagined in her worst nightmares that soldiers would stand at the house door and that she would need to write a eulogy. She called him “the purest person in the world” and “a 20-year-old boy who did not get to do anything,” adding that she cannot imagine living in a world without him. Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz said Havshush had written before enlistment about wanting to serve, contribute, and make an impact, and urged others to continue his path, saying the younger generation is asking only one thing, “not to stop halfway.”