President Honors Eliraz Peretz’s Daughter at National Service Ceremony

President Isaac Herzog hosted the National Civilian Service excellence ceremony at the President’s Residence on Monday, where Hallel Miriam Peretz received a commendation. She is the daughter of Eliraz Peretz, who was killed in action, and the granddaughter of Israel Prize laureate Miriam Peretz.

Hallel Miriam Peretz was honored for her work in a special education kindergarten and for accompanying bereaved families through the nonprofit "Chibur Hadash". Speaking to Channel 7, Miriam Peretz said it was the first time she had come to the President’s Residence for something personal and family-related, saying, "What a privilege it is for us that Hallel Miriam, my amazing granddaughter, the daughter of my son Eliraz, is an outstanding national service volunteer and will receive the president’s award today."

She said Hallel was five years old when her father was killed, and that she now enters bereaved families and supports them. "She is, in a way, going back to her own story," Peretz said. "She does not know what a shiva is, she does not know what it means to have an absent father, and she chooses to be there for others."

Peretz also praised national service volunteers across the country, calling them a generation that gives, volunteers and cares about the state. She said the group includes young people serving in the diaspora, in Jewish schools, with older adults and in special education. Asked about Israel’s difficult political moment, she responded that the country knows how to rise from crises and grow, adding, "I think we will still grow from our fractures." She closed by thanking her daughter-in-law Shlomit, Hallel’s mother, saying Hallel reached this moment thanks to her.