Rabbi Or Shwaka Names Son After Fallen Soldier Following Lebanon Injury

Rabbi Or Shwaka, head of the IDF veterans' study center and a paratrooper company commander, named his newborn son Yehuda Barak in a ceremony marking the child's brit milah. Rabbi Shwaka was severely wounded during combat in Lebanon, in the same incident where his soldier, Barak Kalphon, was killed. The son’s middle name, Barak, honors the fallen soldier, while Yehuda expresses gratitude for Rabbi Shwaka’s survival and recovery.

During treatment, a shrapnel fragment was removed from Rabbi Shwaka’s neck, narrowly missing his windpipe by just 1.5 millimeters. He subsequently underwent months of rehabilitation. The naming symbolizes both remembrance of the fallen soldier and thanksgiving for the rabbi’s renewed life.