A Mother’s Grief for Sgt. Idan Fuchs (hy"d): "There Was No Knock at the Door, They Just Walked In"

Thousands accompanied Sgt. Idan Fuchs, 19, a tank soldier who fell in battle yesterday in southern Lebanon, to his burial yesterday afternoon (Monday). He was laid to rest in the military section of Segula Cemetery in Petah Tikva, his hometown.

His mother, Meital, a preschool teacher, eulogized her son and described the moment she was told of his death: “Yesterday morning I woke up and went to the kindergarten, with 35 children like my own. Then I got a phone call asking me to come to the council. I didn’t understand why. We sat in the office, and then they came in. There was no knock on the door, they just walked in. I didn’t want to believe it.”

In her painful eulogy, she said: “My Idan, ours. A beloved, kindhearted child. When you were born, I didn’t cry. You were an angel we had waited for so long. Throughout your basic training, we would drive to see you. You would say, ‘Mom, there are other soldiers, can they come eat with us?’ You always came with friends. You were a model eldest brother. You always said, ‘Mom, I love you.’ We had a bond. We both knew, and we carried on in silence until this moment came. They took my heart. We will do everything so that everyone knows who you were and what the world has lost.”

His father, Gilad, also eulogized: “I saw Idan before we came here. I felt him, and I tell you he is in a good place. He is in a good place, our boy. Idani, I love you. I miss you. We will stay strong for Idan.”

In the incident in which Sgt. Fuchs fell, six other soldiers were wounded, some seriously and others moderately and lightly. A military inquiry found that an armored corps unit operating in the Lebanese village of A-Taybe, in the eastern sector opposite Kibbutz Misgav Am, was searching the area for terrorists. While part of the force was outside the Merkava tanks, an explosive UAV appeared and detonated above the group.