'The People of Israel Have Lost A Leader'

IDF Lieutenant David Golovenchich of Efrat, who was killed last night by a stray bullet during a training exercise at the Gilber checkpoint in Hevron, will be laid to rest on Mount Herzl.

Aruzt Sheva spoke about David's personality with his teacher at the Bnei Tzvi high school yeshiva, Rabbi Itamar Lieberman.

"A very difficult day. From the moment I heard about this disaster, I can not do anything; I just think about it," Rabbi Lieberman says of his feelings. "David was a student of mine in the twelfth grade, a very significant year. A child full of joy and energy. A mischievous child, and even very mischievous but with a way of speaking and values. A child you could not be angry at. You always loved him. It was clear to me that I was raising a leader, a kind of commander."

David's moral leadership was revealed in every detail, he says, "it was expressed in everything, from the smallest detail; he was a social leader in the class, he led things, he always thought about the person next to him. He came from the haredi world. He had a blend of values that he brought with him from home and a connection to the religious Zionist world and the desire to be an army commander. He had a great connection to the Torah and on the other hand a very great connection to joy of life and the desire to be active and volunteer.

"On Thursdays, it was customary for the guys to volunteer to distribute food packages," adds Rabbi Lieberman. Later on, he reveals how he learned about the custom that David and his friends kept secret. "They did not tell me about these food basket deals until one day someone called me and told me that my group, and he even mentioned David's name, were walking around in Jerusalem and saw them going to eat at some restaurant at one o'clock in the morning and as their teacher it's important that I check what's going on with them.

"I checked and found that because they buy these baskets of food they miss dinner in the yeshiva and instead distribute the food packages until late, so when they are hungry they go to eat. It tweaked my heart. I thought 'who knows what they're doing' and then I realized that what these righteous people were doing in Jerusalem was to distribute food. This story summarizes David, a person who does not speak much, with a playful smile, who only contributes and does."

Rabbi Lieberman said of the smile that appeared this morning in the media reporting the tragedy: "This was his picture of life, above all a smile, you could not catch him without a smile, he had good will and great love," says Rabbi Lieberman.

Rabbi Lieberman also spoke about the class Shabbat that took place at the yeshiva about a month and a half ago, in which the students of the 13th graduating class gathered in David's class. "After I ate with them, they wanted to come to me for the pleasure of returning home to me," says Rabbi Lieberman, who was a classmate at the yeshiva about a month and a half ago. He sat right next to me. The pictures run through my mind. I made a round among the students, each of whom told where he was now, and asked why he was there.

"Usually David would not talk much, but this time he said he had completed an officer's course and said it was a dramatic point in his life. I asked him why, and he said he felt it was the best way to educate his soldiers, raise people, educate people. It was not typical of him to dwell on things and I was very excited.

"It was just that he was an amazing child and that you see him and immediately want to hug him and love him," says Rabbi Lieberman, adding the principle that instructed his students to "be great in everything you do in life. We merited him for a few years and together with Israel we lost a leader."