Staff Sgt. (res.) Elisha Yehonatan Lober, H’yd one of the two IDF soldiers whose deaths were announced early Tuesday morning, was the third grandson of Rabbi Shmuel Yaniv to be killed this year. He was a first cousin to Hillel and Yigal Yaniv, H’yd, who were murdered in a terror attack in Huwara in February.

Yehonatan, H’yd, 24, a resident of the yishuv of Yitzhar in the Shomron, was an avreich in Yeshivas Roeh Yisrael, a coordinator of the yishuv’s youth group and an employee of the Shomron Regional Council. He left behind his pregnant wife and baby, his parents and eight siblings.

Only two hours before he was killed, Yehonaton’s father filmed his grandson beaming at a photo of his father, H’yd.

Prior to his death, Yehonatan wrote to his youth group in Yitzhar: “We’re still training here. This Shabbos is the time to breathe Torah, to recalibrate what Hashem wants from me…Daven for me.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)