This story takes us back 32 years to the day! Binyamin Shaar HY”D was a talmid in Noam and was an outstanding student. In 5731 he entered the IDF and he began via the air force, hoping to complete the pilots’ course. His medical limitations made this impossible however and he entered the Paratroops Corps. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He was discharged upon completion of his mandatory service.

In his civilian life he was a teacher and counselor in the yeshiva. He later lived in Rehovot and worked for a private company. He was elected to head the board of directors of his shul, ‘תפארת צעירי תימן’.

When the Shalom HaGalil War broke out he volunteered to his unit and was sent to Lebanon. There were heavy battles raging on the Beirut-Damascus Highway. On 2 Tammuz during the afternoon hours a shell struck their area. Many soldiers were injured and Binyamin, 30, was killed HY”D. He was buried in the Rehovot Military Cemetery. He was survived by his wife, two daughters and six brothers and sisters.

One of those brothers is Ezra Shaar, the grandfather of Gilad HY”D. Ezra heard the confirmation of the discovery of the bodies of the three youths, including his grandson, on 2 Tammuz, 32 years later to the day that Binyamin was killed.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)