Lavi Nitzan, brother of fallen Givati soldier Gilad Nehemya Nitzan HY”D, married Shani last night in a ceremony filled with both joy and memory.

At the moment when ash is traditionally placed on the groom’s head, a reminder that even at the height of Jewish joy Jerusalem is still not complete, their father, Yaakov Nitzan, added another layer of meaning. He mixed dust from the place where Gilad fell in Gaza with dust from Har Habayit, saying: “Connecting the private pain with the national pain.”

Gilad, 21, from Shiloh, was a fighter in Sayeret Givati. He fell in battle in the northern Gaza Strip on Nov. 3, 2023, during the opening weeks of the ground operation against Hamas terrorists. The IDF later promoted him from sergeant to staff sergeant after his death.

According to the family’s memorial account, Gilad’s force had been fighting in northern Gaza when Hamas terrorists emerged from a hidden shaft near a building. Gilad, his commander and fellow soldiers fought at close range. After the battle, Gilad was found shielding his friend Yondav Levinstein, with Gilad’s own tourniquet wrapped around Yondav’s leg in an apparent final attempt to save him.