A Sefer Torah written in memory of Golani Reconnaissance fighters who fell at the Beaufort and in later battles was brought to the fortress in southern Lebanon, where soldiers read from it this week, 44 years after the bloody 1982 battle for the mountain.

The return carried added significance after IDF troops recaptured the Beaufort ridge in late May, 26 years after Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon. Golani Reconnaissance soldiers again reached the fortress and raised the Israeli and Golani flags there as part of a broader operation targeting Hezbollah infrastructure across the Beaufort and Wadi Saluki areas.

The Torah was written years after the original battle as an enduring memorial to members of the Golani Reconnaissance cohorts who were killed over the years, among them Maj. Giora “Guni” Harnik and Brig. Gen. Erez Gerstein. It was completed in 2020 and has since been kept at a Shul in Hoshaya in northern Israel.

Harnik, the former commander of the reconnaissance unit, returned to the force after the First Lebanon War broke out in June 1982. After commander Moshe Kaplinsky was seriously wounded, Harnik took command of the troops advancing toward the northern section of the fortress. His armored personnel carrier overturned on the way, but he continued on foot, reorganized the force and led the assault.

Harnik and several other Golani fighters were killed as the troops battled through fortified positions and trenches before completing the capture of the Beaufort. Forty-four years later, with Israeli soldiers once again positioned on the mountain, the memorial Torah was carried back to the site and opened for a Torah reading.