בקרוב

בקרוב

בקרוב

Roey,

It is hard to talk about you without talking about that morning. But I would like to pause for a moment and think about the person who had to make the decision at that exact moment. About Roey. Because amidst all the uncertainty, within a reality that none of us truly understood, there was a moment when you had to choose where you needed to be. You didn't know how that day would end. You didn't know what was waiting for you. You didn't know if you would come home. But you knew there were people who needed you there.

I distill my concept of combat leadership into a single statement: When a commander says "Follow me," they do not need to look back to know that the force is moving behind them. Haim Bar-Lev once said: “It sometimes falls to a commander's lot to send people on dangerous missions; the readiness of commanders to always go themselves at the forefront of the camp is the source of moral strength required for making such decisions.” A true commander is someone who, when the moment arrives, goes first. And anyone familiar with the military world knows how much significance that holds. When a soldier looks at their commander and sees him stepping in, they know this is not an order given from afar. This is a human being saying to them: I am with you. This came to him naturally through all stages of his command, and especially on that morning, at the moment of truth. Roey proved this through his actions.

But I think there is something here we need to take with us. Not just Roey's heroism. But Roey's responsibility. The understanding that when people depend on you, it comes with a price. When someone looks at you in a difficult moment, you cannot always choose the easy path. And sometimes you have to be the first to get up. The first to arrive. The first to take responsibility.

And I think today, three years later, our responsibility is not only to remember Roey. It is to decide what we do with that memory. Roey was our friend, he was a part of our life, so something of him must continue with us even when we walk out of here. I want to take from him the willingness to be there for others. The understanding that leadership is not a rank and not a title. Leadership is what you do when no one else knows what to do. And perhaps more than anything, the willingness to move forward when things get hard.

Yet alongside all of this, it is important to remember that Roey was not just the commander who leaped into battle. Roey was Roey. The friend. The person. The human being we used to laugh with, talk with, argue with, and do foolish things with. And that is the part I am most afraid we will lose over the years. Because as time passes, people who never knew him will mostly know the story. October 7th. The battle. The fall. And we need to remind them that there was a human being before all of that. A human being with character, with friends, with a family, with dreams, and with lives.

This is the blonde kid with the bangs jumping over the kindergarten fence. This is the fourth grader jumping out of the window to be the first one on the courtyard during recess. This is the kid who drove faster than everyone else. This is the kid who searched for the matriculation exams on Telegram. This is the pre-draft teen who said "Golani only." This is the tired warrior coming back home. And this is the commander who defended the outpost during the attack.

That is why I do not want us to talk about Roey only on the day he fell. I want us to talk about Roey on the days we laugh, too. Because that is the true way a person continues to live. Not by leaving him behind as a memory. But by taking him forward with us.

Roey, Three years have passed. The world has changed. We have changed. But despite all of this, there is one thing that has not changed. You are still one of us. And we still miss you.

But either way you're going to the history books Standing in the Hall of Fame And the world's gonna know your name

We will keep telling who you were. We will keep carrying you with us. Love you, my brother. May your memory be a blessing.