Remembering Elisha Levinshtern

A husband, a father, a scholar, a soldier — and above all, a man who lived every moment with purpose.


A Life Rooted in Faith and Land

Elisha Levinshtern was born in January 1985 in the United States, the firstborn of six children. In 1993, his parents — guided by deep Zionist conviction — made aliyah to Israel, planting in their children a love of Torah and a love of the Land that would shape Elisha's entire life.

From his earliest years, his brilliance and creativity stood out. As a first grader, he founded a club called Mitzvah Man, rallying his classmates to do as many good deeds as they could. That same blend of vision, initiative, and warmth would define him for the next three decades.


Marriage, Family, and a Home Built on Love

Elisha married Hadas, a ba'alat teshuvah from a deeply secular background. Despite coming from very different worlds, they built an extraordinary marriage — one without a single real fight in thirteen years. Together they raised six children.

He wrote Hadas countless letters: on holidays, on quiet Shabbatot, and sometimes for no reason at all. He blocked out non-negotiable time for her every single day, and once used a rare 24-hour leave from his tank unit to teach his daughter how to ride a bike.

"I promise to keep loving you with all my heart, to keep striving to improve, to be your husband, 100%, for as many years as God gives me."

— Elisha, in a letter to Hadas


A Scholar Who Lived Torah

Though Elisha worked in high-tech to support his family, Torah was the center of his life. He filled hundreds of files with essays, halachic analyses, commentaries, and class summaries. He studied the daily Rambam cycle without pause — including just one hour before he fell in battle — and immersed himself in the writings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.

He was a "time multiplier": waking at 3:30 AM, learning while commuting, mapping every spare moment with precision. Yet his sharp intellect was always paired with humility. He spoke to every person on their level and never made anyone feel small.


A Soldier Who Chose to Serve

At 38, a father of six, Elisha was easily exempt from reserve duty. But when war broke out on October 7, 2023, he ruled for himself that this was a milchemet mitzvah — a commanded war — and reported to his armored corps unit the day after Simchat Torah.

Serving as a gunner, he was part of the first tank crew to enter Khan Yunis. His much younger crewmates — strangers to his religious world — described him with awe: humble, disciplined, warm, never asking for special treatment, always the first to volunteer.

The day before his final mission, his commander asked the crew if they had written final letters to their families. Elisha said he hadn't:

"Because I've always spoken clearly. Always told them how much I love them. There's nothing I could write now that would add to what I've already given them."


The Final Mission

On the 1st of Tevet, December 13, 2023, Elisha's tank led a convoy on a mission to rescue a wounded soldier. An anti-tank missile struck the tank where he sat. He was killed instantly.

He left behind Hadas and six young children, a vast library of writings, and a community that continues to build a Beit Midrash in his memory — a learning center for people like him: who work by day, study by night, and live not out of obligation, but out of love.


יהי זכרו ברוך — May his memory be a blessing.