"The face of a holy Shabbat": The story of fallen Staff Sgt. Amichai Yaakov Vanino
Staff Sgt. Amichai Yaakov Vanino, a soldier in the IDF's elite Maglan commando unit, was 22 when he was killed in combat on October 7, 2023, while fighting to save residents of Kibbutz Kfar Aza. He left behind a legacy of extraordinary courage and compassion, remembered as a gentle, sensitive and thoughtful young man who combined a deep love of Torah study, poetry and friendship with the determination, discipline and skill of a dedicated soldier.
Amichai was born the third child in his family, after two daughters. His parents, Racheli and Meni, remember him as a "prince, sweet, very gentle and always smiling." He was immensely curious and loved studying history and the Bible, but he was also full of life, enjoyed playing basketball and soccer and was deeply loved by those around him.
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He served as president of the student council in elementary school, always leading by listening carefully to others. Amichai shared a particularly close bond with his father, Meni, who would take him along to meetings at the Knesset and visits to Israeli Air Force squadrons, experiences that filled him with excitement. Alongside his gentle nature, he had an adventurous spirit. He loved the outdoors, rode an ATV to the Golan Heights every Friday, went bungee jumping and even spent a snowy night in Merom Golan.
After graduating from high school, Amichai chose to deepen his religious and spiritual studies, attending yeshivas in Elon Moreh and Bruchin in Samaria. Making his own choices was a guiding principle in his life. He never acted simply out of habit, but only after careful personal reflection. When he decided to pursue meaningful combat service, he approached the challenge with the discipline of a military operation. He would wake at 4:30 a.m. to train on the dunes of Holon in preparation for the demanding military selection trials, yet always made sure to return in time to prepare a cup of tea for his rabbi before class, without disrupting his studies.
Amichai had hoped to join the elite Shaldag unit, and when he learned that he had been accepted into Maglan instead, he was initially disappointed. Yet, as he later wrote in his personal reflections, he found the strength to overcome that disappointment: "This is my mission right now. This is what the Holy One, blessed be He, has destined for me, so this is where I belong."
He enlisted in Maglan with a profound sense of connection to generations of Jewish history. After a grueling stretcher march, he wrote to his rabbi: "I felt it wasn't sweat running down my face, but the tears of 2,000 years."
On the morning of Simchat Torah, just months before completing his training, Amichai's team was called up from Julis and deployed to Kibbutz Kfar Aza. During a fierce exchange of fire with terrorists, the team's commander, Ilai, was wounded. Amichai and his fellow soldiers provided covering fire and managed to kill the terrorist, but during an attempt to evacuate the wounded under heavy fire, Amichai was struck by a bullet in the hip. The combat medic who evacuated him later told his parents that while other wounded soldiers had expressions of fear, Amichai's face was calm and gentle, "like the face of a holy Shabbat."
After his death, his friends came to realize just how much Amichai had been the person everyone turned to for a listening ear, advice and support in times of crisis. One of his teammates described Amichai as possessing an invisible "bunch of keys," allowing him to find exactly the right key to unlock each person's heart. Amichai left behind notebooks filled with detailed professional military notes from his role as a forward observer, alongside heartfelt poems and letters.
"The longing is immense, and it's constant," his mother says. Yet she emphasizes that the family continues to receive messages and reminders of Amichai through his friends and the enduring spirit he left behind. "We know this is what Amichai would have wanted, for us to keep living, to keep finding joy and to keep raising our family. That's what we try to do."
Staff Sgt. Amichai Yaakov Vanino of the Maglan unit fell in combat on October 7, 2023. He was 22 years old.
May his memory be a blessing.
Staff Sergeant
Amichai Yaakov Vanino