‘Dad, everything’s OK’: the heroic battle of Staff Sgt. Sahar Meidani OBM
At first glance, Staff Sgt. Sahar Meidani did not look like the classic charging warrior. He was a shy, gentle and quiet child who concealed great power. “Sahar is my eldest son,” his father, Liran, says in a trembling voice. “From when he was little, you could see the traits of shyness and gentleness.” But that shyness never stopped him from being the beating heart of every group he was part of, and in his moment of truth, his quiet became a roar of supreme heroism.
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A childhood of nature and unconditional love
Sahar grew up in Kiryat Ekron in a home where family was paramount. “Every summer we would camp in Tiberias,” Liran recalls. “He loved nature and the sea so much.” His sister Stav, who was as close to him as a twin despite their two-year age gap, describes a boy who always preferred the simplicity of friends and family over any other outing. “Whenever people talked about vacations, he would say, ‘I want Tiberias, tents.’ He always loved family, friends, the group.”
The bond between Sahar and Stav was the backbone of his life. “We were really like twins,” she says with a sad smile. “We were very silly together. We had the same voice and would drive our grandmother crazy on the phone, she was sure it was him.” Beyond the laughter, there was deep care. “If I ran into a problem, I would go to him and he would come to me and take care of me.”
From architectural honors to the brown beret
At ORT High School in Rehovot, Sahar discovered his talent in architecture. Though he began with average grades, his determination propelled him upward. His father proudly recalls the principal approaching him at the end of the year. “He told me, ‘From average grades, he finished with honors.’ I was so proud of how he handled things, of how he approached them.”
But alongside the precise plans he drew on paper, Sahar was drafting another plan for his future — meaningful service. “He knew from the beginning he would enlist in Golani. He fought for it,” Liran says. Sahar did not just want to be a combat soldier; he wanted to be Golani through and through. He would not relent until he received the coveted assignment to the 13th Battalion. When he received the brown beret at the ceremony at Golani Junction, his father felt his boy had become a man. “I saw a different Sahar since he entered the army, how much he loved it. I was thrilled and so proud of him.”
In the army, Sahar earned the nickname “Hamudchik”, “Sweetie.” Friends from his unit and civilian life describe someone who was a social magnet. “He was the kid whose house was always open to everyone,” they say. “A person with a generous hand. He united us all. He was always looking for who was sitting aside, who was alone, and he immediately went to help. He was always the peacemaker, always looking for the good in everyone.”
The black Sabbath: ‘Dad, everything’s OK’
When the war broke out on Simchat Torah, Sahar was stationed at the Nahal Oz outpost. At 6:30 a.m., he called home. “Mom, what’s going on?” he asked. “There are 30 people at the fence. I don’t know what this is. I think there are terrorists here. I’ll call you back.” His sister Stav says that despite the danger, he sounded resolute. “He was very excited, because every fighter waits for this, to fight and defend the country.”
Throughout the morning, Sahar kept in touch, trying to calm his parents while in the midst of intense fighting. “He told me, ‘We just had an encounter, but everything’s OK. We’re dealing with them,’” a friend recalls. His father Liran spoke with him again and again. At 9:15 a.m., Sahar answered the phone. “His voice dropped,” his father says. “I hear gunfire and explosions, and he says, ‘Dad, everything’s OK.’” Sahar was wounded by a missile fired from a drone and by gunfire near the fence. Despite his injuries, he did not stop fighting. “They had already offered to put him in an ambulance and evacuate him,” his friends say, “and he said, ‘I’m staying with my friends.’” He retreated to a shelter to protect other soldiers and continued returning fire until his last bullet. At 12:10 p.m., as the family already feared the worst, Arabic voices answered his phone with chilling words: “We surprised you.”
‘Pain is temporary, pride is eternal’
Sahar fell as a hero, shielding his comrades and the country he loved so deeply. His family’s pain is endless, a void nothing can fill. “I miss my right hand and the laughter we had together,” Liran says. “I didn’t get to enjoy him man to man. It was cut short too quickly.” On the first anniversary of his death, Stav wrote to him: “Time still hasn’t done its work. The pain only worsens… We’re here trying to get up each morning to commemorate you, so no one will forget the hero you are, how special and different you were.”
Sahar’s friends have adopted the phrase that has guided them since, a light in the darkness: “Pain is temporary, pride is eternal.” They ask that we all learn from Sahar to be better people, to notice the one sitting alone, and to keep our hearts open.
Sahar Meidani, the shy boy from Kiryat Ekron who became a lion of Golani, remains in the hearts of all who knew him, a shining star reminding us of comradeship, heroism and unconditional love. His father Liran puts it plainly: “The values we instilled in him from a young age, he carried out in the field. He is the pride of the Meidani family.”
Staff Sgt. Sahar Meidani of the Golani Brigade fell in battle on the 22nd of Tishrei 5784 (Oct. 7, 2023). He was 20. He was laid to rest at the cemetery in Kiryat Ekron. He is survived by his parents, Hila Chen and Liran, and his sister Stav.
May his memory be a blessing.
Staff Sergeant
Sahar Meidani