Father of slain soldier remembers son as a singing ‘angel’

Rabbi Ohad Teharlev mourns his son Elhai who was killed in a suspected car-ramming attack in the central West Bank today, calling him “an angel” who “loved to sing.”

“I thank God that he gave us 20 years with Elhai,” Teharlev tells Ynet news.

“He was a special kid, full of life who brought happiness to everyone around him. He loved to sing, to play music, to swim in springs,” he says.

Speaking to reporters outside his home in the Talmon settlement, Teharlev recounts hearing about the car-ramming near the Ofra settlement, northeast of Ramallah, where his son was serving.

Teharlev, a rabbi at the Lindenbaum Seminary, says he called his son’s friend and when he didn’t get a clear answer about what happened, he “then understood something had happened.”

The rabbi says he drove to Jerusalem to pick up his daughter and when they arrived home, he “saw the taxi pull up and inside it, IDF officers.”

Teharlev adds that he has no anger toward the army.

Sgt. Elhai Teharlev will be buried in Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery at 6:30 p.m.