Master Sgt. Ari Zenilman, 32: Dedicated father with a brilliant mind
Killed while fighting Hamas in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on December 10
Master Sgt. Ari Zenilman, a reservist in the Fifth Brigade, was killed in battle with Hamas in Khan Younis on December 10.
Zenilman, an American-Israeli who made aliyah with his family during his adolescent years, was described by his loved ones as a thoughtful and hard-working father who cared deeply about his family.
“Ari, at this stage of his life, was first and foremost a husband and a father, that was the most important thing to him,” said his mother, Lisa Weinsoff, to The Times of Israel.
On the morning of October 7, Zenilman hurried to Israel’s south to help fend off Hamas’s invasion with the rest of his reserve unit. He and his fellow soldiers initially fought in Kissufim, and were later deployed to Kibbutz Re’im, Kfar Aza and Nahal Oz.
Zenilman’s unit was sent into Gaza soon after the negotiated truce between Israel and Hamas expired at the start of December. On December 3, Zenilman called his wife and parents to let them know that he was handing in his cell phone, with the implication that he would soon be deployed to Gaza.
A week later, Zenilman was killed in Khan Younis. He was buried at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on December 11 and left behind his widow, Chava, and three children, Achiya, Tali and Maayan. The couple’s youngest child, Maayan, was born only a week before Hamas launched its devastating attack on Israel.
Born in New York to Robert and Lisa Weinsoff Zenilman, Ari was the eldest of five siblings. His family moved to Ma’ale Adumim as he was entering 9th grade, and he quickly mastered Hebrew.
Lisa recalled that her son would often tell people, even other English-speakers, to talk to him only in Hebrew so that he could learn the language.
“Everyone seemed to know really early on that Ari was blessed with a brilliant mind,” she said. “He loved to read, he read from when he was a child. As a teenager and adult he always had a book with him whether it was a sefer mishna, gemara or his Kindle.”
Though he was exceptionally intelligent, those close to Zenilman added that he was also humble and and down to earth.
“Ari was pretty much always the smartest person in the room. For anyone else, that fact would have been a defining character trait. Not for Ari. It’s not that he didn’t care about his intelligence, he just never wore it as a badge. It was just a tool he used to be a better person and a better Jew,” noted Ilan Mintz, his longtime friend.
After finishing high school, Zenilman enrolled in a hesder program at Har Etzion yeshiva, enabling him to combine his army service in the Nahal Brigade with Torah study.
“He wanted to go to yeshiva, he wanted hesder and he wanted a combat role,” Lisa said. “That really mattered to him.”
Zenilman met his wife, Chava, in his sixth and final year at yeshiva. The two got married during his first year at Hebrew University, where he studied philosophy, political science and economics while working as a research assistant at the Kohelet Policy Forum.
After their marriage, the two moved to Jerusalem, where they raised their children. Zenilman began working at the Central Bureau of Statistics after graduating with his bachelor’s, and later on made the switch into the high-tech industry working for Mobileye, a vehicle tech company.
Chava Zenilman, his widow, recalled that despite working in high-tech, a demanding industry which requires long hours from employees, her husband would always make time for family.
“Ari always made the effort. He brought the kids to gan [preschool] in the morning… He made the effort to leave work a little earlier to see the kids every day, to eat dinner with them and read them a goodnight book,” she said.
She added that even when he started his master’s degree while working a full-time job, he still found time for his children.
“He was my inspiration. When we met, I knew that I married someone who will be my best friend, the love of my life… but also he was so inspiring to me,” Chava said. “I experienced him as a role model, that’s why I wanted him to be the father of my kids.”
