Master Sgt. Zechariah Haber, 32: Dad of 3 was promising plant scientist

Master Sgt. (res.) Zechariah Pesach Haber, 32, of the 14th Armored Brigade’s 87th Battalion, from Jerusalem, was killed while battling Hamas in northern Gaza on January 16, 2024.

On October 8, 2023, he was called up to reserve duty, serving first in southern Israel before being sent into Gaza as part of the ground offensive, serving as a tank loader. He was killed fighting in northern Gaza in January alongside his comrade, Sgt. Maj. (res.) Yair Katz.

Zechariah was buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on January 17. He is survived by his wife, Talia, their three children, Sedael, 5, Yosef, 3, and Nachliel, 10 months, his parents, Miriam and Aharon and his three brothers, Netanel, Noam and Yisrael.

Born in New Jersey, Zechariah made aliya with his family in 1999, at age 8, according to a memorial website. The oldest of the four brothers, he grew up in Jerusalem, attending religious schools.

After graduating high school, Zechariah enrolled in the hesder program at Yeshiva Har Etzion, which combines Torah studies with military service. His family found out only after his death that while in yeshiva he wrote a comprehensive halachic encyclopedia which they are working to publish posthumously.

Zechariah served in the Armored Corps, becoming a tank commander. After his release, he completed both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in plant sciences at the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University in Rehovot.

While studying, he met Talia Friedman, a new immigrant also from New Jersey, and they wed in 2017 and settled first in Rehovot and then in Jerusalem, bringing three children into the world.

At the time that he was killed, Zechariah was pursuing a PhD in plant biology at Tel Aviv University, focusing his research on improving the productivity of crops in harsh climatic conditions. In July 2024, he was posthumously awarded his degree, which was accepted by his wife and parents.

Zechariah’s wife, Talia, told The Jerusalem Post that her husband “was genuinely brilliant,” noting that on top of his many academic accomplishments he was fluent in a number of languages, including Russian and Arabic. “He had so many side projects.”

She said that he was always humble, and treated everyone equally and with respect.

“He didn’t like being above people,” she said. “Zechariah didn’t want to be a commander. He didn’t like the idea that there’s a distance between you and other people. Whether it was a special needs person, whether it was children, whether it was the person who pumped the gas in New Jersey, whether it was a cashier in the supermarket downstairs, he never felt above them.”

Zechariah’s mother, Miriam, wrote in a Times of Israel blog post that her son was “a kind, gentle, fun, modest, and brilliant devoted husband and father of three young children, a talmid chacham (Torah scholar), and a promising young scientist.”

His loves and pursuits, she wrote, were many and varied, reflecting “a wide range of interests and passions – Torah, agricultural science, Hebrew poetry, hiking his beloved land of Israel, and showing concern for residents of Israel’s southern region by celebrating part of every Yom HaAtzmaut down south.”

His family is adamant that memorials in his honor “celebrate Zechariah’s extraordinary, optimistic, happy life,” she wrote, exemplifying “the beauty of the way Zechariah lived his life — with such purpose, passion and kindness.”

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