Sgt. 1st Class Shay Pizem, 23: Had only 2 weeks with his daughter

Sgt. First Class (res.) Shay Uriel Pizem, 23, a tank commander in the 401st Armored Brigade’s Ninth Battalion from Ein HaNatziv, was killed on December 15, 2023, while battling Hamas terrorists in southern Gaza.

Shay was killed when a balcony collapsed on his tank during a nighttime operation in Khan Younis.

He was slain three weeks after the birth of his first child. He is survived by his widow Maayan and baby Yarden, parents Carmit and Shimon, siblings Re’em, Adva and Tzuri.

“With all the grief over your passing, my dear Shay, we still must give thanks for all the good we had from you,” Shimon said, speaking at Shay’s funeral.

“Every part of your life was to us like a whole person filled with good,” said his father.

Carmit told Army Radio that from an early age, Shay was “active and always looking for challenges.”

“He knew how to take advantage of every moment. He had an ideology in which he believed that real joy came from working hard and reaching your goals,” said his mother.

Shay and Maayan grew up together in Ein HaNatziv.

“Everyone always laughed at us. They would say ‘Shay and Maayan will get married first’ and ‘Shay and Maayan will get married at 18,'” she told Kan.

Shay left reserve duty to be present at Yarden’s birth and spent two weeks with her and Maayan before going back to the war.

“He was always a happy person, but during those first days with Yarden, he was happier than I’d ever seen him. He was head over heels in love with that girl. As short as it was, it felt like a long time,” Maayan said.

When he left for the last time, Maayan asked him if it was hard for him to say goodbye to Yarden and he replied, “No, because now I know more than ever what I’m fighting for.”

“We’ll tell Yarden that he was a hero, but not a hero like in the movies. He was a normal person who always fought to stay humble,” Maayan told Ynet.

“I’ll especially tell her that he loved her most in the world, that he had the most wonderful two weeks with her, that she was his greatest pride, and that he had never loved in his life like he loved her and was never more excited than he was with her,” said his wife.

Shay studied at the yeshiva in Har Etzion and also helped establish a religious boarding school in Har Etzion.

“In all his 23 years, Shay was a leading and valued character, a smart, talented, serious, and idealistic student, but still happy and social with a sharp sense of humor,” said Rabbi Amnon Bazak who teaches in the yeshiva.

The boarding school’s principal, Rabbi Amichai Gordin, told Israel Hayom that Shay’s contribution to the school was “dramatic.”

“He was a rare man of education. He was very pleasant and had a superior ability to reach people. It’s rare that you can say about a 23-year-old that he was one of the main establishers and an essential part of a yeshiva,” he said.

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