Those we have lost

Sgt. Amichay Rubin, 23: Golani soldier whose organs saved 5 lives

Succumbed to his wounds on October 10 after battling Hamas near Gaza on October 7

Sgt. Amichay Shimon Rubin (IDF)
Sgt. Amichay Shimon Rubin (IDF)

Sgt. Amichay Shimon Rubin, 23, a Golani Brigade soldier from Acre, was fatally wounded while battling Hamas terrorists on October 7, and succumbed to his wounds three days later, on October 10.

When the Hamas invasion began, Amichay was stationed at an IDF outpost near Kissufim. With the start of the rocketfire, he ran barefoot to the reinforced area on base for protection. When they realized that terrorists were inside the base, he and his commander, Capt. Shilo Rauchberger, took up position at the entrance to the room, and engaged in a firefight for several hours with the terrorists.

Amichay was wounded in his arm and then his leg but continued to fight, survivors said, until he was shot in the head, and even managed to keep fighting for 20 minutes before losing strength. He was brought hours later to the hospital, with a serious gunshot wound to the head. Doctors were unable to save him, and his family asked that his organs be donated, and his liver, lungs and kidneys saved five lives, including a 8-year-old boy.

He was buried on October 12 on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. He is survived by his parents, Batya and Yishai, and his seven siblings, David, Odaya, Amiya, Yedidya, Oz, Eitan and Yair.

After finishing high school, Amichay spent four years studying at a yeshiva in Petah Tikva before enlisting in Golani at age 22.

According to a memorial site set up by his family, Amichay was “real, opinionated, stubborn and tough, he wasn’t afraid to stand by his beliefs. He was a man of truth and justice, but he also knew how to be sensitive to them. In conversations with friends, he gave them his full attention… always with great humility.”

His former teacher, Rabbi Avraham Seidman, described Amichay as “a sweet and humble guy, with a unique glow in his face… he always exhibited joy and vitality. In the beit midrash he was as gentle as a worm, and on the battlefield he was as tough as wood. A hero in the war of Torah and a hero in the war to protect the people and the land.”

Amichay’s sister, Amiya, told Channel 14 that I “really admired him, I really built myself on his path.” Another sister, Odaya, said that “he’s my younger brother but I learned so much from him, and I’m taking so much from him with me in my life. My children are little so I don’t know what they will remember, but they will always know who he was.”

His mother Batya said Amichay was “sweet, full of life, with a good heart, on the one hand, but a great deal of stubbornness, on the other hand… his kindness spread to everyone around him.”

Amichay’s father, Yishai, told Channel 12 news that the decision to donate his organs after his death fit in perfectly with the way he lived his life: “Amichay totally deserved to keep doing good, his whole life was that way — that was Amichay, he did good in his whole life to everyone, there’s nobody who could say he bothered them, the opposite. He was so good to everyone around him, to his friends, his siblings, to us, his parents. That’s what really helped us make the decision.”

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