Sgt. Maj. Elisha Loewenstern, 38: Rabbi, software engineer and dad of 6

Sgt. Maj. (res.) Rabbi Elisha Loewenstern, 38, of the 179th Reserve Armored Brigade’s 8104th Battalion, from Harish, was killed on December 13, 2023, while battling Hamas in southern Gaza.

On October 8, 2023, Elisha was called up to reserve duty in the Armored Corps and fought first in southern Israel before joining the ground invasion of Gaza.

He was killed and another soldier of the battalion was seriously hurt after their tank was hit by an anti-tank guided missile while heading out of the Strip on December 13.

Elisha was buried on December 14 in Beit Shemesh. He is survived by his wife, Hadas, their six children, Eitan, Bneya, Michal, Yiscah, Amichai and Ruth, his parents, Sharon and Tzvi, and his five siblings, Yakir, David, Yocheved, Yechiel and Noam.

Born in Highland Park, New Jersey, Elisha moved to Israel in 1993, at age 8, settling in Beit Shemesh, where he grew up in a religious family.

He attended the Shaalvim Yeshiva High School near Modiin, and after he graduated enrolled in the hesder yeshiva in the southern city of Yeruham, which combines Torah study with military service.

Elisha ultimately continued his studies until he became an ordained rabbi. He also was among those who translated the Steinsaltz edition of the Talmud into English for the Koren publisher.

In 2017, Elisha moved into a tech career, and was working as a software engineer at a hi-tech company. He still filled his day with Torah studies, his loved ones said, including tutoring bar mitzvah boys and giving lectures in his community in the northern city of Harish.

Rabbi Eliyahu Blumenzweig, the head of the Yeruham yeshiva, told the Kan public broadcaster that “Elisha was a truly incredible figure. He had a deep and honest purity, upright almost in ways that aren’t found in this world. Good, honest, sincere and very dedicated to the beit midrash [study hall]. A pure soul with a direct path.”

His wife, Hadas, said in a video tribute that: “Elisha, he was the love of my life, we spent 13 beautiful years together, we have six children,” ranging in age from 12 to 10 months at the time of his death. “We were so happy together, we had a wonderful life and we did many things together.”

“He did not waste time, he did not waste time at all,” said Hadas, recounting how much he would pack into his day – including doing reps of sit-ups and push-ups in between studying bursts of Torah.

Elisha, she said, was ready and willing to go and fight for his country, and in the 10 weeks he fought in the war, he told her “that he is very happy to have the privilege to defend the people of Israel and the land of Israel.”

“Talking about his death is so marginal, in my eyes, because he only died once – but he lived every day.”

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