Slain IDF Hero to Be Celebrated and Memorialized at Rebbe’s Resting Place
by Faygie Levy Holt – chabad.org
Women and girls from New York City will honor and celebrate the life of Raz Mizrachi, a 21-year-old former Israel Defense Forces soldier who was killed by Hamas on Oct. 7, with a trip to the Ohel in Queens, N.Y.—the resting place of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. There, they will uplift each other through prayer and song.
The event is being held on Monday, Oct. 30, to celebrate Mizrachi’s 22nd birthday and ahead of her shloshim, which marks 30 days since a Jewish person’s passing. It is being sponsored by Belev Echad, an organization that provides aid and support to wounded Israeli soldiers.
Mizrachi had been wounded in May 2021 during a terrorist ramming amid Israel’s “Operation Guardian of the Walls.” After her recovery, she worked for Belev Echad in Israel. She was at a music festival in Re’im when she was murdered along with hundreds of other young people.
The organization announced Mizrachi’s passing on Oct. 10, saying “Our hearts are shattered. Our friend. Our Belev Echad soldier and Belev Echad team member. May her memory be a blessing. May those who knew her forever be touched by her.”
Mizrachi, they wrote, “was an inspiration and source of strength to so many of the soldiers that visit the Belev Echad house. Raz was always smiling and positive, despite all the hardships she had been through as a wounded combat soldier. She wanted to share her experiences to help others.”
Just last month, Mizrachi had traveled to New York for the Belev Echad challah bake for women and girls. There, she spoke about her “journey in healing as a soldier wounded in the IDF,” and sang for the more than 300 women and girls in attendance.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of people—Jewish and non-Jews—come to the Ohel to pray and seek blessing, guidance and inspiration from above. According to Rabbi Uriel Vigler—who along with his wife, Shevy, founded and now direct Belev Echad, along with the Chabad Israel Center on Manhattan’s Upper East Side—the Ohel was the last place Mizrachi visited while she was in New York.
