Ahead of the Sukkot holiday, AMIT students throughout the network of schools are taking part in an initiative to keep alive the memory of Lt. Hadar Goldin, z”l, a graduate of the AMIT Gwen Straus Jr. & Sr. Science High School for Boys, who was killed in the 2014 Gaza war and whose remains have not been returned to Israel.
Goldin, who had an infectious smile, was an amateur artist, and one of the illustrations he drew and that hung on the door to his bedroom imploring people to “enter with a smile” will now also hangs in thousands of sukkot and synagogues around Israel.
AMIT students at various schools in Givat Shmuel, Ra’anana and elsewhere have printed posters of Goldin’s work and distributed them to members of their communities to hang in their sukkot.
Chanit Freshtand, the principal of Ulpanat AMIT Givat Shmuel, where the girls handed out the poster throughout the city, said that, for the girls, “raising awareness about Hadar’s story is a national mission that we are all obligated to perform for a soldier who went out to the battlefield for our sake.”
Inbal, a student at the ulpana, said that it is important to remind everyone about Hadar and his actions, and his sacrifice for the state of Israel, while he was alive.
Students from Hadar’s alma mater presented the artwork to his parents, Leah and Simcha Goldin, who thanked the students and the school for their support. “Your project, of bringing Hadar and his smile to thousands of Israeli homes during this holiday is a great help in our struggle to return him home for burial in Israel.”
Dr. Amnon Eldar, AMIT’s director general, said, “It is our moral obligation to remember Hadar, to support the family and to remind everyone that there are two soldiers [Goldin and Sgt. Oron Shaul] who have yet to return from the war. We see this as a lesson in mutual responsibility.”
