Finance Minister Yair Lapid paid tribute in the town of Talmon, at the request of the family, to Gil-Ad Shaar, the 14th:
""We are burying a child today.".
Burying a child is an unnatural act, parents are not supposed to march at their children's funerals, grandparents are not supposed to shed a tear on the grave of their grandchildren - it should have been the other way around.
When we bury adults, we cry for their death, for the lives they had, for the memories they left behind.
When we bury a child, we cry for the life he will not have, for the wedding, for the first joy of a baby's life. Today, we bury an entire Shabbat table that will never come again.
Therefore, let us remember at every moment that we are burying a child today.
Today we are burying a child who could have been any of us and therefore is indeed each of us.
We are not burying a settler, we are not burying a hero in the never-ending battle for this land, this is not the funeral of one part of the people – not one group tearing apart, and we need each other on this day.
We don't need anger, not further division among us, not a competition over who expresses holier rage or purer hatred – rage is not holy, hatred cannot be pure.
I understand everyone who cries out for revenge, how can you not understand when I feel the same way, when each of us feels the same way. But on this day, at this funeral, in front of this family – we need love, we need a common language, we need to rediscover the paths to each other.
If we want to punish our enemy, there is no greater punishment for them than for them to look at us and see that there is nothing that can separate us.
If we want to take revenge on the murderers – and we will find them and punish them – the true revenge is our ability to bridge the gaps between us and embrace each other despite all our flaws and our arguments.
If we want to sanctify the memory of Gilead, we must choose what we sanctify – the enmity towards the other, or the love for each other – what separates, or what connects – the suspicion, or the trust between us.
Children don't write wills, so we need to write Gilad's will together - if the family allows me and the audience allows me, I would suggest that we begin this will with the words of the holy Ari - 'I have received upon me the positive commandment of 'Love your neighbor as yourself, and I have received to love each of the children of Israel as myself and as my own soul' - may the memory of Gilad be blessed.".
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