Sorrow in Joy: Soldiers Honor Fallen Comrade on Wedding Day

Thursday, 23 January 2025 | When Harel Saidov lay beneath the rubble of a building in Khan Younis, bleeding and covered in broken concrete and dust, everyone thought he was dead. The helicopter, loaded with wounded soldiers, was preparing to take off when his teammate, Eliya Hilel, noticed his faint breathing and shouted, “He’s alive!” Doctors doubted Saidov would survive, but he defied the odds and returned to life.

On Thursday, as Saidov stands under the wedding chuppah [a traditional canopy], guests will notice an inscription on the pristine fabric: “In memory of Eliya Hilel, may God avenge his blood, Iyar 22, 5784.”

On May 29, 2024, three months after saving Saidov’s life and sustaining injuries himself, Staff Sergeant Eliya Hilel was killed in a ramming attack in the West Bank [Judea and Samaria]. He had been planning to propose to his girlfriend, Hadas, and had even purchased a custom engagement ring, but he never got the chance.

Before Hilel’s funeral, his mother gave the ring to Hadas. Two days after his death, one of Hadas’ friends received a marriage proposal. “It was painful for her that Hadas never got to experience that moment,” says Hilel's mother, Hannah. “She approached me and said, ‘I want to get married under a canopy in Eliya's memory.’ We raised the funds and designed the canopy together. I was there at the wedding, and it was incredibly moving.”

“Then, that same friend suggested offering the canopy to other couples who wanted to get married in Eliya’s honor,” Hannah continues. “We posted about it on Facebook, and, thank God, our schedule is now full through April. Weddings are happening all over the country. Our pain is eternal, but there’s comfort in knowing that even though Eliya never had the chance to stand under a canopy, he is now a source of shelter for couples starting their lives together in Israel.” 

Wedding Invitations at the Gravesites

It seemed almost inevitable that on the day of Harel Saidov’s wedding to his fiancée, Idan Rafaeli, the ceremony would take place beneath the canopy created in Hilel’s memory. Hilel’s parents, Dror and Hannah, will be honored guests. But Saidov didn’t stop there.

This week, Saidov’s mother, also named Hannah, placed wedding invitations on Hilel’s grave at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery. “We left invitations on the graves of all my friends who fell in the war—three at Mount Herzl, one in Rehovot, and one in Shlomi,” Saidov shares. “Since I’m a cohen [priest] and not allowed to enter cemeteries, my parents took care of it.”

During the same incident in which Saidov was wounded, three of his teammates were killed: Sergeant Dolev Malca, Sergeant Afik Tery and Sergeant Inon Itzhak.

In his wedding speech, Saidov plans to say, “Just as we break a glass under the canopy to remember the destruction of the Temple during the happiest moment of our lives, so too, I will remember my friends who made this moment possible.” As he recites their names, Hilel’s will be among them.