What a grenade in Bint Jbeil can teach us about the Jewish state

During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Major Roi Klein sacrificed himself by falling on a grenade in Bint Jbeil, saving his soldiers while crying out "Shema Yisrael." Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, co-founder of the Bnei David pre-military yeshivah, recounted this act of heroism at Tekuma's third “Right-Wing Summit,” arguing it symbolizes a national awakening. Levinstein noted that while Klein's act was once singular, reciting the "Shema" before battle has become a common practice among IDF battalions entering Gaza and Lebanon, demonstrating a growing grassroots Jewish and national consciousness among younger Israelis, including a shift within the Haredi community towards Zionism.

"In the current war, every battalion, before entering Gaza and Lebanon, stands together and [recites it]."

He contended that a Jewish state must balance individual rights and equality with nationhood, criticizing the current IDF Code of Ethics for prioritizing enemy civil rights over victory. Levinstein asserted that the state should incorporate Jewish and national values into its decisions, distinct from individual religious observance, to truly embody a Jewish state.