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August 05, 2003

Site Dedication - Raz Mintz, Israeli Soldier and Friend

As an active member of a Jewish Youth Organization (BBYO), I attended a three-week long summer leadership program in Pennsylvania in the Summer of 1997. I bunked with three other guys, one a Texas Cowboy, another a Pennylvania native, and the other, a 16 year old Israeli named Raz Mintz. I got to know Raz rather well, and became good friends with him. He often spoke to me and the other roommates about joining the army, and how his hero was his brother, another proud member of the Israeli Army. The three weeks came and went and we all went to our respective homes.

In the Spring of 1998, I attended the March of the Living, a 2 week trip consisting of one week in Poland touring Concentration Camps, and one week in Israel. That year happened to be the year of Israel's 50th year of independence, and my group was spending that night in Tiberias. While walking the city strets with some friends from the trip, and I heard someone calling my name. I turned around, and it was Raz Mintz. It was quite a coincidence and we were both shocked and amazed. I ran into another Israeli friend of mine Yaniv as well. Running into both of them made that night quite an experience, and certainly gave a new meaning to Independence Day.

Yaniv Gal, Aaron Margolis and Raz Mintz (l-r) in the streets
of Tiberias on Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day)

On November 2, 2001, Raz was part of an Israeli Defence Force unit that set out to halt a terrorist cell organized by the Palestinian Authority. This cell, according to army intelligence, was on its way to attack one of the Jewish settlements shortly after Friday Night Services. Raz's unit surprised the cell and prevented the future attack. However, while leading the operation, Raz took a gunshot to the chest and died shortly thereafter.

I had lost touch with Raz after running into him in Israel, and didn't find out about his death until months later. When I first heard about it I was shocked--as much as it was a coincidence I ran into him in the streets of Tiberias, it was as much a strange coincidence that of all the Israelis that have died in past three years, one of them had to be someone I knew.

Raz died defending the great country of Israel. He had a spirit in him that man of us in the United States take for granted. He gave his life for Israel, protecting other Israelis from a certain death, and keeping the rest of the world from hearing about another terror attack in Israel. Raz believed in a cause, something almost greater than one human being. Similarly, we all must fight for the causes we hold true.

Shalom, Raz Mintz.

Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Obituary for Raz Mintz

Posted by Aaron at August 5, 2003 03:08 PM

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