70 years of stories

 

Major Gideon Weiler

Gideon was born in Johannesburg on May 9^th 1950 (22 Iyyar 5710). His parents were Una and Rabbi Moses Cyrus (Moshe Chaim) Weiler.

The family made aliya at the end of 1957 (end of South African school year) but he was sent on ahead, at the age of seven and a half, to begin the school year in Israel. He attended the Reali School in Haifa and continued to its Military Boarding School, where he focused on Middle Eastern Studies.

Gideon enjoyed the military regime at the hostel, loved the training and the outings, which gave him an outlet for his great energy, his independent character, and his love of the country. One of his friends said of him: “What was palpable about Gideon was his combination of will-power and very high motivation. He was one of the outstanding cadets of his year. Although he was not academically outstanding, his organizational ability, his leadership qualities, and his intelligence made him exceptional. One area in which he excelled was sport, where his persistence and determination brought him a variety of achievements and titles. His leadership abilities were particularly obvious. He was very tough, both demanding and doing a great deal. He always strove for high achievement, to be first, and to prove his ability in every area. He never settled for mediocrity, always demanding perfection.  He was never afraid to express his opinion about his fellows, even when these were hard and hurtful.”

Gideon was called up to the IDF in August 1968 and volunteered to serve in the Armoured Corps.   Following basic training, he was sent to a professional training course on the Patton Yank, a Patton Tank Commanders Course, an Officers  Course, in which he was designated an Outstanding Cadet, an Armoured Corps Officers Course, and an Armoured Corps Company Commanders Course. He was a punctilious officer and demanded full compliance with instructions. He looked on discipline as a prior condition for the efficient operation of an armoured unit, responsible for the IDF’s heavy weaponry.   His subordinates reported that he was a hard and tough commander, who demanded much from himself and from them while, at the same time, being highly meticulous with regard to their rights and genuinely interested in their personal problems. In their evaluations, his superiors wrote:  “An excellent officer with superior achievements. He has outstanding technical knowledge, he has good promotion potential, and he has a strong wish to advance. He is very efficient, diligent, innovative, responsible, dedicated, punctilious on small details as well as on larger issues, and has a sharp critical sense. He is decent, disciplined, sets a personal example, is hard on his people, but acceptable to them.”

Most of his service was spent in the Sinai, on the front lines facing the Suez Canal, until 1970 when his older brother, Adam, fell in battle, during the War of Attrition. After his brother died, and his superiors demanded that he no longer serve in a combat unit, Gideon was transferred from the Sinai to the Central Armour School and became a Company Commander in an Armoured Corps Officers Course.  In spite of this, a year later Gideon returned to the Sinai as commander of a tank company and operations officer;  it was there that he was awarded the “Operational Service Decoration.”  After he had carried out these duties in the Sinai, his superiors – in particular the late Major General Albert Mandler–  זק”ל  were adamant that Gideon should no longer serve in a combat unit.   Accordingly, he was transfered back to the Armour School, where he commanded the Drivers  Course until the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War.   Notwithstanding this placement, Gideon was already at the Golan Front on the eve of Yom Kippur, and when the war broke out he was appointed Deputy Battalion Commander with the rank of Major.  He fought in this role until he fell on the fourth day of the war, October 9^th 1973 (13 Tishrei 5734).

On that day, near Buq’ata, his battalion was fighting a Syrian tank force, that outnumbered them tenfold. Gideon went out to rescue tanks that had been cut off. This was a high-risk mission and the Company Commander of the crew that he went to extricate had not sent a tank because of the level of danger in a village swarming with Syrian commandos. Gideon’s own tank was hit by two rockets and he was killed on the spot. The sole survivor was the driver of the tank. In that battle, Gideon saved the lives of a crew that had accompanied him on the same sortie. A note to his pregnant wife was found on his body. He wrote that he was thinking of her and of the child to be born.

He was laid to his eternal rest in the military cemetery on Mount Herzl, alongside his brother, Adam.  He left behind him his wife, Vivi, whom he had married on Tu biShevat, nine months before he was killed, his mother, Una, his father, Moshe Chaim, three brothers, Daniel, Joseph, and Benjamin, and his sister ,Arnona.  His daughter, Gal, was born after he fell.  At a later stage, Maj. Gen. (Res) Dan Lener, Commander of the Armoured Division, said the following about Gideon:  “I knew most of the chaps from their service in various places. One of them was my son’s Company Commander in the Sinai, where I was in overall command.  It is interesting to recall how a fellow like that had been thinking, just before the war. His tanks were on the move and had to cross a paved road. In order to avoid damaging the road surface with their tracks, he collected tires and laid them on the road and the tanks rolled over these. I said to him:  “Gideon, Gideon, this is war. Move! Move! Why are you having mercy on the road” “Not a matter of mercy, Sir; he answered me.  “Not a matter of mercy, but many vehicles will have to take this road, carrying people, reinforcements, and food. We have to look after the road.”  Afterwards, I was sorry that I may have insulted a wonderful chap. That was Gideon Weiler from Jerusalem. He was killed in the Yom Kippur War. His brother Adam, was killed in the War of Attrition with Egypt. Sometimes, for no particular reason, I visualize him and it is as though he were still alive.”

 

Several projects in Gideon’s memory have been set up in Israel, by his parents and friends.

A fund, in his memory, was established at Ben Gurion University of the Negev thanks to the efforts of Vivi’s father, Prof. Moshe Prywes. This provides bursaries to four students who had served in armoured units.

Close to the Sanhedria Quarter in Jerusalem, in the United Synagogue (of Conservative Judaism) Forest, a site has been dedicated to his memory.

A bursary in Gideon’s name, to be awarded for distinction in Middle Eastern Studies by a graduate of a military academy, established at Haifa University by the Progressive Movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis.

A full bursary, in perpetuity, at the Naval School at Mevuot-Yam, contributed by the Israel Maritime League of South Africa.

A Mishna study group met three times weekly at the Head Office of the JNF in Israel.

There are several other memorial projects, jointly in his memory and that of his brother Adam as follows:

The Adam and Gideon Weiler Garden in Eilat, which serves as a recreation area and a sports field.

A quiet corner in Gideon”s memory that was added to the Weiler Clearing (named for Adam and Gideon) in the Jerusalem Forest, donated by the JNF.

Guest lectures by distinguished scholars at the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem and a section of books on Jewish Law in the college library, contributed by his parents.

The aid fund of Congregation Mevakshei Derech donated a reading room and bursaries at the Denmark Comprehensive High School in Jerusalem.

An anonymous donor contributed a section of books of Responsa at the Netiv Meir Yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Among the memorials to Gideon outside of Israel, we will mention only:

Five bursaries for black children at the M.C. Weiler School in Alexandra Township, Johannesburg, donated by the Sisterhood of the United Progressive Jewish Congregation there.

A memorial room at the Alan Isaacs Camp in South Africa.

A room at the Jewish Day School in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

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(דף זה הוא חלק ממפעל ההנצחה הממלכתי ‘יזכור’, שנערך ע’י משרד הביטחון)