Major Yehuda Natan Cohen z"l, a third-generation Holocaust survivor, saved families in Nahal Oz and fell in the heart of the Gaza Strip. This Memorial Day, the song "Gur Aryeh Yehuda" reveals the character of a warrior whose stories of heroism were only discovered by his family during the shiva.
For years, to the Cohen family from the community of Shadmot Mehola, Yehuda Natan was simply "Gur." He was the sweet, slightly pampered boy who insisted on braiding the Shabbat challahs, loved lying in bed half the Shabbat with a newspaper, and defeated everyone at chess with a bashful smile. But on October 7, and in the blood-soaked days that followed, the family, and with them the entire country, discovered the "Lion" (Aryeh) within him.
Major Yehuda Natan Cohen, an admired company commander in the Givati Reconnaissance Unit (Sayeret Givati), did not hesitate for a moment on that Black Saturday. He charged into the fire at Kibbutz Nahal Oz, rescued families under fire, and continued to lead his soldiers deep into the Gaza Strip. There, in a battle in the heart of the Strip, he fell while leading from the front. Now, ahead of Memorial Day, his brother-in-law, Elia Maimon, is releasing the song "Gur Aryeh Yehuda" - an exposed and painful work that attempts to grasp both ends of the fallen hero's personality.
"No One Told Me How Much of a Hero He Was"
"No one told me how much of a hero he was," Maimon sings in words that pierce the heart. The song reveals the unimaginable gap between the tough commander whose voice over the radio instilled absolute confidence, and the beloved uncle whose tales of bravery only reached his family during the week of mourning. Through the lyrics and melody, the image emerges of a fighter who was a third-generation descendant of Holocaust survivors and carried the historical burden of the Jewish people on his shoulders.
