The Jerusalem Post - The Jerusalem Post Magazine
Getting to know Col. (res.) Shimon Perchik
In September 1971, Shimon Perchik joined the IDF Rabbinate’s casualty treatment system after completing his regular military service in the 9th Company of the General Staff of the military rabbinate, numbering 160 soldiers.
“Two years later, during the Yom Kippur War,” he says, “I found myself leading a platoon on the Egyptian front with the mission of evacuating, identifying, and providing dignified burials for our fallen comrades. This experience profoundly exposed the need for improving the IDF’s treatment of its fallen heroes, and for me it became a personal mission.”
In the post-Yom Kippur War years, he continued his service in the reserves, teaching hevra kadisha courses and contributing to the development of a military combat doctrine of casualty treatment. He served as the deputy commander of Company 9 and later as its commander. His company faced numerous catastrophic events, even in peacetime, including helicopter crashes and horrific terror attacks.
“Within our ranks, a group of officers and commanders, many of them Yom Kippur War veterans, shared a common goal – continuous enhancement of the IDF’s casualty treatment system through operational investigations and lesson implementation.”
Recognizing the need to strengthen casualty response after the Gulf War in 1991, Company 9 was expanded and became a battalion of 360 soldiers, named Yakam, and headed by Perchik, who was promoted to lieutenant colonel.
“This marked a turning point in our mission to improve casualty treatment within the IDF,” he says.
In 2011, the Merchav (the IDF Rabbinate emergency training for casualty treatment) project was initiated, and Perchik accepted Rabbi Israel Weiss’s request to take on long-term reserve service and become the project’s coordinator. He says that this significantly improved the IDF’s casualty treatment system. In 2005 he was awarded the rank of colonel by thenchief of staff Moshe Bogi Ya’alon. In 2011, he assumed command of the Malbach Corps (the chief of staff’s unit for casualty treatment).
“Our experience in Company 9 during the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War reinforced in us the importance of upholding Torah and Jewish morality, guiding us in honoring the fallen and supporting bereaved families. The IDF Rabbinate has become an integral part of the entire IDF, thanks to dedicated soldiers and commanders honoring the fallen in Israel and abroad. This commitment results from collaborative efforts across IDF divisions,” Perchik says.
“We pray that our unit’s operations are never needed. In the words of Isaiah, ‘He will swallow up death forever; the Lord God, He will wipe every tear from every face. He will sweep His people’s shame away from all the Earth. The Lord has spoken’” (Isaiah 25:8).