Mother of fallen soldier: 'He would have done the same thing a thousand times over'

Jennifer Airley, the mother of Sergeant Binyamin Meir Airley, who fell in battle in the Gaza Strip in November 2023, spoke with Arutz Sheva-Israel National News about her son's life, his determination to defend the Jewish people, and how her family transformed a property in Tzfat into a retreat for soldiers, bereaved families, and survivors of the Nova massacre. Airley, whose Hebrew name is Rachel, recalled making Aliyah with her husband and their three young children during the Second Lebanon War. Binyamin was nearly four years old at the time. "I still feel like we're living on that high," she said. "We're seeing the beauty of the land. I love going running in the mountains, in the fields, on hikes, because we're living the dream." She described the privilege of living in Israel as something her family has never taken for granted, even after losing Binyamin in battle. "We just feel so blessed, so privileged and honored to be here. We don't take it for granted." Reflecting on Binyamin's childhood, Airley described an energetic, independent boy who was not always easy to raise but whose determination would eventually become one of his defining qualities. "Sometimes I joke around how Rachel, when she named Benjamin, said, 'Ben Oni,' like my difficult child. And then Yaakov says, 'No, no, he's my right-hand man.' I said, 'So he was my difficult child, and he became my right-hand man.'" "It was probably both at the same time," she added. Binyamin was born on Hoshana Rabba, and his mother recalled associating his birth with the Biblical blessing to the tribe of Benjamin, "The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety." "I always pictured Hashem protecting him and being his beloved, his really close friend," she said. "I also pictured, with all the crazy things that Binyamin did and all the ways he protected the nation, Hashem sat on his shoulder protecting him all the time." "This time Hashem said, 'But this time I'm taking him.'" Binyamin studied at several educational institutions across Israel, including in Beit Shemesh, the north, and the south, before finding a school that suited him in Eilat during 11th grade. "My husband always says he wasn't ever kicked out. He was just asked to not come back to certain schools," Airley recalled. She credited the Tzviya High School in Eilat and Rav Amnon with helping her son discover his potential. "Rav Amnon gave him the wings to fly," she said. His experiences at different schools also allowed Binyamin to develop friendships across the country, and he remained connected with people from the different periods of his life. Airley described her son as someone willing to challenge rules, take initiative, and push forward when he believed something needed to be done. "I'm going to go get it. I don't care. I'm going to go break the rules. I'm going to go push forward. I'm going to go do what needs to get done," she said, describing his approach to life. At the same time, she emphasized that the soldiers who gave their lives defending Israel came from different backgrounds and possessed very different personalities. "I actually know a lot of other mothers whose boys are very pure, very timid, and they also are ready to fight for the nation and give their lives for the nation." She recalled how Binyamin's confidence inspired the soldiers around him. "There were boys that said that when they go into Gaza, they want to stand next to Binyamin because next to Binyamin, they're not afraid," she said. "Because he had no fear. Why should I be afraid? I'm doing what I have to do." After studying in a Hesder yeshiva in Tzfat, Binyamin enlisted in the Paratroopers Brigade. His mother recalled that when he was killed in Gaza, he had volunteered to advance with soldiers outside his own team, despite not being required to do so. "Sometimes people ask me, are you angry at Hashem? Are you angry at G-d? Or angry at the government?" she said. "How can I be angry at them? Binyamin is the one who volunteered himself to push forward. He could have stayed; he could have followed the rules and stayed behind where his team was. "He pushed himself forward. He went in with other people. It wasn't his command. He wasn't supposed to. I mean, he got permission to do it. I found that he did get permission to go forward. But he didn't have to. "This is what he, he would have done the same thing a thousand times over." Airley also recalled the circumstances that kept Binyamin from immediately reaching the south when the October 7th massacre began. He had spent Simchat Torah on the farms in Neve Tzuf, where he had gone to ensure that there would be a prayer quorum. According to his mother, had he been home in Beit Shemesh when the attack began, he would have driven south on his own initiative to join the fighting. Instead, he had to report to his military base before being flown south with his unit. "In all honesty, we got another six weeks of life with him," she said. "Had he been in Beit Shemesh, he would have taken the car and gone straight down south and done exactly the same thing. But here he had to go to his army base." "I know my boy." The conversation also addressed Beit Binyamin , a project established in Tzfat in his memory that now provides accommodations for soldiers, families, Nova survivors, and families of victims of the massacre. Airley explained that the story of the property began approximately a year and a half before Binyamin's death, when she and her husband traveled north for a day together. After hearing about a property for sale in Tzfat, the couple decided to visit it. Within hours, they had viewed the property, submitted an offer, and learned that the offer had been accepted. "We go, and we look at it, and we put an offer on it. And then they accept the offer. And we're like, what are we doing?" she recalled. The couple began renovations, but construction came to a halt when the war broke out. Six weeks later, Binyamin fell in battle, leaving his parents questioning what purpose the property should now serve. "What do we care about making money? What do we care about running a vacation unit?" she recalled thinking. After several weeks, the family decided to dedicate the property to helping others. "We're part of something much bigger now," Airley explained. "We're not in this for ourselves. We're not part of a nation just to focus on our own needs. We're part of something much bigger." "So we decided that it was going to be used for the people of Israel." She connected the decision to her understanding of Divine providence, explaining that events do not necessarily unfold according to people's wishes. "People think 'bashert' means everything works out. Everything is complete Divine providence. It's going to work out exactly the way I want it to. But it's not." "Divine providence is when things work out exactly as they're supposed to," she said. "Sometimes we get to see why it happened. And sometimes we don't." Today, Beit Binyamin operates four separate accommodation units, providing respite for people affected by the war. According to Airley, demand has greatly exceeded the property's capacity. "It's full. All four units. We have four separate units. They're full from now until Passover. And there's still a four-month waiting list." The family is now seeking to acquire an additional property to expand the initiative and accommodate more families. "We have to expand," she said, describing the growing number of requests she receives from people seeking accommodations. Airley now travels internationally to speak about her family, her faith, and her love for Israel, while raising funds to support Beit Binyamin . "I go around the world now when I fundraise. And I go, and I speak. I share. I go, and I share Torah and our love for the land and our love for the people of the land and the beauty of our nation, of our country." "And I raise money for Beit Binyamin, and that's like our new life." Reflecting on her unexpected responsibilities, she added: "Who knew I could try at least to fundraise and to run an organization?"