Eleven months after his death, hundreds of family members and friends gathered around Regev's grave, who was killed in the battles at Kibbutz Kissufim. Among them stood 44 high school seniors who never met him. This week, they began learning and volunteering at the "Derech Regev" Academy, established in the spirit of the brave warrior, at Kibbutz Sde Nehemia, near the border with Lebanon, where he was born, raised, and laid to rest.
A few months before October 7th, Regev (20) foresaw his death and shared his fears with his mother and friends. "When he left the Shayetet (Navy unit) and transferred to serve in the Paratroopers Brigade, he returned from the line of posts on Mount Dov and warned me that a war was coming, and we were all going to die in it," recalls his mother, Gilanit.
"He was very angry then that they weren’t allowed to take down the Hezbollah tents that had been set up on our land and said that the moment the border is crossed, they would rise against us. He asked, 'When I die in battle – commemorate me through deeds, not monuments.'"
Gilanit was very angry when she heard these words but admits, "From that day, I started sleeping in my clothes because I knew that knock on the door would come."
"At the next threat – There will be worthy leaders here"
On the morning the war broke out, Regev and his friends, who were in a squad commanders' course, were called to defend the surrounding kibbutzim and stormed the masses of terrorists that raided Kissufim. Until his last moments, Regev continued to manage the battle calmly and without fear.
When the casualty officers arrived at his parents' home a few days later, even before he was laid to rest, his parents, Gilanit and David, sat with their children, Roni and Shaked, and immediately began planning the establishment of a pre-military academy in his memory on the kibbutz. They knew that the way to commemorate him must be through educating the next generation for leadership, excellence, and contribution to the community.
"We are in a time where there is no leadership holding us together, and the nation is divided," his parents explain. "We need to give tools to the next generation to learn what personal example, love of the country, and preserving it mean. When the next threat comes, there will be worthy leaders here."
They approached the Upper Galilee Leadership Institute, which operates branches in the area, and asked to establish a branch in their son's name. Later, they enlisted donors from Israel and abroad and raised nearly two million shekels to renovate the buildings and purchase equipment.
The JNF USA organization, representing the Jewish communities in the United States, donated about 500,000 shekels. "The academy is a strategic necessity for the Galilee, because at a time when many families are leaving – dozens of young people are moving to the Galilee now," says Nissan Ze'evi, the organization's representative in the Galilee. "This initiative is truly a beacon of light for the northern communities."
The young people who joined the academy, who are about to enlist in the IDF, come from all over the country, including a participant who immigrated from the U.S.
"The Most Zionist Act"
Sde Nehemia is only about 5.5 kilometers from the Lebanese border, and it is part of eight kibbutzim in the Upper Galilee near the border that were not evacuated from their homes. For 11 months now, they have been living under a routine of alarms, shooting barrages, and drones.
Like the academy students, the kibbutz children also started a new school year this week. "It wasn't easy to bring them here, and I understand the parents' fear, but if I live here and our children can go to kindergarten and school – there is no reason they shouldn’t be here," says Gilanit, who already knows all the students by name.
She says, "Coming here and being with us is the call of the hour. We will need this even more when the war ends, and the residents return. This is the most Zionist act one can do – to give us the light and oxygen we all need." She admits that it's not just oxygen they give her; they also fill a part of her heart that is so sorely missing: "I feel like we lost one child but gained dozens. They don’t replace Regev, but seeing them full of aspirations gives us a reason to get up in the morning and not stay in bed."