God's Company (Israel)
God's Company is a nickname given to the C company in the 33rd battalion of the Alexandroni Brigade in the IDF, roughly 100 men, who were outflanked and destroyed (67 casualties) by the Egyptian forces during attempting to conquer Faluja pocket (operation Hisul). They were led by Ben Zion Helman who refused an order to retreat, saying "I will not leave, until the last of the wounded is evacuated".". An Egyptian officer, Gamal Abdel Nasser, described their stand as courageous and said he understood it after learning they took a tefillin with them into battle . They were buried with a military funeral by the Egyptian forces (firing three times from a cannon). Etymology. One of the sources says that the company gained the nickname God's company when a high-ranking officer witnessed them praying before going to eat after returning from a day of a battle, another says it was nicknamed because they all survived many battles. Background. The company consisted of men from Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan, and Givatayim, and was one of the three religious platoons. The company included 20 Holocaust survivors with 5 being Netzer Aharon (last survivors). During a week  that they learned that there were no kosher dishes, they had been eating only brine fish and bread. Their actions and the "Cooks affair" (when the cooks had been order to make food on Shabbat) in July 1948 led to the order that IDF kitchens must be kosher. Bodies exhumation. Following the failure to conquer Tel Erani north of Iraq al-Manshiyya during operation Hisul the bodies of the fallen soldiers had been buried in four mass graves by the Egyptian forces. Rabbi Goren had been sent to identify the burial site and exhumation. According to a report by "Davar , the Rabbi received honorable military treatment from the Egyptian forces and the Egyptian forces assisted in the exhumation process.