For the third consecutive year, Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu marked Yom Hazikaron by putting on tefillin, sharing images of the moment with tens of thousands of followers on social media while wrapped in a Chabad tallis.

The tefillin belonged to First Sgt. Sean Nisim Carmeli HYD, a fighter in Battalion 13 of the Golani Brigade who fell during Operation Protective Edge. They were brought to Bibi by the Rebbe’s shliach in Katamon HaMoshava, Yerushalayim, Rabbi Or Ziv.

“On Yom Hazikaron, as in previous years, I put on tefillin in memory of one of our heroes who fell for our revival and our freedom,” Bibi wrote on social media. “This year too I met with the Rebbe’s shliach, Rabbi Or Ziv, who brought the tefillin with him. Each time, they belong to a different fighter, a beloved son, a hero of Israel. Each year, a different story. A different heart. An entire world. This year I had the privilege of putting on the tefillin of our hero Sean Carmeli HYD.”

Carmeli was a lone soldier who had come from the United States to defend Eretz Yisroel, choosing to tie his fate to that of his people out of deep faith and a sense of shlichus. He fell in battle in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge.

“When I put on his tefillin,” Bibi wrote, “I feel the deep connection between the generations. Between a tradition thousands of years old and the heroism of our own time. Between a quiet prayer and an act of self-sacrifice beyond compare.”

Bibi closed his post with the famous posuk: “V’ra’u kol amei ha’aretz ki shem Hashem nikra alecha v’yiru mimeka” – “And all the peoples of the earth will see that the name of Hashem is proclaimed upon you, and they will fear you.”

Rabbi Or Ziv described what has become a yearly tradition. “Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu puts on tefillin on Yom Hazikaron for the lilui nishmas Israel’s fallen heroes,” he said. “This time I brought the Prime Minister the tefillin of hero of Israel, First Sgt. Sean Nisim Carmeli HYD, a fighter in Battalion 13 of the Golani Brigade who fell in Operation Protective Edge.”

What was expected to take five minutes stretched to nearly 40. “The tefillin laying could have taken five minutes, but in practice it took nearly 40 minutes of prayer and deep emotion,” Rabbi Or Ziv said.