"Every Morning You'd Cry 'Don't Go Mom' - Now There's a Kindergarten Named After You"

A gut-wrenching social media post from Ofra Lax, mother of IDF Lieutenant Naveh Elazar Lax who fell on October 7th at Kibbutz Be'eri, has touched hearts across Israel's social networks.

Lax shared her overwhelming emotions about a new kindergarten in Lod being named after her son, wondering out loud: "How can it be that just a moment ago I was walking you to kindergarten, and yesterday they already named a kindergarten after you?" She added with raw honesty, "I keep trying to answer myself and I just can't."

The grieving mother opened up about precious memories from Naveh's own kindergarten days, when saying goodbye each morning was a struggle. "Every morning you'd cry 'Mom, don't go!' and my heart would just squeeze tight," she wrote. She painted a vivid picture of how her little boy would only calm down with the help of Grandpa Victor, who would ask him to help water the plants.

Yesterday, the city of Lod officially named a new kindergarten "Gan Naveh" in honor of her fallen son. What makes it even more meaningful is that the kindergarten sits right next to the agricultural farm where Naveh volunteered as a child. Now the kindergarten kids will learn there too, "connecting to the land through their hands," as his mother put it.

Lax found comfort in the fact that her son is being remembered in a place filled with "life and happiness and future" - something that feels so right for who Naveh was. She made sure to thank Lod's mayor Yair Revivo and the entire city council for remembering him, adding with a touch of her son's personality: "No surprise there - they're amazing, plus you gave them quite a hard time when you wanted to commemorate fallen soldiers."

But it was the ending of her post that really hit people where it hurts. After describing the dedication ceremony, Lex wrote: "When the ceremony ended, all that was left were prayers for a good and successful year for the children and staff and all of Israel."

Then came the punch to the gut: "And I was left crying - this time it's me calling out 'Naveh honey, don't go!' and looking for Grandpa Victor to calm me down, but he's gone too."

The post has resonated deeply with Israelis still grappling with the losses from October 7th and the ongoing war, showing how grief continues long after the headlines fade, and how parents are finding ways to keep their children's memories alive in places where life continues to bloom.