Eitam Shaul Henkin was born in Jerusalem in 1984, the son of Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbanit Chana Henkin, who had made aliya from the United States in the 1970’s. He was a scion of the notable Henkin rabbinical family. His mother, a scholar in her own right, is the founder of Nishmat, one of the first institutes of higher Torah learning for women, where he served as the halachic authority.
Eitam studied at Yeshivat Nir in Kiryat Arba and did his IDF service in the Golani Brigade. He met Naama Amoni when both were 17 and they married 2 years later while he was still serving in the army.
An ordained rabbi, lecturer and doctoral student in history at Tel Aviv University, Eitam authored two halachic volumes, and a third will be published posthumously. As his brother Yagil eulogized him: “The Torah world lost one of the great rabbis and leaders of the next generation, and the academic world an excellent scholar.”
On the evening of October 1, 2015, Chol Hamoed Sukkot, the family was returning from a yeshiva reunion to their home in Neria when they were fired on by terrorists and both Eitam and Naama were killed. The four children sitting in the back of the car were miraculously unharmed. They were buried in Har Hamenuhot in Jerusalem. He is survived by his parents, siblings and 4 young sons.
