Nov 1, 2006 - St.-Sgt. Kiril Golenshein, 21, of Moshav Shekef, was killed by a sniper's bullet as his unit entered the town of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip in pursuit of terrorists firing Kassam rockets at Israel.
Golenshein was a member of the IDF's elite Oketz (Sting) canine unit, which he joined in search of more action than he had found previously in the IDF's airborne Rescue Unit 669.
The Golenshein family immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union some 15 years ago and settled in Jerusalem, where Kiril attended the capital's Experimental School. Last year they moved to Shekef, near Kiryat Gat, where Kiril's father, Michael, works at Intel.
"It's hard to talk about a son who is gone," Michael Golenshein said of his only child. "Just yesterday, my wife and I were saying he was the best thing we ever created... My son loved the army and always said that, if he didn't do the job, nobody else would do it for him."
A teacher, Yigal Shapira, remembered Kiril as "an amazing kid with a big smile, who studied cinema and mathematics and was an excellent student."
St.-Sgt. Kiril Golenshein was buried at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl Military Cemetery. He is survived by his parents, Diana and Michael.