Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

1,000 Gather For Max Steinberg’s Memorial Service in Los Angeles

A memorial service for fallen Israel Defense Forces soldier Max Steinberg, a California native, drew 1,000 people.

The service Tuesday night, held at Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, paid tribute to Steinberg’s American childhood and his service in the IDF, according to the Times of Israel. Steinberg, 24, a sharpshooter in the Golani brigade, joined the IDF two years ago and was killed on July 19 while fighting in Gaza.

Steinberg’s parents, community rabbis and U.S.-born Israeli Knesset Member Dov Lipman spoke at the service, where they praised Steinberg’s dedication to Israel — which he first visited on a 2012 Birthright trip before moving there later that year. Steinberg’s parents’ first trip to Israel was for his funeral in Jerusalem, which drew 35,000 people.

“Nothing can duplicate the love showered on our family by the people of Israel,” Steinberg’s mother, Evie, said at the event, according to the Times of Israel. “We have no regrets that Max made the choice to enlist in the IDF. Max was a Golani, a trained, expert sharpshooter and was determined to fulfill his service. On the way, Max found his inner peace.”

Due to fears of anti-Semitic attacks, the event was surrounded by heavy security.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.