How can we offer sacrifices of Thanksgiving in our Day when there is no Holy Tem

bs"d

 

 

In response to Jon Silverman's letter, does anyone have any suggestions? 

---

Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home.

great letter from Jon Silverman! Fantastic

The Alter Rebbe said "live with the times" [the times of the parsha].

I receive your news of Tzviya Sariel getting released. At the same time, i read in today's torah portion of Tzav, Rashi's commentary on a thanksgiving offering:

12. If he is bringing it as a thanksgiving-offering. i.e., if [he is bringing the offering] to give thanks [to God] for a miracle that had happened to him, for instance, those who made a sea-voyage [and returned safely] or journeyed in the desert, or those who had been imprisoned [and were subsequently released], or a sick person who recovered. All these are required to give thanks [to God], for regarding them, it is written, "They shall give thanks to the Lord for His kindness and for his wonders to the children of men. And they shall slaughter sacrifices of thanksgiving" (Ps. 107:2122).

I was wondering what one says when one is released from getting imprisoned, too.  And now i know. Thanks to your email.

I love living with the times. 
keep up with the great emails!

----- Original Message ----
From: "FaigeRayzel@aol.com" <FaigeRayzel@aol.com>
To: FaigeRayzel@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 3:35:13 PM
Subject: Tzviya Sariel to be Released on Wednesday

The pressure apparently worked!  http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125608

 

Yasher Koach to all of us that didn't give up and worked on her behalf  and the mitzvah of Pidion Shvuyim, freeing captives, and recognized her struggle as being one that is not a personal one but one that exposed the rotten core of the judicial system within Israel.  Even her most basic civil rights of requiring proof of evidence of a crime  in order to be imprisoned was ignored and they continued to harass her and imprison her when charges were dropped.

 

This should just be the beginning in my opinion of our activism for an authentic judicial system based on Torah.  Tzviya's treatment proved that she was right on target for her unwillingness to recognize Israel's judicial courts.  The way they treated her proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that their system has nothing to do with justice but is simply the gov'ts tool to harass it's loyal citizens in Judea and Samaria.  The whole reason Tzviya, a young girl,  was so stubborn regarding her refusal of being heard at the secular court was from experience in witnessing the way others were treated by the courts. 

 

Let us work to promote the idea of a Torah based judicial system which is Tzviya's desire. Even the secular are interested in Mishpat Ivri rather than a hodge podge of British, Turkish and Israeli law. Judges can not be above the law and neither can policemen and policewomen.  We say in the Shemoneh Esreh (18 blessings in the morning and afternoon prayers) the following blessing. Hoshiva Shofteinu Kavarishona Veyoatzeinu Kevatchila.  Return our judges and advisors as in days in the past.  Tzion Bamishpat Tepadeh Veshaveha Bitzdaka.  Zion, with justice will be redeemed and those that return (or those captured) with righteousness.

 

On the day Tzviya is released, let us give thanks to Hashem! 

 

Baruch Ata Hashem elokeinu Melech Haolam Matir Assurim.  Blessed are you Hashem, King of the Universe for releasing the captive.

---

Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home.

Rav Yaakov Yosef, Rav Ovadia's son speaks out for Torah & demands Shas to leave!

bs'd

 

Thank you Israel Kaplan for sending me this.  All members of Shas should put their support behind Rav Yaakov Yosef who is a true leader and speaks out for Torah and not blinded by money.

DURING RECENT MONTH IT HAS BECOME CLEAR THAT DISCUSSIONS OVER SPLITTING JERUSALEM HAS BEEN PUT ON THE TABLE.  ABBAS, HAS ACKNOWLEDGED SEVERAL TIMES THAT IT IS BEING DISCUSSED AND OLMERT DENIES AND SO THESE TWO WORLD CLASS IDIOTS PLAY THEIR GODLESS AND EVIL GAMES.   ON THE TORONTO SCENE HOWEVER ANOTHER PROOF THAT JERUSALEM IS BEING DISCUSSED WAS WHEN SEVERAL LOCAL JEWS APPROACHED THE INFLUENTIAL COMMUNITY LEADERS TO SPEAK OUT AND EXPOSE OLMERTS EVIL PLANS. THE HEAD OF THIS ORGANIZATION STATED " I HAVE KNOWN NOW FOR QUITE SOME TIME THAT THE ISRAELI GOVT.  HAS SOLD OUT JERUSALEM".     THE SHAS PARTY IS AND WILL BE PARTY TO THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL UNLESS THEY ARE REMOVED VERY, VERY QUICKLY.

 

 

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
'Jewish party sold Jerusalem for $138 million'
Rabbi blasts his father for remaining in Israeli leader's coalition

---

Posted: March 17, 2008
9:52 pm Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

JERUSALEM – In unprecedented criticism of his father, the son of the spiritual leader of a major coalition partner in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government demanded his father's party immediately bolt the government amid rampant media reports Jerusalem is up for negotiations.

Rabbi Jacob Yosef accused the ultra-Orthodox Shas party of "selling Jerusalem" for 478 million Israeli shekels, or $138 million. Yosef's father, Rabbi Ovadye Yosef, serves as the spiritual leader of Shas, where he is also considered the party's more important and revered figure.

Earlier this month, the Knesset's Finance Committee approved $138 million in government funds to Shas' educational institutions as part of the party's coalition agreement with Olmert.

 

If Shas bolts, Olmert's coalition government could fall apart, precipitating new elections.

"How dare you sell out Jerusalem for 478 million shekels. Jerusalem is worth more than all monies in the world," said Jacob Yosef, rabbi of the Givat Mordechai neighborhood in Jerusalem, addressing his father's party.

Jacob Yosef is also a member of the Rabbinical Congress for Peace, a coalition of more than 350 Israeli rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis.

The Israeli Shas party has stated it would bolt the prime minister's coalition if it becomes clear the Israeli government is negotiating to cede of any part of Jerusalem.

Olmert repeatedly has insisted Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are not dealing with the status of Jerusalem, but Palestinian leaders, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abba, and many Israeli officials, including Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, have said in recent weeks negotiations are covering all core issues, including Jerusalem.

Yosef accused his father's party of staying in the government until a formal announcement regarding dividing Jerusalem is made, by which time, the rabbi said, it will be too late.

"When someone brings a rope to hang your child, will you say 'oh, it's nothing, he only brought a rope?' Or if a killer is only sharpening the knife, will you say, 'it's nothing, he's only sharpening the knife?' You will stop him right at the beginning because by the time the knife is on the throat it will be too late. What is Shas waiting for? It must leave the government right now," Yosef exclaimed.

Shas denies Jerusalem is being discussed during weekly Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, which commenced after last November's U.S.-sponsored Annapolis summit.

"Nobody is talking about Jerusalem. The moment Jerusalem is being discussed, Shas will leave the government – period," Shas Spokesman Roi Lachmanovitch told Israel National News.

A Rabbinical Congress for Peace statement issued earlier this month said: "Every novice journalist and anyone listening to the news in Israel knows that giving up large chunks of Jerusalem has been on the negotiating table for quite some time and is in its advanced stages. Only the representatives of Shas are burying their heads in the ground and pretend they know of nothing."

"They are lying to themselves and deceiving their electorate. The Shas ministers know that Olmert and Abbas have agreed not to make public any agreement on Jerusalem until after the final signature in order to keep Shas in the government," said the RCP statement.

The statement was signed by scores of prominent rabbinic leaders here.

Since the Annapolis summit, which aimed to create a Palestinian state before the end of the year, senior negotiating teams including Livni and chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia have been meeting weekly while Olmert and Abbas meet biweekly.

Unlike previous Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in which both sides attended with about a dozen advisors each, Livni's and Quereai's teams are small, usually consisting at most of five people each. Media leaks from the current negotiations have been rare. Some momentum is highly expected before a visit Bush has scheduled to Israel in May, his second trip since Annapolis.

Olmert's government has hinted a number of times it will divide Jerusalem and reportedly has halted all Jewish construction permits for eastern sections of the city.

In December, Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon said the country "must" give up sections of Jerusalem for a future Palestinian state, even conceding the Palestinians can rename Jerusalem "to whatever they want."

"We must come today and say, friends, the Jewish neighborhoods, including Har Homa, will remain under Israeli sovereignty, and the Arab neighborhoods will be the Palestinian capital, which they will call Jerusalem or whatever they want," said Ramon during an interview.

Positions held by Ramon, a ranking member of Olmert's Kadima party, are largely considered to be reflective of Israeli government policy.

Olmert himself recently questioned whether it was "really necessary" to retain Arab-majority eastern sections of Jerusalem.

Israel recaptured eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – during the 1967 Six Day War. The Palestinians have claimed eastern Jerusalem as a future capital; the area has large Arab neighborhoods, a significant Jewish population and sites holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

About 231,000 Arabs live in Jerusalem, mostly in eastern neighborhoods, and many reside in illegally constructed complexes. The city has an estimated total population of 724,000.

Olmert to blame for dividing Jerusalem?

Ramon listed population statistics as the reason Olmert's government finds it necessary to split Jerusalem.

But WND broke the story that according to Jerusalem municipal employees, during 10 years as mayor of Jerusalem, Olmert instructed city workers not to take action against hundreds of illicit Arab building projects throughout eastern sections of Jerusalem housing over 100,000 Arabs squatting in the city illegally.

The workers and some former employees claim Olmert even instructed city officials to delete files documenting illegal Arab construction of housing units in eastern Jerusalem.

Olmert was Jerusalem mayor from 1993 to 2003. As mayor, he made repeated public statements calling Jerusalem the "eternal and undivided capital" of Israel. Jerusalem municipal employees and former workers, though, paint a starkly contrasting picture of the prime minister.

"He did nothing about rampant illegal Arab construction in Jerusalem while the government cracked down on illegal Jewish construction in the West Bank," said one municipal employee who worked under Olmert. She spoke on condition of anonymity, because she still works for the municipality.

One former municipal worker during Olmert's mayoral tenure told WND he was moved in 1999 to a new government posting after he tried to highlight the illegal Arab construction in Jerusalem. He also spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his current job.

Aryeh King, chairman of the Jerusalem Forum, which promotes Jewish construction in Jerusalem, told WND an investigation by his group found Olmert's city hall deleted files documenting hundreds of illegal Arab building projects throughout eastern sections of Jerusalem. He said he forwarded his findings to Israel's state comptroller for investigation.

King also claims Olmert told senior municipal workers not to enforce a ban on illegal Arab buildings.

"Ehud Olmert gave the order not to deal with the problem and not to put Israeli security forces to the duty of taking down the illegal Arab complexes," said King. "Senior municipal workers told me Olmert said not to bother with the illegal Arab homes, because eventually eastern Jerusalem would be given to the Palestinian Authority."

King's report alleges Jerusalem municipal officials erased the files, which detail over 300 cases of Arab construction in eastern Jerusalem deemed illegal starting from 1999. The illegal buildings reportedly were constructed without permits and are still standing. According to law, they must be demolished.

Local media reports investigating King's charges alleged the files were erased by Ofir May, the head of Jerusalem's Department of Building Permits, with the specific intention of allowing the statute of limitation on enforcing the demolition of the illegal construction to run out.

The Jerusalem municipality released a statement in response to the allegations claiming the threat of Arab violence kept it from bulldozing the illegal Arab homes.

"During the years of the intifada, the municipality had difficulty carrying out the necessary level of enforcement in the neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem due to security constraints," the statement read.

King said the hundreds of buildings allegedly detailed in the deleted municipal files house more than 20,000 illegal units.

"We're talking about perhaps 100,000 or more Arabs in eastern Jerusalem living in illegal homes with the government doing nothing about it," King said.

 

----------------------------------------------------------

IZZY KAPLAN

416 824 2858

416 256 2858

Check out my new blog http://israelonisrael.blogspot.com

---

Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

---

Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home.

Tzviya Sariel to be Released on Wednesday

The pressure apparently worked!  http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125608

 

Yasher Koach to all of us that didn't give up and worked on her behalf  and the mitzvah of Pidion Shvuyim, freeing captives, and recognized her struggle as being one that is not a personal one but one that exposed the rotten core of the judicial system within Israel.  Even her most basic civil rights of requiring proof of evidence of a crime  in order to be imprisoned was ignored and they continued to harass her and imprison her when charges were dropped.

 

This should just be the beginning in my opinion of our activism for an authentic judicial system based on Torah.  Tzviya's treatment proved that she was right on target for her unwillingness to recognize Israel's judicial courts.  The way they treated her proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that their system has nothing to do with justice but is simply the gov'ts tool to harass it's loyal citizens in Judea and Samaria.  The whole reason Tzviya, a young girl,  was so stubborn regarding her refusal of being heard at the secular court was from experience in witnessing the way others were treated by the courts. 

 

Let us work to promote the idea of a Torah based judicial system which is Tzviya's desire. Even the secular are interested in Mishpat Ivri rather than a hodge podge of British, Turkish and Israeli law. Judges can not be above the law and neither can policemen and policewomen.  We say in the Shemoneh Esreh (18 blessings in the morning and afternoon prayers) the following blessing. Hoshiva Shofteinu Kavarishona Veyoatzeinu Kevatchila.  Return our judges and advisors as in days in the past.  Tzion Bamishpat Tepadeh Veshaveha Bitzdaka.  Zion, with justice will be redeemed and those that return (or those captured) with righteousness.

 

On the day Tzviya is released, let us give thanks to Hashem! 

 

Baruch Ata Hashem elokeinu Melech Haolam Matir Assurim.  Blessed are you Hashem, King of the Universe for releasing the captive.

---

Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL Home.

Each of the 8 boys hy"d were giants in Torah. More Eulogies....Zachor

bs"d

 

Thank you Israel Kaplan israelkaplan@yahoo.com for forwarding...

Baruch Dayan Emet
Attached please find a letter sent this evening from Rabbi Reichman who visited all eight Shiva Houses of Mercaz Harav.

Still, there are no words.

 

These are our heroes. They are known to the world as fanatics, obstacles to peace. The yeshivah politely told the PM, Ehud Olmert, not to come and pay his condolences. His presence would not be welcome. When Olmert spoke of such youths sitting on the floor in Amona to obstruct the destruction of the 9 unauthorized homes, he had described them as "lawless hooligans."

 

Dear Friends,
Our sages teach that the Almighty climbs down into his garden to pick
His roses.  God chooses the most special souls to join Him in the
Heavens.   After spending a day visiting the eight shiva homes I am
overwhelmed by the awareness of how special these souls were.  The
eight who were murdered were pure, holy, studious, and inspiring.
They are like the eight chanukah candles, each one shining bright and
revealing great holiness.  What follows is a small snapshot of each
one.

1) Doron Trounouch,26, was an exceptional young man.  I visited his
family this morning in Ashdod.  They were all depressed.  His father
cannot speak Hebrew, he is still only fluent in Amharic. The family
came to Israel from Ethiopia during Operation Solomon.  His siblings
also struggled with their Hebrew.  They explained that Doron's passion
was learning Torah.  He loved to learn.  He was always attached to a
book of Torah. He was a student in the Yeshiva for eight years.  He
was planning to take tests to receive smicha this summer.  His father
also has a great love for Torah, he reads stories from the Torah that
were translated into Amharic.  Doron and his father would talk as
equals about the Torah.  His father told me, "I am so proud to have
been Doron's father."  His older brother Avi told me that Doron was
the religious authority in the family.  Before Pesach he would call
each of his nine siblings and insist that they join the family for
Pesach.  On Seder night Doron would run the Seder and make sure that
each member of the family knew the story of how we left Egypt.  He
would teach them all of how we were slaves and how Hashem freed us.
He told his family all about the stories of Yosef.  Avi told me, "I
would not have known anything about Yosef's dreams and his
interpretations if not for Doron."  In addition to teaching Torah,
Doron taught his family about Israel, Zionism, and Yerushalayim.  He
had a passionate love for Israel and Yerushalayim.  He told his family
that Israel had to be a large country with many towns.  He planned to
live in a small town once he married.  He spread this enthusiasm to
all he met.  Doron was an exceptional boy in his neighborhood.  When
he would be home for Shabbos, he would sit in the local Beit Midrash,
Study Hall, and learn for eight hours in a row.  After his passing,
one of the neighbors wrote an obituary in the local newspaper.  He
described the passionate learning Doron would display whenever he was
home.  In addition to his family Doron spread Torah learning,  and
love of Israel and Yerushalayim, to the children in his community. He
would volunteer 20 hours a week in the absorption center in Mevasseret
Tzion.  There he would guide the recent Ethiopian immigrant children
along the path of Torah, love of Jerusalem, and loyalty to the State
of Israel.  Tens of kids wrote his family letters when they heard of
his passing.  One young girl wrote, "Doron I love you.  You taught me
about Torah and Israel.  Now I promise that I will pray every day and
ask Hashem to send Mashiach so that you will return to life."  She
signed the letter with a large hand drawn red heart.

2) Roi Roth,18, only merited to spend a few months in the Yeshiva
before he was taken from us.  His parents sat shiva in their home in
Elkana.  When I was there a group of Roi's friends from Yeshivat
Mercaz Harav came to visit.  One of them, who was several years older
than Roi spoke first.  "Roi taught me how to pray."  he said.  Roi
would regularly pray at length.  "He would frequently shed many tears
during his prayers of Shmonah Esrei.  He rarely finished with the
others.  He was usually one of the  last students to leave the Beit
Midrash at the end of Shacharit and Mincha.  Seeing a boy cry during
prayer, when it was not the high holy days, was a lesson as to what
prayer can and should be."  He then spoke of Roi's positive outlook,
"Roi would always smile.  He was upbeat.  He had kind things to say.
And he was brilliant.  Originally I thought he was only good at
prayer, but then he started to come to the classes I would give on the
Talmudic topic we would be studying.  He was very insightful.  He was
also humble.  Once in the development of the class, he realized where
I wanted to go and he offered the idea on his own.  I told him that it
was a great thought and that was my thinking as well.  We continued
with the class.  Soon another student, who apparently had not listened
before, suggested Roi's thought. A third student said, 'that was Roi's
concept,' to which Roi responded, 'who cares who said it. What matters
is that the true explanation of the Sugya be revealed.'"
 Roi would gladden everyone.  He once saw a student looking downcast.
He walked over to the boy and moved the young man's lips into the
shape of a smile and said "Let me see your teeth!"  The day he
ascended on high, Roi spent his lunch time discussing a topic of
Talmud.  His roommate had told him of a particular cd he was looking
for.  In the basement of the Yeshiva, books, cd's, and tapes are for
sale.  Roi went to the basement, and he saw the cd there.  He climbed
to the third floor dormitory room to tell his friend that he had found
where he could buy the music he wanted.  He then went down to the
library to learn some more.  The terrorist came two minutes later and
turned the room of books into a slaughterhouse.  Roi was found on the
floor his body riddled with bullets.  In his hand he was clutching his
kippa.  Apparently it had fallen from his head, with his last strength
he stretched out and held it, he did not have the strength to put it
back on his head.

3)Yonatan Eldar, 16, grew up on the street where my parents own a
home.  He was one of eight siblings.  His five older siblings were of
another generation while he was the leader of the younger group of
three kids.  He really blossomed in the Mercaz Harav High School
(Yeshiva Litzeirim).  His love was learning Torah.  He developed a
passion for Daf hayomi.  He was very attached to reviewing the daf
every day.  He insisted on learning many topics the Yeshiva was not
covering. He had a passion for the study of Halacha. His older
brother, Yair, 26, is living in Jerusalem and studying in Yeshivat
Mercaz Harav.  Yair asked Yonatan if he would like to study with him.
Yonatan wanted to but he was so busy with his schedule of learning
that his only time available was between 6:30 AM to 7:00 AM.  HIs
brother was usually not awake at that time.  Yonatan would wake up his
brother every morning to enable their joint chavruta.  Yonatan  had
been waiting to receive a special printing of the Talmud Nedarim to
continue his Daf Yomi studies.  The book did not arrive in the mail on
time.  It came several weeks late.  Yonatan was therefore sixteen
pages behind.  Over the last few weeks he would put in extra time in
order to make up his shortfall.  On Wednesday the Yeshiva Litzeirim
went on a tiyul.  When they returned at night, Yonatan made his way to
the Beit Midrash to learn.  One of the Rabbis in the community came
into the Beit Midrash to learn.  The Beit Midrash was empty.  The
Rabbi was tired, he stood up and started to learn out loud in order to
stay awake, Yonatan was sitting during this time and concentrating on
his beloved  Tractate Nedarim.  He had to learn the day's daf and only
one more page in order to catch up.  He stayed in the Beit Midrash
after the Rabbi left.  He was the one to turn out the lights at 1:45
AM after he had caught up to the daf.  On Thursday the Beit Midrash
was shut in order to prepare it for a Rosh Chodesh Adar party.
Yonatan went to the library to learn his beloved daf yomi.  While he
was learning he was shot. His blood stained his favorite book.  On
Friday Yonatan was buried in Shilo together with his Tractate nedarim.

4)Yonadav Chaim Hirschfeld, 19, was one of thirteen children.  His
grandfather learnt in YU together with our dear Dr. Samuel
Danishefsky.  Yonadav was known as the pride of his class.  He had
just graduated Yeshiva Letzeirim and was studying in Mercaz Harav.  He
knew all the Mishnayot of the Shas by heart. He would review the
entire Shas of Mishnayot every month.  He would review the entire
Tanach regularly as well. He had a passion for life and learning.  He
would run to the Beit Midrash.  He would climb the steps jumping
several at a time to enter the house of learning.  He was extremely
insightful.  His thoughts and analysis were extremely deep.  He always
had a smile on his face.  He would play the flute to bring joy to
others.  His classmates related that Yonadav had entered the library
to learn because the beit midrash was being cleared for a party.  Most
of the boys used the time to get some rest in their dorm rooms.
Yonadav wanted to catch a few more moments of learning.  The terrorist
shot him in the back.  He had apparently run from him and he was hit
in the back.  Yonadav apparently noticed that there was a sefer, Shev
Shimatata that had fallen to the floor Yondav reached down and picked
it up before he was killed by the terrorist.  The students pointed out
that Yonadav had such a radiant face it would have been impossible to
shoot him while seeing him.  Even evil incarnate would melt in the
presence of such joy and piety.  His grandfather told me Yonadav would
visit him regularly.  In addition, Yonadav's great grandmother,
Rebbetzin Shapiro, is still alive and has an apartment in
Yerushalayim, Yonadav would visit her once a week, playing his flute
and bringing her joy.  "I cannot believe he will no longer enter our
apartment and bring us joy." his grandfather told me as tears escaped
his eyes.

5) Yochai Lifshitz, 18, was considered the pride of the 41st
graduating class of Yeshiva Letzeirim.  Even when he was very young he
displayed a serious nature and a passion for learning. When his family
moved to the Old City of Jerusalem they enrolled him in the first
grade class.  At the end of the school year the teacher informed the
class that they would now be off for the two months of summer, Chofesh
Hagadol.  Yochai was incensed.  "Why should we not have school for two
whole months?" he complained to his parents.  "We can have a break for
a week or two and then we should return to class" he opined.  His
parents explained to him that the school year was established by the
ministry of education and they could not change it. "Then send a
letter to Misrad hachinuch,"  Yochai demanded.  His parents told him,
"If you feel so strongly about this, you write a letter to the
ministry. If you write it we will mail it."  Yochai wrote a letter to
the ministry.  It was written in a mixture of cursive and block
letters and in it Yochai demanded more school time.  His parents
thought the story was over.  Two weeks later an official letter
arrived addressed to Yochai Lifshitz.  It told him that his proposal
was being referred to a committee that would study the issue.  On the
bottom of the letter, the minister of education added in his own hand
writing, "I am so glad to see that in our day once again children in
Yerushalayim have a great urge for ever more amounts of time to learn
Torah. Rav Lichtenstein shlit"a, said "this was indicative of the type
of person he would become."  His Rosh Yeshiva said that he could write
a 300 page book about Yochai's dedication to learning.  Yochai was
extremely devoted to coming to Tefilla.  He would arrive at every
service at least fifteen minutes early in order to prepare himself.
Now that he was taken, Rav Lifshitz, his father said "it was a
privilege for me to have him in my family.  He was so special.  He is
now mori vrabi, my teacher and master."

6) Neriya Cohen, 15, was the youngest victim.  Neriya grew up in the
Muslim quarter of Jerusalem as one of ten children. Neriya loved to
learn.  He would always grab extra time for learning.  He was always
upbeat.  He was extremely careful to honor his parents.  He tried to
keep every detail of Jewish law.  "It was a true, zchut, merit, to
have him in our family."  Rav Cohen said. The night of the attack the
family ran to the Yeshiva.  They were told that someone thought he saw
Neriya in the hospital.  They ran from hospital to hospital for 4 and
a half hours.  Eventually they returned home and they received the
bitter news.

7) Segev Avichayil, 16, was from Neve Daniel.  Segev was very
studious.  He loved to learn.  He had a great ability to comprehend
and understand information.  His father read to us from his son's
notebook.  In the class his son summarized it was taught that every
nation has abilities just as each person has abilities.  In exile one
might use the abilities for good or for something not as good.  In the
Holy Land it is different.  The abilities are either expressed for the
good or they will be expressed in a negative and detrimental manner.
When we davened mincha in the home, his father lead the prayers with a
special emphasis on the hope that the Almighty will cause redemption
and salvation to sprout anew.

8) Avraham David Moses, 16, is the closest blow to home.  Avraham was
a cousin of our friend Michael Ratzker.  Avraham had a passion for
learning.  Perhaps this too started at a young age.  His father,
Naftali, showed us a picture of when Avraham was two; he had fallen
asleep on his father's lap while his father sat at a table filled with
Seforim in a Beit Midrash.  Avraham always loved to learn.  Once he
entered high school he developed a real passion for learning.  Nothing
else would interest him.  When his father decided to take the family
on a trip, Avraham did not want to go. "I would rather sit in a
Yeshiva and learn." he said.  His father told him, "I am taking the
family to Mitzpe Rimon, I plan to daven Shacharit in the Yeshiva
there.  You can stay and learn all day in the Yeshiva, while I and the
rest of the family enjoy a family tiyul."  Avraham David accepted his
father's suggestion.  Over the last two years his father would notice
Avraham whispering to himself.  When he asked his son what was up, his
son said, "I am reviewing Mishnyot by heart."  Naftali believes that
Avraham David knew half of the shas, the orders of kadoshim, moed, and
taharot by heart, even though he was only sixteen!  Avraham was very
deliberate, he was always at peace.  His teacher told us that he
always felt Avraham would be a giant in Torah.  Apparently God decided
He needed this giant to learn with Him.  The night of the attack,
Avraham and Segev were learning together Tractate Megilla.  The
terrorist entered and began to shoot, someone heard Segev scream
"Moses, GET UP!"  Apparently, he was so patient and so studious he had
been immersed in his studies at that terrible moment.

The Maharal writes that the number Eight is a number that represents
the supernatural. It's a number that ascends the physical and touches
the spiritual realm.  On the eighth day of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret,
Hashem tells us "Kashe Alay Preydatchem", "Your departure is difficult
on Me." Today we say to Hashem that while accepting His decree, the
departure of these eight martyrs creates a void within us that can
never be filled. Just as the eight Chanukah candles light up the dark
winter nights, the legacies of these eight pure souls will light up
the lives of each of us. The main message that the families asked me
to convey is the need to accept real change as a result of what
happened. Today we promise to be better than yesterday, today we
promise to never forget them. Shiva may end, shiva is commemorated for
seven days but the lessons of these eight, the smiles of these eight
and the memories of these eight will live on forever. May the memories
of these eight harugey malchut stay with us to truly increase our
goodness, kindness, and learning.

With blessings and tears,

Zev

 

----------------------------------------------------------

IZZY KAPLAN

416 824 2858

416 256 2858

Check out my new blog http://israelonisrael.blogspot.com

---

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.

---

It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms and advice on AOL Money & Finance.