21 Apr 2015 Portraits in Passing…

Sunday, July 20, 2014 – Major Tzafrir Baror, 32, a commanding officer in the Golani Brigade was killed in a firefight in Gaza.  He is survived by his wife, who is eight months pregnant, and a 1-year-old daughter.  Baror lived in Rehovot with his family.

July 31, 2014 – Capt. (res.) Liran Adir (Edry), 31, was a soldier in the Barak Armored Brigade. He was killed by mortar fire near the border with Gaza.  Liran’s grandfather, Morris Edry, was murdered by a terrorist in 1993.  Liran was married just one month ago.

Aug 4, 2014 – Rabbi Avraham Walles, 29, of Jerusalem was killed when a terrorist driving a large construction excavator ran him over in the Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Avraham Walles, a Toldos Aharon chassid, lived in Mea She’arim and was a religious inspector at a construction site, making sure that no graves at the site were damaged during the work.
Rabbi Avraham Walles was buried in the Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem. He is survived by his wife and five children.

Aug 22, 2014 – Daniel Tregerman, 4, of Kibbutz Nahal Oz, was killed when a mortar shell fired from the Gaza Strip exploded outside the family’s home.  Daniel’s mother Gila related that Daniel was very responsible about the sirens, and once everyone was inside the safe room he would say, “Now we’re all safe.” This time he had only three seconds from the siren to the explosion, and didn’t make it.
Daniel loved to draw, and last Purim he wore a costume of his favorite superhero, Spiderman.  He is survived by his parents, Doron and Gila, his sister Yuval, 3, and brother Uri, 6 months.

Oct. 22, 2014 – Chaya Zissel Braun, aged 3 months, of Jerusalem, was killed when a Palestinian deliberately rammed his car into a crowd of Israelis near a light-rail train station in Jerusalem.
Chaya Zissel had just returned with her parents from her first visit to the Western Wall.
Chaya had been born after her parents had tried for years to have a baby to no avail, related Shimshon Halperin, her grandfather. “Her parents waited for a child for many years during which they did not merit to have children. Today they were coming back from praying at the Kotel and a terrorist came and ran over their baby,” he said. He told of her parents’ joy after she was born. He and his wife had just arrived in Israel from the US to meet their grandchild, but only had a few short hours with her. They killed “a pure girl with a holy soul, who never did anything bad to anyone in her life and was murdered for no reason.”
Chaya Zissel Braun was buried in Jerusalem at midnight on Wednesday.

Nov. 10, 2014 – Sgt. Almog Shilony, 20, of Modi’in was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist at Tel Aviv’s HaHagana train station.
Religiously observant, Shilony served in a company of Nahal Haredi.
At his funeral, his father Yosef lamented, “You are a priceless treasure.  You completed 20 years of life and we were privileged to see you grow up. You were supposed to marry your girlfriend Noy, everything was arranged, but our Father in heaven decided He wanted the purest souls by His side.”
“Thy servants have spilled enough blood, the altar is bloody,” Yosef lamented. “Here is a sacrificial lamb. So innocent, without blemish.”
St.-Sgt. Almog Shilony was buried in the Har Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem. He is survived by his parents, an older sister, twin brother Sahar, and two younger brothers.

Are you still reading, my dear friend – or have you read “enough”?

I do not know how to conclude this entry, on Yom Ha’Zikaron 5775.

Shall I remind you that 116 (Israeli citizens and soldiers) were killed by the cursed enemy in 2014?

Shall I remind you that the Sages teach that each life = an entire world; so that is 116 entire worlds destroyed?

Shall I remind you that the enemy does not differentiate between citizen and soldier; between religious and secular; between knit kipa and black yarmulka?

Shall I remind you that I have presented you with Portraits in Passing of only six kedoshim; which leaves us with 110 to go…

Shall I remind you that this day of pain is beyond description, beyond tears, beyond comprehension…

Shall I remind you that Dalia Lemkus, 26, of Tekoa was stabbed to death on Nov.10, 2104 at a bus stop near the entrance to Alon Shvut.
That Dalia loved to bake cakes with her mother.  That she liked to help brides look beautiful by doing their makeup for them before their weddings.  That she was just getting started in life after finishing college – a kind, giving young woman looking forward to marriage and creating her own family.  That she had previously been lightly wounded in another stabbing attack at the Gush Etzion junction in February 2006, at the age of 17.
Shall I remind you that Dalia Lemkus was buried in Tekoa and is survived by her parents and five siblings?

I do not know how to conclude this entry of Yom Ha’Zikaron, 5775.  I do not know…

בָּכוֹ תִבְכֶּה בַּלַּיְלָה, וְדִמְעָתָהּ עַל לֶחֱיָהּ–אֵין-לָהּ מְנַחֵם, מִכָּל-אֹהֲבֶיהָ – Bitterly she weeps at night, the tears upon her cheeks; among all her lovers, there is no one to comfort her…(Eichah 1:2).

I do not know how to conclude this entry on this painful, sorrowful day, Yom Ha’Zikaron 5775…

May G-d avenge their blood.