Israel Matzav

Heart-rending: 9-year old Matan Henkin says Kaddish for his parents

We generally do not look to publicize sad things during the holiday. I am about to make an exception.

This is video from the funeral of Eitam and Naama Henkin HY"D (May God Avenge their blood). In the background is their 9-year old son Matan saying the Kaddish, the prayer that children say for the 11 months after their parents' deaths.

Let's go to the videotape.



This is from a description provided by a first responder to the attack.

"I was traveling from Itamar to Elon Moreh; my own two children were in the back of the car," he recounted to Walla! News. "Near Beit Furik, I see a car in front of me, flashing its headlights and honking. I understood that there was something odd."

"I pull over and see a man armed with an M-16 and recognize him as a friend of mine," he said. "I asked him what was going on, he said there was a terror attack, there are kids in the back."

Goren had arrived at the scene mere minutes after Fatah terrorists murdered Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin.

"I looked and saw that the wounded appeared to be in critical condition, so we decided to put the kids in my car for the time being; my friend meanwhile stood guard."

Goren called security forces and the IDF as he waited for help to arrive. The IDF's Mobile Intensive Care Unit arrived at the scene first, but armed soldiers took far longer to reach the site.

For the children's safety, Goren took his children and the Henkin children to Itamar; an ambulance met them there. Medical teams examined the children and a resident of Itamar took care of them while they waited for social services to arrive.

When he arrived, all four children seemed to have understood that something had happened, he said, and the eldest cried bitter tears while saying that someone murdered his parents.

Matan Hillel, the Henkins' nine-year-old, told Goren his name and their community. Later, when speaking to others, Goren realized that Matan probably saw the terrorist's face during the shooting. All four children were traumatized, he said.

There's another heart-rending piece here, written by someone else whose parents were murdered by 'Palestinian' terrorists (Hat Tip: Varda N).

Bat-Sheva Sadan, whose parents Eli and Dina Horowitz were murdered by terrorists, posted this moving message in Hebrew:

As usual, there will be torrents of words, countless exclamation points, headlines painted in red and questions at the end of every sentence, in the Israeli press. Some will be shocked, some will condemn, some will blame, others will call for a response and many will seek words of comfort.

If the murders are mentioned at all in the rest of the world's media, they will probably find a way to blame the victims.

...

But no one, no one at all, will find the words that can enter the soul of seven-year-old Nitsan Yitzhak, who, just yesterday morning, held his Four Species with a child's excitement while his father explained how to hold them properly and his mother watched with joy in her eyes. Today he awoke to the first day in a life where he will be unable to say "Look, Abba – Listen, Imma!"

And no one will ask or write about Matan Hillel, the eldest child, all of nine years old. whose life will never be the same. And although Matan knows much about so many things, he will not be able to learn the hardest lesson in his life with his father. And although he is only nine, he is already thinking about his Bar Mitzva.

He already realizes that there will be masses of people there, relatives and uncles, neighbors and friends, but no father will say the traditional words "Blessed is He Who has absolved me from responsibility [for the boy's sins now that he has reached maturity].'" And when he looks at the women's section, there won't be a mother gazing at him with a smile filled with trust and confidence in his ability.

And no one will find the words to contain the thoughts of four-year-old Neta Eliezer, who is used to countless kisses and hugs, and a mother who tells him how sweet he is while she presses him to her, and whose father will never again place him on his knee to teach him his letters, and tell him of the sweetness of Torah verses. That's it. Not a vestige of all of this will remain.

We have no way of knowing if he will remember those moments when Imma bent down to hear a long sentence that he said to her, or when Abba allowed him to feel important, holding the car keys. We don't even know if he will remember how they looked, their smell, the sounds of their voices. 

All the things little Itamar needs will be bought, diapers and bottles, formula and wipes will be donated, but no one will ask, no one among all those murmuring words will look at this four-month-old baby and ask: Isn't it true that none of these formulas are as tasty as mother's milk?

We don't want to hear the answer anyway.

Because anyone who has ever felt a mother's hug and has seen himself reflected in his father's eyes, will always be able to tell the difference between a substitute and the real thing.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameyach to all of you. May these be the last deaths and may they return to the world of the living with the Messiah's arrival speedily and in our time.

Labels: terror victims

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:48 PM