In May 1992, Rabbi Biran of Kfar Darom, aged 32, was stabbed to death by an Arab terrorist just outside his community, leaving behind a young wife and small children.
He had immigrated to Israel from England with his parents 22 years before, studied at the Bnei Akiva yeshiva high school in Netanya and was a youth group leader. He later studied at the hesder yeshiva in Shaalvim, where he combined army service and Torah study. Ordained as a rabbi by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, he studied in Shaalvim for ten years, after which he and his wife Michal became founding members of the Gaza community of Kfar Darom.
The town of Kfar Darom thrived and grew with permanent housing, greenhouses, a packing plant for Gush Katif vegetables, new families, and the Torah and Land Institute - of which Rabbi Biran was one of the founders. He felt very connected with the area, and organized monthly bus trips to the remains of a synagogue in Gaza.
In early 1992, resident Doron Shorshan was murdered by a terrorist on his way home from working in one of in Kfar Darom's greenhouses. Many people fell into mourning, and Rabbi Biran took it upon himself to raise everyone’s spirits. He went from one neighbor to the other, strengthening their faith and encouraging them to continue building.
But only four months later, Rabbi Biran himself was on his way to work at the Torah and Land Institute when a terrorist ambushed him at the bus stop and stabbed him in the back. Rabbi Biran fought back, but collapsed and died. He was the first adult to be buried in the Gush Katif cemetery - and his grave was uprooted yesterday by soldiers of the IDF Southern Command Rabbinate.
He was reburied today in the ancient Mt. of Olives cemetery overlooking the Temple Mount. Hundreds of people were on hand, and Rabbi Biran was eulogized by his father, former Shaalvim Yeshiva Dean Rabbi Meir Schlesinger, and by his widow Michal Lichtenstein.
Shortly afterwards, another Gush Katif resident from the community of Gadid was re-interred in the same cemetery.
A total of 48 bodies from the Gush Katif cemetery, located between Ganei Tal and N'vei Dekalim, will have been dug up and reburied in cemeteries across Israel by the end of the week.
He had immigrated to Israel from England with his parents 22 years before, studied at the Bnei Akiva yeshiva high school in Netanya and was a youth group leader. He later studied at the hesder yeshiva in Shaalvim, where he combined army service and Torah study. Ordained as a rabbi by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, he studied in Shaalvim for ten years, after which he and his wife Michal became founding members of the Gaza community of Kfar Darom.
The town of Kfar Darom thrived and grew with permanent housing, greenhouses, a packing plant for Gush Katif vegetables, new families, and the Torah and Land Institute - of which Rabbi Biran was one of the founders. He felt very connected with the area, and organized monthly bus trips to the remains of a synagogue in Gaza.
In early 1992, resident Doron Shorshan was murdered by a terrorist on his way home from working in one of in Kfar Darom's greenhouses. Many people fell into mourning, and Rabbi Biran took it upon himself to raise everyone’s spirits. He went from one neighbor to the other, strengthening their faith and encouraging them to continue building.
But only four months later, Rabbi Biran himself was on his way to work at the Torah and Land Institute when a terrorist ambushed him at the bus stop and stabbed him in the back. Rabbi Biran fought back, but collapsed and died. He was the first adult to be buried in the Gush Katif cemetery - and his grave was uprooted yesterday by soldiers of the IDF Southern Command Rabbinate.
He was reburied today in the ancient Mt. of Olives cemetery overlooking the Temple Mount. Hundreds of people were on hand, and Rabbi Biran was eulogized by his father, former Shaalvim Yeshiva Dean Rabbi Meir Schlesinger, and by his widow Michal Lichtenstein.
Shortly afterwards, another Gush Katif resident from the community of Gadid was re-interred in the same cemetery.
A total of 48 bodies from the Gush Katif cemetery, located between Ganei Tal and N'vei Dekalim, will have been dug up and reburied in cemeteries across Israel by the end of the week.