Residents of the town of Yakir in Samaria gathered on Sunday for a ceremony in which a Torah scroll was dedicated in memory of Adelle Biton, the four-year-old who passed away in February, two years after being critically wounded in a terrorist rock attack.
“There is a great joy here, a joy of the honor of the Torah with people who have come from near and far. On the other hand, we have the suffering and the sorrow, the mix of feelings. But I do try, and I think that the right thing to do is to take advantage of the great light we have had here, the great light of Adelie who is now up in heaven,” said Adva Biton, mother of Adelle.
“It depends on us, where we will take it, how far we will go, and I intend to take it as far as possible. We have created the Adelle Foundation now. With all the power we have had here in the past two years, of the power of prayer and faith and unity of purpose, we take all this and turn them into one great opportunity. It is my dream to build a great organization to help others, that will be big enough to be seen in other cities where it is needed,” she continued.
“Unfortunately there is a hierarchy of death in Israel. At the top are the soldiers who have died, then there are those who died in the large terror attacks, but others who died under other circumstances sort of get lost in the shuffle. We want our organization to help them, the people who have no large group supporting them, without support from the state. We intend to be there for them.”
The Acting Head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, said at the ceremony, “The concept of ‘by your blood you shall live’ takes on a new meaning here. We have all taken great strength from the Biton family, and from the town of Yakir. There are great Jews here, there are great citizens in Samaria. People who take seriously the idea of a Sefer Torah, of helping others. This is the true message, this is the true Samaria.”