The Aron Kodesh of the new synagogue
The Aron Kodesh of the new synagogueErez Dinar

The first synagogue in Kibbutz Sufa near the Gaza Strip will be inaugurated this Thursday, on Chol Hamoed Sukkot, in the name of Kfir Dinar, a resident of the kibbutz who was killed in 2018 in a car accident near a border junction in the south.

Since Kfir was killed, his father, Erez, has spent every Shabbat at the synagogue in Moshav Pri Gan. "It takes me about an hour and a half, 12 kilometers each way. I decided I needed to put an end to it and I want to have a synagogue here," he said.

"Every parent fears something will happen to his child, and I always said that if something happened, I wouldn't want to live," he admitted sadly. His wife, Orit, Kfir's mother, said that her son's loss is felt at all times, and Erez has trouble falling asleep at night. "The grief is tough. A lot of crying, I feel a lack of vitality. It's sad for us."

The synagogue will be called "She'agat Kfir" ("Kfir's Roar" - the name Kfir mean's "young lion" in Hebrew). According to Erez, Kfir's entire being "shouted out honesty, righteousness, prayer," so I decided to call the synagogue She'agat Kfir, that his voice would be heard. If Kfir was alive and heard that there was a synagogue here, he would be the happiest person on earth."

Rabbi Shlomo Ra'anan, chairman of the Ayelet Hashachar Association, which assisted in the establishment of the synagogue, spoke with excitement about the inauguration of the synagogue: "Time and time again, at the end, at the end of the road, everything leads to love, union, fraternity and sharing. Time and time again, after all the religious wars, in the end we all come together for love, for inclusion, for acceptance and especially for partnership."