Rabbi Yehuda Ben-Yishai, father and grandfather of the victims of the Fogel family massacre in Itamar, wants to start an organization that will promote unity in practical ways. Rabbi Ben-Yishai is the rabbi of the Bak'a neighborhood of Jerusalem and a lecturer at the Machon Meir Yeshiva.
“We have to raise up a great movement that will concentrate on what unites us,” Rabbi Ben-Yishai told Radio Kol Chai, “and that which has to be done on behalf of our common denominator.”
Rabbi Ben-Yishai is the father of Ruti Fogel, who, together with her husband Rabbi Ehud and three of their five young children, was brutally murdered by Palestinian terrorists. The slaughter occurred nearly two months ago in the Fogel home late Friday night. After an intense manhunt, the IDF arrested the two murderers last month.
“This must be a public movement,” he explained, “with spiritual underpinnings but one that will also have ramifications on political life in Israel. This is because – as I have told Israeli leaders, and they agreed with me – we now face, as a country, complex tests… and our true strength is our cohesion and unity. Even if sometimes we do not agree, our hearts continue to be connected.”
“This very strength of unity will give us the ability to deal with the tasks that we face as a State and as a Nation,” the bereaved rabbi said. “I hope to give it life and form, as I gather together forces that I am sure will want to join up for this goal.”
“I’m certain that since this is something positive, good, healthy and Jewish, many people will find their place with us, wanting to bring out all the good in our nation – and there is so much good, so much that warmed our hearts, that it was able to uplift us even through our terrible family crisis.”