Yochai Porat, who was buried this afternoon at the military cemetery in Kfar Sava, coordinated the Jewish Agency\'s Magen David Adom Volunteer Program. Viki Angel, of the Agency\'s Department of Immigration and Absorption, had this to say about him:
\"I saw him a week before, young and vigorous, in the uniform of a Magen David Adom paramedic, surrounded by young volunteers from six different countries, at the time of Sen. Hillary Clinton\'s visit to the Jewish Agency-Magen David Adom foreign volunteers program. These young men and women looked to him as their leader, which he was. As he emerged from his meeting with Sen. Clinton, his boyish face was filled with emotion. Later, when he handed out certificates to the course graduates the pride was visible on his face. He had helped train a new group of volunteers who would be tied to Israel by a bond of personal service and fraternity. He was more than a medic, more than an administrator; he was an educator... The foreign volunteer program, which had been in existence for many years, took on new impetus after Yochai became its coordinator. He expanded, developed and improved this program. In less than a year the program became well-known in many countries.
\"As part of his duties, he personally taught first aid to volunteers. He took into consideration the personal needs each volunteer. He carefully chose the assignments of each one to appropriate MDA stations; he offered personal guidance; he gave information about aliyah possibilities and life in Israel, and did all he could to help each volunteer both while they were enrolled in the program and later on, after their return to their native lands.
\"Along with his work in the Jewish Agency, Yochai continued to volunteer, himself, for the Magen David Adom, and helped save lives of countless victims in terror attacks and tragedies, such as the Versailles banquet hall disaster, the Dophinarium disco terror attack, and terror attacks in Kfar Sava and Karnei Shomron.
\"About a year ago, with the increase of terror attacks in Israel, and in the center of Jerusalem in particular, he convinced the MDA to assign an ambulance to him wherever he might be so that he could respond at a moment\'s notice to offer initial care...\"
Sgt. Steven Konigsburg, 19, of Hod HaSharon, was killed by a terrorist yesterday morning near Kibbutz Ein HaShloshah, outside the Kisufim Junction entrance to the Gaza Strip. A graduate of Betar South Africa, Steven made Aliyah [immigration to Israel] with his father Kevin in 1999. The latter told reporters last night,
\"We are Zionists who came here from abroad because we love the Land of Israel... My son was happy to be here and happy to be a soldier... I am proud of him, and I know that he fell in order that the other Jews can live here safely in the Land of Israel.\"
\"I saw him a week before, young and vigorous, in the uniform of a Magen David Adom paramedic, surrounded by young volunteers from six different countries, at the time of Sen. Hillary Clinton\'s visit to the Jewish Agency-Magen David Adom foreign volunteers program. These young men and women looked to him as their leader, which he was. As he emerged from his meeting with Sen. Clinton, his boyish face was filled with emotion. Later, when he handed out certificates to the course graduates the pride was visible on his face. He had helped train a new group of volunteers who would be tied to Israel by a bond of personal service and fraternity. He was more than a medic, more than an administrator; he was an educator... The foreign volunteer program, which had been in existence for many years, took on new impetus after Yochai became its coordinator. He expanded, developed and improved this program. In less than a year the program became well-known in many countries.
\"As part of his duties, he personally taught first aid to volunteers. He took into consideration the personal needs each volunteer. He carefully chose the assignments of each one to appropriate MDA stations; he offered personal guidance; he gave information about aliyah possibilities and life in Israel, and did all he could to help each volunteer both while they were enrolled in the program and later on, after their return to their native lands.
\"Along with his work in the Jewish Agency, Yochai continued to volunteer, himself, for the Magen David Adom, and helped save lives of countless victims in terror attacks and tragedies, such as the Versailles banquet hall disaster, the Dophinarium disco terror attack, and terror attacks in Kfar Sava and Karnei Shomron.
\"About a year ago, with the increase of terror attacks in Israel, and in the center of Jerusalem in particular, he convinced the MDA to assign an ambulance to him wherever he might be so that he could respond at a moment\'s notice to offer initial care...\"
Sgt. Steven Konigsburg, 19, of Hod HaSharon, was killed by a terrorist yesterday morning near Kibbutz Ein HaShloshah, outside the Kisufim Junction entrance to the Gaza Strip. A graduate of Betar South Africa, Steven made Aliyah [immigration to Israel] with his father Kevin in 1999. The latter told reporters last night,
\"We are Zionists who came here from abroad because we love the Land of Israel... My son was happy to be here and happy to be a soldier... I am proud of him, and I know that he fell in order that the other Jews can live here safely in the Land of Israel.\"
