Yonit Tzafrir, daughter of Reuven Shmerling who was murdered in a terrorist attack on the eve of Sukkot, spoke with Arutz Sheva about her grief.
"For us, Memorial Day is really commemorated throughout the entire year. We still can’t believe we have become a bereaved family. We are still unable to grasp this fact and it is very painful, but the embrace of the Jewish people is so significant and powerful that it is a bit comforting," she said.
Tzafrir recalled those difficult moments when she learned that she had lost her father. "It was the eve of Sukkot, and we were in the midst of preparing for Dad's 70th birthday. When we received the news that changed our plans completely, it was clear to us from the very first moment that he was murdered simply because he was a Jew."
Shmerling, a resident of the western Samaria town of Elkana, was found murdered in a warehouse used by Shmerling’s business in the industrial zone of Kfar Qasim, an Israeli-Arab town not far from Elkana.
Initially, police suggested the murder may have been related to a business dispute, but evidence gathered from the scene and statements by the suspects during interrogation indicated that the murder was in fact a premeditated terror attack.
In the days before it was proven that the murder was indeed a terror attack, the family suffered great pain, said Tzafrir.
"The media was all around us, and all the publications punched us in the stomach. To the credit of the security forces it can be said that within a few days they caught the murderers and immediately announced that these were terrorists whose intention was to murder a Jew."
"We were left with the loss, the difficulty, the pain and the bereavement - and with the memory that we are trying very hard to keep – his smile, the loving, enlightening eyes...Dad was a man full of love and kindness and that is what we are trying to preserve and perpetuate. Not a day goes by without us mentioning him, with a lot of joy and with great difficulty. He was definitely the mainstay of the family and a very significant person for us, and that is how he will remain.”