Rabbi Yeshayahu Hadari, the "Outstanding Citizen of Yerushalayim", Rosh Yeshivat Hakotel, the yeshiva from which I graduated, has passed away. Yeshivat Hakotel's extended family mourns.
Woe to us that we won't be able to hear his fascinating stories from Jerusalem during the establishment of the State of Israel until today.
Woe to us that we'll no longer be moved by his emotional sermons during Ten Days of Repentance, and throughout the year. Woe to us that we won't dance for hours with him to the Achat Shaalti melody on the High Holy Days.
Woe to us that we'll no longer be able to hear his innovations linking halakhah, mussar, and Hassidut, in light of Rabbi Kook's teachings.
Woe to us that there will no longer be such a figure in Jerusalem who knows how to connect the national religious, haredi, secular, and everything in between, out of simplicity.
Woe to us, but we also merited in the past. "The Righteous in their deaths are called alive." This is not only a saying, it is also an order for us - to continue on his way and to keep his path alive. Would that we will merit to fulfill this order.
The writer is a member of the Jerusalem City Council for Hitorerut.