Eliyos Paz
Eliyos PazWorld Bnei Akiva

Eliyos Paz, who founded Germany's World Bnei Akiva (WBA) branch in 2015 and served as one of its leaders, passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Paz is survived by his wife and four children. His funeral, held in Mishor Adumim, saw hundreds of participants, including family and friends from Bnei Akiva.

Paz, 34, began working with the movement when he was a young man in Germany. Later, he founded Germany's "training" program, a yearly program which includes tenth-grade World Bnei Akiva youth from around the globe. Participants arrive in Israel, learn about Israel via curriculum, volunteering, hiking, and meeting various sectors of Israeli society.

As an emissary in Germany, he met Noa Kampinar, who was also an emissary, and they later married and led an expanded delegation born of a program Paz initiated to strengthen German Jews' Jewish identity and fight assimilation.

After Paz's diagnosis, the couple was forced to cut short their work in Germany and return to Israel. They moved to Mitzpe Yeriho, where Paz continued his work as a coordinator for WBA in Germany.

WBA General Director Roi Abecassis said Paz was "smart, sharp, stubborn, and a first-class doer."