Menachem Mendel and Sarah Zissel Meshi Zahav OBM
Menachem Mendel and Sarah Zissel Meshi Zahav OBMCourtesy

The father of ZAKA chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Meshi-Zahav, passed away on Friday afternoon, just prior to sunset.

In recent weeks. Meshi-Zahav lost his brother, as well as his mother and on Friday, his father as well. According to Makor Rishon on Shabbat, his brother died of a heart attack, and lived in Mexico.

Both of Meshi-Zahav's parents died of coronavirus.

On Saturday night, he sent out a statement saying: "The death has come to our window; fragment by fragment, we have been broken; calamity after calamity. My younger brother Moshe, my his memory be blessed; my mother and teacher, may her memory be blessed; and now my father and teacher, may his memory be blessed - all of this within thirty days. Our brokenness is enormous, like the sea. Who will heal us??"

"Master of the World, I know that You are testing us, a painful and difficult test. Alas! How much it hurtsss, but I promise you that even in if hidden under many layers, certainly, the blessed G-d is there.

"Because I know that when a father hits us, it is only from love, I will continue to love You with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my possessions; I will walk in the path of the Torah and its commandments, increasing my work with acts of kindness and mercy, like my dear parents, of blessed memory, have taught me; those who were beloved and pleasant in their lives, and in their deaths were not separate. Hear O Israel, the L-rd our G-d, the L-rd is One."

Yehuda Meshi Zahav with his father
Yehuda Meshi Zahav with his fatherCourtesy

Also on Saturday night, ZAKA sent out a message: "In their lives and in their deaths, they were not separated. The ZAKA family shares in the great and painful mourning of its chairman, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, after the passing of his father, Rabbi Menachem Mendel, of blessed memory, within the seven-day mourning period for his mother, Sara Zissel, of blessed memory. In your great deeds may you find comfort and not know more pain. Blessed is the true Judge."