Israel National News - Arutz Sheva spoke with Eli Kay’s father, Avi Kay, about his son, who was murdered in Sunday’s deadly terrorist shooting attack in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Speaking from the family mourning home, Avi Kay says that “I’m clearly numb” but wants to offer thanks for the outpouring of support the family has received as they mourn the loss of their son.
“The amount of support, the love, the connection we’ve had with all these people. It’s just been absolutely phenomenal. People have put themselves out to travel to come to be here to just spend one minute with us, is absolutely phenomenal,” he says. “That’s what’s carrying us at the moment. It’s been a very challenging day, to speak to certain people, paramedics, and to understand the mechanics of what happened in the moment. But that’s something one has to do and we’ve now been through that.”
He adds: “Thank you to the minister who came through this morning with his police spokesperson, just to be available for us to ask and to go through the story, and unfold the scenario. And we understand there are certain things there are no answers for.”
He remembers Eli as an intelligent young man who excelled academically and in life.
“Eli had an amazing head. He did very well academically. But he just lived life, that’s why we loved him being here. We loved him coming through the door.”
He has a message to impart: “To husbands, to wives, to parents, just grab every day, take every opportunity don’t delay. Grab the opportunity. To youngsters, appreciate whatever you’ve got, whatever you’ve been given. And the way to show appreciation is to have fun [in life]. And when you do go the army, know that the whole Jewish world is behind you.”
He continues, “As my children have said over and over again: No matter who you are, no matter what color, creed, religion, political persuasion, take on something extra to do that does good and to quote the Lubavitcher Rebbe, ‘Random acts of kindness and goodness.’”
He speaks about the horrible experience of having to see Eli’s body in the morgue, and how no matter how difficult it was he is using that energy to do good deeds in memory of his late son.
“I just visited my son in the morgue. I was shattered and I walked in and I saw an Arab family sitting there. And I could have gone ballistic, and everyone would have excused it at the moment. And I took that same energy and I went and hugged him. If I could find that fortitude at that moment, we could all find it all the time. Take your energy and use it for good things because negativity just drags everybody down. That would be Eli’s message.”