More of the 14 murdered victims in Monday's bus slaughter on the Afula-Hadera highway were buried today. These included Indelou Ashati, 50, in Hadera; Anat Shimshon, 33, in Raanana; and Ettie Pesachov, 20, in Hadera. Ettie was buried next to her cousin Shoshana Ris, who was also murdered by terrorists two years ago in Hadera. The last of the 14 was identified last night: Sergei Shavchuk of Afula, whose body was flown to Russia for burial.
Chief Rabbi Ben-Zion Lipsker of Arad officiated last night at the very modest and sad wedding of Shlomi Ben-Sheetrit and Miri Tubol, whose sister Sharon was murdered in the Karkur Junction bus slaughter. He said that the decision was a hard one, and was partly due to the fact that the death of Miri's sister had not yet been positively ascertained because of the difficulties in identification. Rabbi Lipsker also noted that the wedding had already been put off once before, after the death of Miri's father last year: "No date had been set, but the couple decided to wait until the year of mourning was over."
Rabbi Lipsker said that after consulting with some important rabbis in Israel, he offered to hold a small ceremony in his own home - and the couple accepted. The owner of the catering hall - Havat HaRo'im in Arad - took upon himself the financial burden of the canceled affair, a 70,000-shekel loss.
"This was a very sad wedding," Rabbi Lipsker said, "but we went by the principle of, 'In your blood you shall live.' We will not allow the murderers to ruin our lives. 'The more they [the Egyptians in the Book of Exodus] oppressed them [the Israelites], the more they multiplied and grew' - we will build families, we will enlarge families, we belong to this land, and we will get stronger and stronger."
He said that he knows the Tubol family very well: "Every year, Mr. Tubol - who ran the Massada site - would open it for us when we held our annual Bar Mitzvah celebration for all the 13-year-old boys of the schools in Arad, 200 or more boys each time… Later, I got to know the couple Shlomi and Miri, who decided to build a Jewish, Hassidic home… This wedding was an amazing sight, at 2:30 in the morning walking down with candles, singing a Hasidic melody… It appeared as if the angels on high, together with the souls of Sharon the deceased… and their father, were there with us, watching this amazing sight of the beginning of a new Jewish home… The mother was not there, but when I later told her that her husband and Sharon were there at the wedding, she said, 'Yes, I felt it…' I promised her that with G-d's help I would attend the weddings of their children, in large luxurious halls…"
Chief Rabbi Ben-Zion Lipsker of Arad officiated last night at the very modest and sad wedding of Shlomi Ben-Sheetrit and Miri Tubol, whose sister Sharon was murdered in the Karkur Junction bus slaughter. He said that the decision was a hard one, and was partly due to the fact that the death of Miri's sister had not yet been positively ascertained because of the difficulties in identification. Rabbi Lipsker also noted that the wedding had already been put off once before, after the death of Miri's father last year: "No date had been set, but the couple decided to wait until the year of mourning was over."
Rabbi Lipsker said that after consulting with some important rabbis in Israel, he offered to hold a small ceremony in his own home - and the couple accepted. The owner of the catering hall - Havat HaRo'im in Arad - took upon himself the financial burden of the canceled affair, a 70,000-shekel loss.
"This was a very sad wedding," Rabbi Lipsker said, "but we went by the principle of, 'In your blood you shall live.' We will not allow the murderers to ruin our lives. 'The more they [the Egyptians in the Book of Exodus] oppressed them [the Israelites], the more they multiplied and grew' - we will build families, we will enlarge families, we belong to this land, and we will get stronger and stronger."
He said that he knows the Tubol family very well: "Every year, Mr. Tubol - who ran the Massada site - would open it for us when we held our annual Bar Mitzvah celebration for all the 13-year-old boys of the schools in Arad, 200 or more boys each time… Later, I got to know the couple Shlomi and Miri, who decided to build a Jewish, Hassidic home… This wedding was an amazing sight, at 2:30 in the morning walking down with candles, singing a Hasidic melody… It appeared as if the angels on high, together with the souls of Sharon the deceased… and their father, were there with us, watching this amazing sight of the beginning of a new Jewish home… The mother was not there, but when I later told her that her husband and Sharon were there at the wedding, she said, 'Yes, I felt it…' I promised her that with G-d's help I would attend the weddings of their children, in large luxurious halls…"