Longtime Bet El resident Yossi Segal passed away on Sunday, April 5th.
Yossi and his wife, Urit, moved to Bet El more than 45 years ago, during the community’s earliest years. He quickly became an integral part of the Beit El yeshiva community, which remained his spiritual home for Shabbat and holiday services for decades, including in recent years when he was confined to a wheelchair.
For more than four decades, Yossi’s prayer at the Bet El Yeshiva was a source of inspiration to all who davened with him. He served with distinction as both Baal Tokea (shofar blower) and Baal Koreh (Torah reader) during the High Holidays at the yeshiva. Many were especially moved by his reading of the Kinot on Tisha B’Av, which he recited with profound emotion, shedding many tears.
R’ Yossi was a product of Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav and his entire character and way of life, as well as the manner in which he educated his children, were deeply shaped by the teachings he absorbed from the roshei yeshiva - Rav Tzvi Yehuda HaKohen Kook, Rav Avraham Kahane Shapira, and Rav Shaul Yisraeli - of whom he was a devoted and distinguished student.
Yossi’s father, Marty Segal ז"ל, was a pillar of Bet El, serving for many years as Treasurer of the American Friends of the Bet El Yeshiva. He passed on to Yossi a deep love for the Land of Israel and for Bet El. Yossi’s uncle, David Segal, continues in that family tradition as a devoted and steadfast supporter of Bet El.
Over the years, Yossi regularly hosted yeshiva students in his home for Shabbat meals, always forming warm and meaningful relationships with them despite the age difference. His Shabbat table was filled with lively, heartfelt conversation, words of Torah, and joyous Shabbat singing. Yossi shared a close bond with the Bet El Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Zalman Melamed.
Yossi is survived by his wife, Urit, their ten children, his mother, and his brother and sister. He was a man of halacha, of cherished religious custom, and of noble conduct and character, whose great spirit filled the yeshiva and whose absence will be deeply felt within it.