President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday 18 Tammuz was menachem aveil in Kochav HaShachar home of the family of Malachi Moshe Rosenfeld HY”D, who was murdered in a terrorist attack as he drove home last week. Malachi was mortally wounded in the attack which took place on Monday, 12 Tammuz and he was niftar of his massive injuries on Wednesday, 14 Tammuz.

Malachi’s father, Eliezer, explained to the President, “My son just wanted to play basketball, and come home to tell me about the game.” The President listened as Malachi’s parents told him about their son, and that he was gifted in a number of fields. They told him how over the last three years he had excelled in his studies of philosophy, economics, and political science at the Hebrew University.

Sarah, Malachi’s mother, told the President that, “His loss will be greatly felt between his brothers and sisters, as it will for us as parents. I always knew I could relate to Malachi and consult with him. He knew how to reach deep within the soul of each of his siblings and was part of every aspect of our lives.”

President Rivlin said to the family, “Your decision to donate Malachi’s organs is an example of your true strength of spirit, and of genuine heroism.”

Sarah responded, “If something good could come out of such destruction, this terrible end, then we had no doubt what we had to do.”

The President, who was accompanied on the visit by Director-General of the President’s Office Harel Tubi, heard from the family how they had several years ago already lost their eldest son Isaac, and of the great pain with which they were dealing.

The President reached out to the family and said, “All of our hearts are with you here, and I pray that we will be beside you again in the many happier times that await you in the future. The days of mourning are dark days when we have the challenge of, as the verse says, to ‘shake ourselves free, and rise from the dust’, and we will be here to accompany you on this difficult journey.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)