(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)
15 young Israelis from bereaved families returned this past week from an uplifting trip to London where they were hosted by local Jewish residents and OneFamily UK. The Israeli teens were put up in the homes of members of the Jewish communities in Mill Hill and Totteridge. The trip was sponsored by OneFamily, an organization that supports bereaved families of fallen soldier and terror victims.
Beyond visiting the major attractions in the reason, like Buckingham Palace, the House of Parliament and Madame Tussaud’s, the group also visited the legendary Wembley Stadium where they were the guests of the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, a popular London soccer team that competes in the premier leagues. The team is colloquially renowned as “the Jews” and prides itself on its close ties with the Jewish community in England’s capital.
The trip included not only exhilarating experiential and touristy aspects of the country, but also emotional meetings with Jewish Londoners whose purpose was to forge relationships between Israeli youth who lost their loved ones in combat or terror attacks and Britain’s Jews who are following the political situation in Israel with concern and compassion.
Group members who participated in the trip included Raanana and Raaya, sisters of Elchai Teharlev HY”D, who was killed in a car-ramming attack last April at the Ofra Junction in Binyamin. Teharlev, who was only 20 at the time, hailed from Talmon and served as a combat soldier in the 13 Golani Brigade; Dror HY”D, brother of Tal Karman who was killed in 2003 by a suicide bomber on a bus from Haifa; Eliran and Sahar, brothers of reserve Master Sergeant Barak Refael Degorker of Gan Yavneh HY”D, who was 27 when killed by a mortar shell fired from Gaza while Israel was upholding the humanitarian ceasefire following Operation Protective Edge; Paz, brother of Sergeant Major Nadav Goldmacher HY”D, 23, of Beersheva who was killed when a terrorist group infiltrated the area surrounding Gaza during Operation Protective Edge. In 2015, Nadav was awarded a citation as commander of the northern Gaza brigade.
“Nadav Goldmacher actions manifested absolute commitment to the mission and goal and his willingness to fight and execute his duty even at grave personal risk,” describes Colonel Yaron Finkelman, brigade commander of northern Gaza. Also participating was Lital, sister of Ohr Arish HY”D, who was murdered in a shooting attack at the entrance of Har Adar two months ago.
The unity trip was joined by Shmuel Solomon who lost his father, sister, and brother in the recent bloodbath in Chalamish which also left his mother severely wounded. In a meeting with members of the local Jewish community, Solomon expressed emotionally, “That terrorist chose our family’s house because he heard voices of laughter and joy emanating from inside, because that night, we celebrated my son’s Shalom Zachor. That beast wanted to destroy our simcha.
My father Yosef was murdered; my sister Chaya was murdered; my brother Elad, my best friend in the world, was murdered. My mother Tova was critically wounded, while my sister-in-law Michal courageously hid with the children, shielding them upstairs. We named our son Ari Yosef. Ari is Hebrew for lion, because my family members fought like lions; and Yosef after my beloved father, z”l. I was very wary about joining this trip; it’s been only 4 months since the tragedy, but now I am certain that I did the right thing. I made new friends here, and together we laugh and cry and speak about everything. There’s a spirit of victory here. We triumphed because we chose life.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
“…the group also … were the guests of the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, a popular London soccer team that competes in the premier leagues. The team is colloquially renowned as “the Jews” …”
The nickname they’re actually known by is “the Yids”, which has sparked of a big controversy in the sorting world, if “the Y Word” is a racist term or not.