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Maia and Rena Dee, the sisters from Efrat who were murdered in a shooting attack on Friday in the Jordan Valley, were laid to rest on Sunday. Rabbi Leo Dee, the victims’ father, eulogized his daughters.
Rabbi Dee began by remembering his wife, Leah, who is in critical condition and fighting for her life following the attack: “I know my darling wife would ask me to state that these words are from the two of us. Thank you for your kindness and your love.”
He continued by pointing out the Jewish people’s great solidarity: “Today, the Jewish people have proven that we are one. When a family in Efrat hurts, we all hurt. There is no clearer proof of our unity, Am Yisrael Chai. We have been marching through the streets of Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv with Israeli flags, arguing over whether there should be a majority of 61, 65, 70, an override clause, or no override clause in the Supreme Court. Let’s be honest, most of us have no idea what any of this means. But in three weeks’ time, on Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut (Memorial Day and Independence Day), we will once again be marching side by side, all of us carrying our Israeli flags, left-wing next to the right-wing, religious next to secular, uniting against the real threat, the threat of pure evil, the threat of a mad ideologically driven terrorism funded by Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, with the Kalashnikov rifle, which doesn’t care if you’re from Efrat or Tel Aviv, London or Italy. Who is prepared to destroy your children’s lives in an instant, and then we will all march as one.”
He continued, “Some people asked me, ‘How can you have such faith in G-d’s continued goodness?’ Please, G-d, it should last longer than just today. And I told them that I listened to almost all of Rabbi Ephram Goldberg’s faith lessons available online, and in them, he repeats that there is one main formula for faith: always focus on what you do have and not what you do not and I still have three wonderful children and a wonderful wife, Lucy, Leah Bat Tzipora, may she please G-d soon come out of her coma. And Maia and Rina, who lie before us, you are now part of us all forever.
“And if the Jewish people would look at what we have and not at what we do not have, we would realize that we still are a united people. We’re united against a common enemy, we are the forces of good fighting the forces of evil, and we will always prevail. Am Yisrael Chai!”
The father lamented that his wife, Leah, remains in a coma and is not yet aware of what befell their daughters. “The Talmud tells the story of the wife of Rabbi Meir, who did not want to disturb his lesson by telling him that their two sons had just passed away from a deadly virus. So after Shabbat, she hints to him by asking a question: ‘Before Shabbat, someone brought me a precious gift, and now they want it back should I return it?’ How will I explain to Lucy what has happened to our two precious kids, Maia and Rina, when she wakes up from her coma?”
Rabbi Dee turned to the body of his older daughter, Maia, “My beautiful perfect Maia, we named you G-d’s water, and you were so many people’s friend flowing between so many different groups, out on Friday night with one group of friends and another group in our lounge on Saturday afternoon, and a third visit to a close friend on Saturday night, every week. At your Bat Mitzva just eight years ago, we tried to find a biblical character to compare you to. We realized that you were most like the matriarch Sara, that in your twelve years, you had already moved to Israel at the age of 2, left at the age of six, and came back at the age of 11, just like Sara in the Torah. Who also entered and left Israel twice. Sadly the comparison does not stop here. Sara was buried at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, as each of the forefathers was buried with their spouse in pairs, and Maia and Rina, you will also be buried today in a double grave.”
Following the eulogies, the bodies of Rina and Maia Dee were buried one on top of the other in a double grave.
