Maia and Rina laid to rest in double grave

(A7) Following Friday’s deadly terror attack, in which the Dee sisters, Maia and Rina, were murdered by an arab terrorist, the two sisters were laid to rest together on Sunday afternoon.

When the bodies of the victims entered the funeral hall, the two remaining sisters broke down crying and fell on their sisters’ bodies.

The ceremony opened with the reading of Psalms for the recovery of the victims’ mother, Leah, who remains in critical condition following the attack.

Rabbi Leo Dee, the victims’ father, eulogized his daughters: “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 in Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut, we will once again be marching side by side, all of us carrying our Israeli flags, left-wing next to the right-wing, religious net 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, who doesn’t care if you’re from Efrat or Tel Aviv, London or Italy. Who’s prepared to destroy your children’s lives in an instant, and then we will all march as one.”

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 12, 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.”

Turning to his younger daughter, the father lamented, “My beautiful darling Rina, such a great friend, and youth leader, you were so responsible in the Ezra youth club, needed cleaning on a Friday morning, and you were the only one who turned up from your group you were there singlehandedly for three hours. People loved you and always knew they could depend on you. Less than two weeks ago, you had 20 of your girls from the youth club sleeping over at our home with your co-youth leader. Mummy and I had to find somewhere else to spend that night, the girls made so much noise and had so much fun. Rina Bina, you were considering the army in two years’ time, after seminary, you probably would have been in intelligence. You also dreamt of traveling the world, and now you are traveling to heaven. You, too, are an angel, and I know that you’re currently organizing Hashem’s youth club in Heaven.”

The girls’ sister, Keren, eulogized: “Maia, my big sister, I am taking on the job of the eldest. I will never be able to catch up to you, not even a little. Rina, my little sister, I promised that I would watch over you, and I did not succeed. I would have done everything to be in the car instead of you. We were born on the same day. We were supposed to celebrate our birthday soon, now you will always be missed.”

The sister, Tali, eulogized: “There is no picture good enough to describe you, Rina. I always see you, a year ago, we took down the wall between our rooms. We would talk about everything in the world, our connection recently got stronger. You saw the world in a smart and unique way. The world is mourning two great souls. We will go home, and it won’t be the same. Maya, I was with you for 19 years and with you, Rina, for 16, I will be with you forever.”

Rabbi Yair Beinstock, the rabbi of the Zeit Ra’anan synagogue, eulogized: “The truth is the constant smile on your faces, Rina and Maia have a secret behind them of characters full of love and spirit that challenged our community all these years. You came here to establish your home here in Israel and have been an inspiration for all of us in the youth group and in the community, we thank you for all these years together.

Following the eulogies, it was announced that since Maia and Rina were murdered together, they will be buried one on top of the other.

The community released the following statement prior to the funeral:

“The Efrat community was struck with a tragic blow Friday morning when two of its residents, Maia and Rina Dee (H”YD), were killed in an Arab terrorist attack. They were victims of a drive-by shooting while on a family outing celebrating the Passover holiday.

Their mother, Lucy Dee, who was also in the car, is currently hospitalized, fighting for her life. The funerals for the Dee sisters will be held today at the Kfar Etzion Cemetery.

The Dee family immigrated to Israel from the UK in August 2014. The family are dual Israel-UK citizens. Father/husband Rabbi Leo Dee served for three years as the Assistant Rabbi at the Hendon United Synagogue and for three years as the Rabbi of the Radsett United Synagogue in suburban London.

Rabbi Dee currently teaches at the Mae Boyar School in Jerusalem. Lucy Dee works as an English teacher at the Orot Yehuda School in Efrat. Overnight, the youth of Efrat gathered together to sing, cry, console, and strengthen one another. Social services and grief counselors circulated and counseled them as they began processing the unbearable loss and pain.

The Rabbinic leadership of Efrat initiated an evening reciting prayers and psalms to strengthen the residents of the community at the Zeit Ra’anan Synagogue on Saturday night. The Mayor of Efrat, Oded Revivi, told his constituents that: “The Efrat community is heartbroken by the tragedy that has befallen the Dee family.