Monday, April 16, 2007

Paying Tribute to a Chalutz, Pioneer

Shiloh has seen many enormous funerals in the past, and they all had something in common. The person being buried was murdered by Arab terrorists, and people came, because it had been headlined in the news.

Yesterday, again, we had mobs and mobs of people and a long line of buses. But this time we weren't burying a victim of Arab terror, we were burying a young chalutz, pioneer, Yossi Shuker.

I had planned on posting the pictures with my report of the funeral, but photobucket wasn't cooperating. Read this for more about Yossi. Actually I sent it to work as a Reading Comprehension exercise with questions as one of the lesson plans for my students, since I took the day off in order to attend the funeral. My boss was very understanding when I requested to be allowed to attend the funeral. It's one of those things in Israel that funerals are considered great mitzvot, commandments from G-d, and even on a workday, you'll see relatively large numbers of people attending.

There are a lot of pictures, and I'll just post them without commentary. They begin with the cars and buses accompanying the body from his home in Givat Achiyah, northeast of Shiloh, a community he and his wife Ronit founded. And the last picture is just after the funeral, a group of men saying the mincha, afternoon prayer, while the last people are leaving the cemetery.

If you have any questions, just "comment."

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

2 comments:

Lion of Zion said...

"It's one of those things in Israel that funerals are considered great mitzvot"

a few years ago i brought my grandfather to israel to be burried. among the small crowd was a settler.

i have no idea who he was and i just assumed he was passing by and stopped to participate in the funeral.

Batya said...

One of the great things about living in Israel, Jewish priorities can more easily be found.
One of my favorites of this season is the sfira beard on tv, as natural as a new tie in the states.