There was only one thing that could have made Tzofia’s day better…to have her father’s hug on that special day.
Aron Yesayev had davened Minchah at a room set aside as a synagogue in the Panorama Building in Tel Aviv where he worked.
He was rushing back to his job at Sakal Electronics but as he left the room, he was stabbed to death by a terrorist who had reached the entrance.
As all terror attacks, it was vicious, evil, and cruel…
… and left behind a young grieving widow, and five little – now orphaned – children. The oldest six years old.
Aron was 32 years old. The year was 2015.
At his funeral everyone spoke in amazement of how “Aron was able to care for a family with five small children and yet always be there to help someone in need.”
Chabad’s Terror Victims Project (CTVP) has been with this family from the day the tragedy happened. We are there helping and assisting the family and supporting the mother to give her the strength she needs to raise her five children all alone.
Now Aron’s daughter Tzofia was going to celebrate her Bat Mitzvah and once again we were there. We made all the arrangements so it would be a happy day that would be with her forever.
Held in Jerusalem, she twinned with Meme, the daughter of Zalman and Pessie, a wonderful family in Florida.
We began the day at the Western Wall, followed by a beautiful, festive luncheon for family and friends in the Old City of Jerusalem.
We will never be able to replace Tzofia’s beloved father, or his hugs, his love…
…but we can let a young 12-year-old girl know there are people in Israel and thousands of miles away who care about her, who love her, and who wanted her to have the most beautiful Bat Mitzvah that will live in her heart – and in the heart of her mother and siblings – forever.
Despite all the pain and suffering this family has suffered, we hope they will also see the goodness, kindness, and beauty there is in the world…
…and as the Lubavitcher Rebbe would always repeat, “A Little Light Dispels Much Darkness.”
May the light of this coming year dispel all future and past darkness and anguish.
Nothing will ever replace Tzofia’s beloved father but in all other aspects it was a wonderful Bat Mitzvah for a young lady who surely deserved it.