Dear family members, good and dear friends, and everyone who remembers Shuki dearly and came to the gathering and memorial, welcome!

I am sorry I did not attend the memorial but yes it was important for me to write down things related to his personality.

In Judaism we believe that there is a world of eternity where the souls reside, and in this world – the world of deeds everyone born in it fulfills some mission and when he finishes his mission he is taken to the eternal world where there are only souls. We have no way of understanding the accounts of heaven, but he who is filled with faith as well as humility, can achieve more in this understanding. What can be said is that whoever knew Shuki, as they called him, can say that he still lives within us: family and relatives and friends!

And how is it possible that he is alive? After all, the memory we have of him is so positive that in fact within us there is a warm corner reserved for us from what we knew in Shuki’s personality, and what we take from him, and meet and talk about him, and the memories are warm and good and pleasant and flood us. After all, his personality would have had a good effect, so in any case, parts of his personality are “living” within us, and these are higher lives than people who travel the world and are on the planet …

From a memory of years it can be said that the uniqueness of Shuki in my eyes as a teacher who accompanied him for a whole year and even later a little later, was to unite friends around him. Shuki was a character obsessed with friends. In every picture he takes with his friends at the short stops of his life, it can be seen that everyone is in an uplifting and pleasant mood – much thanks to the positive atmosphere that the markets have for those around him.

I remember a few things from his personality reflected from the past:

In the eyes of the teachers Shuki was considered a quiet student, perhaps not conspicuous in school, but a strong influence among the friends, where he had a voice of respect. His voice would be heard at the height of enthusiasm with lots of contagious joy of life. Such a rolling voice and laughter. Know that his statements come out of personal honesty, he would not hide things, but quite the opposite a visible child with a sense of humor, a student who is considerate of his environment, with a big and good heart!

At halftime for example, he was playing football like most friends his age, I think he would concentrate mostly on the defensive lines close to the goal. I remember that once the goalkeeper in his team prostrated himself on the ground and thus saved and prevented a “goal” from the opposing team. Shuki naturally stuck a kiss on his face, as if he had said to him without words – Congratulations that we did not snatch a goal, you deserve it wholeheartedly …

At a sixth-grade graduation party, his talent for singing in a choir was revealed. He had a young and clear voice and he would play and sing the notes without reading notes in a beautiful and pleasant way, really a musician. That is why he was chosen to be one of the lead singers in the class in one of the closing songs with the conductor and player, Rabbi Dudi Leibowitz. Shuki sang with emotion and captivated his listeners in a pleasant and sweet voice.

If we return to the special heart that characterized Shuki – we will bring the famous Mishnah from Tractate Avot, Chapter 2, Mishnah 9:

He said to them [Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai], go out and see what straight path the person will follow?

Rabbi Eliezer says – Ein Tova. Rabbi Yehoshua says – a good friend.

Rabbi Yossi says – a good neighbor. Rabbi Shimon says – who sees the past.

Rabbi Elazar says – good heart.

He said to them [Rivaz], I see the words of Eleazar as valuable from your words, that in all his words are your words.

Rabbeinu Yonah explains what a good heart is: “This is the patient who is not impatient [= does not get angry quickly], moves away from the degree of anger and responds with a soft response,

Even if they do something bad to him – he will suffer, and there is no bitterness in his mouth [= there are no complaints and shouts in his mouth towards others] because sweets were waiting and they were all pet “

This interpretation seems to really fit the personality of Shuki, who knew how to unite all sorts of different types of friends around him in the sweetness of his speech and conversation with people.

This is what he would sometimes say – “When I’m here, when I’m in the field, you don’t have to worry, trust me” – that’s about it or exactly …

Rabbi Elazar says: Lev Tov – how does it connect all the opinions and include them together? According to which the heart is the motive for all other forces and is the source from which all actions derive. He who has a good heart, all his virtues are honest and his opinions are right.

In fact, the words of Rabbi Elazar in the Mishnah include the words of his predecessors that everything depends on the heart, and Shuki did have a big heart.

There are stories about Rabbi Aryeh Levin who would rarely see anyone he met with a positive and good look until he made his interlocutor understand that the rabbi really sees him that way

Once Rabbi Aryeh Levin was walking the streets of Jerusalem, while on the way he saw one of his acquaintances trying to get away and slip away from his gaze,

Rabbi Aryeh Levin called him and addressed him:

“Hello my friend, I see that you are not interested in meeting me, has anything happened? Is there anything in your heart about me?”

The same person replied hesitantly: “God forbid, Your Honor, I tried to slip away from you, but the reason is that I am ashamed of you.

I do not wear a kippah, and I did not feel comfortable greeting the rabbi in “peace” and talking to him openly. “

“Oh my friend” Rabbi Arieh replied that he was not at all tall, “I am a short man and I do not see at all whether there is a dome on your head. My eyes only reach the place of the heart, so when I meet a man – I only meet his heart!”

—————————————————————————————————————

In his wide heart, Shuki always strives to achieve more, for example – to deepen ties with friends, get to know the world and travel in it, and so does the army:

In Shuki’s army, he did not allow himself to be satisfied with a position that was “considered easy”, but even to advance to more, to advance in personality and to belong to more efforts to defend the country and not just transfer three years of service and go to life. He realized that it builds something essential within him and that it is most suitable for him, most natural for him, that way he will achieve reconciliation with the role.

There is a song written by Ehud Manor called “I Wish” – pay attention to the words where maybe it can also show other aspects of Shuki’s personality who wanted to see a better world while he was here with us.

The song is like this:

I wish a cloud would fall on us

I wish this world had a regulation …

I wish a day would grow out of a stormy storm

I wish you would not lose forever the gift

I wish the desert would grow grass

I wish we could sit in the shade of the fig.

I wish we were not hurt and his brother’s man would love

I wish the gates of heaven would open again

I wish they merged east and west

I wish we renewed our days here as before.

I wish he would no longer carry a gentile to a gentile sword

I wish we did not abandon the path of hope

I wish the person would be merciful until evening

I wish there was one chance for love.

And we will end with the words of Rabbi Kook: Son of man, ascend, ascend! For you have mighty power, you have wings of wind, wings of mighty eagles. Do not deny them lest they deny you. Need them – and they will be found for you immediately.

Shuki rose and progressed during his short life by doing good to his parents, his family, his friends, basically to those who knew him. As a baby, as a child, as a teenager, as a good friend! , As a soldier, he just went up and down.

Shuki did not settle for a light life in the army, but ran for the arduous formation where honey is not licked, and he had a strong will to succeed – to be the most senior officer possible for him. Even there in the formation must have helped those around him with encouragement, a bright face and the necessary physical assistance.

May his soul be bundled in the bundle of life, the real life up there! And he would not want us to regret his loss. optimism.