by Sara Bedein, Efrat, Israel
May 29th, 2001

Yesterday thousands escorted Efrat residents, Sara Blaustein and Esther Alvin to their graves. They were murdered on the Gush Etzion-Jerusalem road, five minutes from their homes. Sarah was in her van with her husband and son, and had picked up on the way four local hitchikers to Jerusalem. They were on their way to the Kotel for afternoon prayers before Norman Blaustein's scheduled trip to the US which was supposed to take place later in the evening.

Esther Alvin was almost 20 at the time of her murder. She is survived by her father, a lawyer who works in Jerusalem, her mother, a nurse at the Hadassah Hospital and her brother Joseph, a soldier who was critically injured only six months ago when his tank went up in flames and he suffered first degree burns all over his body.

Thousands attended the funeral which started in front of Esther's house in Efrat and ended at the Kfar Etzion cemetery. Among those attending were hundreds of children who had known and loved Esther, friends from the local high school she attended, and from the school in Ramle where she was doing her National Service.

As I made my way through the multitude of people gathered outside Esther's house I searched for my 13 year old daughter Leora who had come with her class to attend the funeral of their favorite youth counselor. I passed many children holding on to one another, crying. I spotted Leora. She was standing numbly by herself, eyes red from crying. "There goes my Happy-Go-Lucky child", I think to myself. Leora has always been our 'Mary Sunshine' child. A painting she drew when she was eleven hangs in our living room. It is a family portrait with all of us wearing big smiles. If anyone were to analyze the picture they would comment: "all is well in Leora's world". Today Leora is attending two funerals. One of her beloved youth counselor, and one, of the mother of her classmate. All is no longer well here. Something is very wrong.

You can tell a lot about people from the way they conduct themselves at funerals. The Jewish funerals follow a strict ritual of prayers and psalms. Something to chant and say along every step of the funeral; there is the kaddish - the Mourner's Prayer, Psalms, and eulogies made by friends, family members and spiritual leaders. The whole ceremony is performed with utmost dignity. Honoring the dead is considered a very important Mitzva. In between the chanting and eulogies there is utter silence interspersed by quiet weeping.

How different our funerals are to those of the Palestinians. The abysmal difference in culture is so striking that it is no wonder we have not been able to find a common thread to work out our differences. The Palestinian funerals are characterized with wild shooting in the air, running through the streets carrying high the teetering exposed body of the deceased, wailings, shouts of revenge, eyes flaming with hatred and cries to "kill the Jews".

Minister of Communications Rubi Rivlin represented the government at the funeral. In his eulogy he poignantly asked: "How many more have to die?"

We would also like to know. If I'd want to be cynical I'd say 'We are dying to know'.

We have pretty much had it with politicians who come to our funerals in their bullet proof cars, tell us to be strong and then disappear back into their safe cars and drive off. They have forced an intolerable situation upon us. From importing from Tunisia a terrorist organization led by Arafat whom for years had committed acts of atrocious acts of terror against the people of Israel from their base in Lebanon until they were driven from there by Israeli forces only to set up their deadly shop of terror again in Tunisia. The Israeli politicians tried to dupe the citizens of Israel into believing that this PLO terrorist organization had a change of heart and were willing to sit with us and negotiate land for peace. They gave them land, arms, massive funding, set them up with a huge media network which sends out consistent messages of incitement and hatred against the people of Israel. In the PLO media, there was never any pretense that they wanted anything less than the entire state of Israel for themselves. Their map of Palestine has replaced every Israeli city with an Arab one. Israel does not exist on the official PLO map. All the warning bells and warning signs went unheeded by both the left-wing and the right wing governments which came in the wake of the infamous "Peace Talks". Our worse nightmares and our worse predictions are being played out in front of our eyes. All we got out of all these negotiations was Land for Terror - a lot of terror.

At the cemetery in Kfar Etzion the crowd of thousands waited for the burial ceremony to begin. Esther's father was inside the ambulance caressing his dead daughter who was now wrapped in shrouds. He could not part from his only daughter, Esther. The complete hush of the crowd who patiently waited for the body to be brought out, was shattered by the heartbroken sobs of the bereaved father. Finally, he was persuaded to let go, and emerged from the ambulance his face ashen, stricken with grief.

We stood in front of two fresh graves. One for Esther. The other will occupy later tonight, when Sara's older children arrive from the US, the kind woman who gave Esther a lift to Jerusalem. Sara's act of chessed - charity made the two women eternal neighbors.

Esther's father eulogized his daughter: "Esther my daughter", he said over and over again. "I loved your modesty. I loved your kindness. We so much loved each other. You have barely lived. Now you are dead. "Esther, my daughter, Esther my daughter."

Sara Blaustein was born in the United States, one month before the establishment of the State of Israel. Her love of Israel made her a life-long active supporter of many organizations dedicated to the building of Israel. Sara's dream of moving to Israel was fulfilled eight months ago, when she moved to Efrat together with her husband Norman and her 13 year old daughter Atara. Her three older children, Edna, 30, mother of four, Sam 27 (who was injured along with his mother while visiting with her over the holiday), and Yoni 23, live in the United States.

Sara was thrilled to be living in Israel and felt that she had finally come home. She enthusiastically divided her time between learning Torah at the Women's Beit Midrash (Torah study Institute) in Efrat and visiting the Patriarchs' Tombs in Hebron where our ancestors Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob and Leah are buried and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem where she prayed for those in need of prayers and for divine assistance for the safety of Israel.

The funeral procession started at 8:00 p.m. in front of the synagogue in Efrat. The shrouded body of Sara Blaustein was brought out for the eulogies. Again, the weeping of children. Thirteen year old Atara's friends were all here. This time I left home together with my daughter Leora and we stand together and watch once more the inconsolable grief of a family torn to pieces. Sara's daughter Edna has just arrived from the US with her brother and her husband. She holds on tightly to her 13 year old sister and their bodies shake with their sobs. Norman, Sara's husband who was wounded in the attack cries inconsolably.

Efrat's chief rabbi, Rabbi Riskin spoke about how much Sara loved the land of Israel, loved Torah and loved helping people. He spoke against the unilateral cease-fire, calling it a surrender to terrorism.

For the second time today, we made our way- this time in the dark - to the burial ceremony at Kibbutz Kfar Etzion. Projectors lit up the graves. While waiting for the ceremony to begin, many visited the fresh graves of the other six slain residents of Gush Etzion. A group of children sat talking to their brutally murdered friend, 13 year old Koby Mandell. His grave lies a few meters from the two fresh graves dug out this morning.

We all cried along with husband Norman as he eulogized his wife. "The morning of Sara's murder, as was her custom on Tuesday mornings, she had already visited Rachel's tomb where she prayed for the safety of Am Yisrael. She so much loved the Torah (Bible)", he said. "Every night we studied a chapter of tanach (Prophets) together. In the car, we were in the middle of discussing Biblical Samson when her life was taken away. She always carried money on her for the poor and with a ready hand she gave out donations to so many organizations. She took care of me. I love you so very much. I am so sorry. I love you so very much."

Sarah's son likened his mother to the Biblical "Mother Sarah" who was known for her acts of charity. "My mother was very hospitable and the house was always full of guests", he said. "She loved preparing for them. People looking for donations always knew they would get a handsome sum from her. She died as she lived: In an act of chessed - kindness, she picked up hitchhikers from Efrat to take them to Jerusalem and died with words of Torah on her lips. We will miss you so much Mommy."

Link & Sources:

Sara Bedein. Our Memoriam page.