Posted on 01/29/2004 7:06:49 PM PST by yonif
A little over a year ago, Canadian-born Yechezkel "Chezi" Goldberg wrote an article about his feelings when he heard about a failed terrorist attack while riding on a Jerusalem bus.
He preached for years against making concessions to terrorism in articles he wrote for The Jewish Press and in a radio show he hosted on Arutz 7. But Goldberg, a social worker in Jerusalem and Betar Illit, wrote mostly about his specialty: saving American immigrant children at risk. His Jewish Press column was called "Lifeline," and he proved to be just that for families having difficulty with their aliya and Orthodox children who abused drugs and alcohol.
"When we, here, look at a miraculous escape from a deadly attack and breathe a sigh of relief, we lose the war on terrorism," Goldberg wrote. "When they fired to kill, [the terrorists] made their intentions clear... They will try again. "We have been warned. The next time, they might hit the target. They next time, we might not be so lucky."
Goldberg was not lucky on Thursday, when he was killed in the terrorist attack on a No. 19 bus in Jerusalem.
When a teen from Jerusalem's Har Nof neighborhood died of a drug overdose in May 2000, Goldberg was invited to the Knesset to address the Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs Committee. He told the committee that the problems of Western immigrants often get lost when the overwhelming majority of immigrants come from the former Soviet Union, and that Anglo immigrants require special attention.
Goldberg, 42, a native of Toronto who made aliya eight years ago from his wife's native Flatbush neighborhood in Brooklyn, had seven children of his own, ages one to 16, but he left behind dozens of children whom he helped through his practice and his articles. Friends of Goldberg said he saved many lives.
"Even the word saint is not enough to describe him," Betar Illit spokesman Bezalel Kahn said. "He was always ready to make sacrifices to help people."
Goldberg was eulogized at the Bostoner Shul in Betar Illit, where he served as a sexton, before he was buried Thursday night at Har Hamenuhot Cemetery in Jerusalem.
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