Slain baby laid to rest

Jerusalem Post ^ | Sep. 30, 2003 | TOVAH LAZAROFF

[yonif]

"When you were killed, we looked around for an angel to save you," said Shai Avraham at the funeral of his seven-month old daughter, Shaked.

He stood by her body, hugging his wife, as he spoke of how in the biblical story, an angel saved Hagar's son, Ishmael, when she called out to God.

"But no angel came to save you," he said. "Then we understood that you were our angel," telling Shaked that she had made their family complete.

"We had you for such a short time," Avraham said. "We tried to give you so much, but you gave us more."

On Monday afternoon, hundreds of mourners came to Kfar Haroeh, a quiet moshav northeast of Netanya, to help Shai and Shiri bury their only daughter, murdered by a terrorist who came to the door of a home in the settlement of Negohot, near Hebron, on Friday evening, during a Rosh Hashana dinner.

Mourners accompanied the body, covered in a black cloth with the Star of David, to the cemetery.

Half way there, near a field of wild flowers and a cow shed, Avraham stopped to say kaddish.

Shiri, with her blouse already torn in mourning, put her hand on her daughter's body and caressed it.

One of the mourners called out, "God gives and God takes away."

"We have come to say good-bye to you before you learned to say hello to us," said family friend Naomi Harari at the cemetery, noting that the family had recently gotten together at a remembrance service for Shaked's grandfather.

Harari spoke of how Shiri dressed Shaked in a fancy outfit for the holiday. Shai put her on his shoulders and gave her an Israeli flag to hold. "He was getting you ready for Simhat Torah," said Harari. "It's our last picture of you," she said.

Construction and Housing Minister Effi Eitam said that when the host, yeshiva student Eyal Yerberbaum, 27, also killed in the attack, opened the door, he must have done so in faith. "Who knocks at the door on Rosh Hashana? A neighbor in need or a soldier or a visitor in search of a holiday meal," he said.

The terrorist killed Yerberbaum, and one of his shots hit Shaked, who was in her rocker. The terrorist was in turn killed by a soldier.

An eyewitness to the attack said Shai had tried to shield his daughter from the gunfire with his body, but was too late.

Daniel Laper of Negohot said that Shiri tried to revive her. "She tried to hear the [angel's] voice that said, 'Do not lay a hand on the child,' he said. "You didn't know how to speak in this world, but in the next world, we are sure you will know how to talk with God."

The death of Shaked is a much greater test than that which Abraham went through in the sacrifice of Isaac, Eitam said. Here there is no option for salvation, no voice called out from heaven to stay the terrorist's hand.

He asked the bereaved to neither curse the government, an act which he likened to kicking a rock after banging one's foot on it, nor sink into passivity in the face of seeming hopelessness. Instead, he asked them to believe that in time their pain and suffering will be forged into meaningfulness, such as studying Torah and rebuilding the land.

Zvi Barchan, head of the Mount Hebron Local Council, observed that the children in the area "and thank God there are many of them" have been aware these last few days that something bad had happened, and he hopes that a children's center currently being built at Negohot will be inaugurated in Shaked's name exactly one year from now.

[yonif]

"God gives and God takes away."

[netmilsmom]

Shaked is with God now, with angels all around her.
God gives and murderous ba$tards take away.
How could they do this?
I can't imagine what that father lived through and the mother lives through now.
I pray for all of them as I cry.

[dennisw]

	Mourners carry the body of seven-months-old Shaked Avraham during her funeral in Kfar Haro'eh north east of Tel Aviv Monday, Sept. 29 2003. Avraham was one of two Israelis killed in a shooting attack Friday in a West Bank settlement at the start of Jewish New Year celebrations. (AP Photo/ Eyal Warshavsky, Baubau) AP - Sep 29 2:18 PM
	Seven-month-old Shaked Avraham is seen in this recent but undated family handout photo. Avraham was one of two Israelis killed in a shooting attack Friday Sept. 26, 2003 on a West Bank settlement at the start of Jewish New Year celebrations. (AP Photo) AP - Sep 29 11:43 AM

[tet68]

And who could keep that which is the lord's?
May the peace of Heaven be upon this family and upon Isreal.
Amen.

[I got the rope]

Of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should camp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, even then I will be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in the days of evil he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the covert of his tent he shall hide me: he shall set me upon a rock. And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me: therefore I will offer in his tabernacles sacrifices of joy; I will sing, I will make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: be gracious to me, and answer me. Of thee my heart has said, seek my face. Thy face, O lord, I seek. Hide not thy face from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; abandon me not, nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. For my father and mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in an even path, because of my enemies. Deliver me not over to the will of my enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and as such breather out violence. Were it not that I believed that I should see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart: and wait on the Lord.

[Fester Chugabrew]

It happens all too frequently. It happens scores of times every day before children are even born. It makes me sick. Thoughts and prayers for any parents who lose children, although my compassion lacks sorely when compared to that of our Creator.