Ariel Zohar is the only survivor of his loving family who lived in the Nir Oz kibbutz near Gaza.
Surrounded by the Negev desert, it was an oasis of greenery, with a botanical garden of more than 900 species of flowers and plants.
Early Simchat Torah morning, Ariel got up to go for a run. While he was gone Hamas terrorists broke into his home, murdering his father Yaniv, his mother Yasmin, and his two older sisters Techelet and Keshet. They also murdered his maternal grandfather, Chaim Livne.
This past week he was left to sob and say Kaddish for his entire family at their funeral.
Next week, he will get his first Aliyah at the Torah when he “celebrates” his Bar Mitzvah.
His parents had already bought him a new pair of Tefillin for his Bar Mitzvah, but he had a special request. Instead of wearing his own, he wanted to wear his father’s Tefillin for this occasion.
These Tefillin are no ordinary pair. They were a gift from his grandfather who had survived the concentration camps at the age of 14 and who had himself received Tefillin from his parents before they were exterminated by the Nazis.
One of the members of Zaka (the volunteer organization with responsibility in Israel for collecting bodies who died an unnatural death), came to comfort him during the Shiva at his grandparents’ house. Young Ariel asked them if they could try to bring back his father’s Tefillin from their completely ruined house.
Nir Oz is still a completely closed military zone. Yet when Chaim Utmezgin heard young Ariel’s request he burst into tears.
To quote Chaim: “Although I was responsible for wrapping more than 700 bodies during this week, it was the first time I cried my eyes out. I was moved that in the eyes of this child whose parents and sisters had been massacred a few days ago, when we asked him about his home, he spoke of his father’s Tefillin which represents for him the continuity and tradition of this family which suffered so much.”
Chaim undertook to fulfill this perilous mission himself. Under fire from Gaza he finally got permission from the army with just 4 minutes to go in, take the desired effects, and come out.
He describes the joy he felt when he found the Tefillin as exciting as the Israeli paratroopers in 1967 shouting on the radio “Temple Mount is in our hands!” He quickly grabbed a family album and a few other belongings and ran out the door.
“When I handed them to young Ariel that evening, he burst into tears of emotion that they had been found so that he could wear them for his Bar Mitzvah.”
The elderly grandfather, who had just lost his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughters, stood up and said the following words:
“My parents were murdered when I was 14. I resisted and continued my life. Today I have a grandson living in Israel! To you too, they did this to you when you were 12 years old. You too will resist and you too will have grandchildren in Israel!”
This story encapsulates the entire story of Jewish faith and survival. The reason why our hopes never fade, and our vision of a better future never dims, is because we have G-d who has blessed us with His holy Mitzvot.
Instead of surrendering to despair from all the evil all around us, we hold on even closer to our heritage, to our lifeline of Jewish connection and observance.