by Jill Huber
NJJN Bureau Chief/Monmouth

August 12, 2008

Members of Monmouth County’s Jewish community gathered on July 22 for a memorial service for the two Israeli soldiers whose remains were returned to Israel on July 16.

Many among the 100 attendees at the Ruth Hyman JCC in Deal wept quietly as religious and community lay leaders paid homage to the memories of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, who were 26 and 30, respectively, when they were abducted two years ago.

Last month their bodies were returned to Israel in exchange for five Lebanese prisoners and the bodies of 200 Hizbullah militants.

The event was sponsored by several area synagogues, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Monmouth County in Deal, and the Jewish Federation of Monmouth County.

“This is a heartbreaking occasion, but honoring these soldiers is the right thing to do, and we commemorate and mourn together,” Aaron Rosenfeld, interim executive director of the Deal JCC, told NJ Jewish News.

Rabbi Gordon Yaffe, religious leader of Temple Beth El in Oakhurst and one of the organizers of the service, said the deaths of Regev and Goldwasser merited a coming together of the county’s Jewish community.

“We are part of the worldwide Jewish family,” Yaffe told NJJN before the service. “When one hurts, we all hurt, and as Jews in the United States, we mourn when the rights of other Jews are obliterated. I hope that as we pray, reflect, and feel each other’s presence, we’ll find a measure of peace and comfort.”

Prayer also serves as a source of unity and guidance, Rabbi Cy Stanway, religious leader of Temple Beth Miriam in Elberon, told NJJN.

“Through our prayers, we can recognize the quiet dignity with which Israel brought back the two soldiers,” he said. “We know that prayer helped the families of these men to keep hope alive during two long years. But now, they sit shiva and accept consolation from Jews all over the world.”

He also offered a prayer for the Israeli state.

“Israel never forgot the values upon which it was founded,” said Stanway. “It is the living embodiment of the Jewish soul, which seeks to build, not destroy. We pray for the day when Israel will no longer have to mourn the loss of its young sons and daughters.”

‘Shattered peace’

The power of prayer also was echoed by Howard Gases, the federation’s executive director, as he recited passages from the Psalms.

“For the Lord will not forsake his people, nor will God abandon God’s very own,” Gases read. “Justice will yet be accorded to the righteous; there is a future for the upright in heart.”

Rabbi Nasanayl Braun, religious leader of Congregation Brothers of Israel in Long Branch, translated part of the painful eulogy spoken by Karnit Goldwasser at the funeral of her husband (the couple was married 10 months before his 2006 abduction).

“Time has stopped. They say time heals. Is it so? The worst of all moments has sliced like a knife,” said Braun, as he translated Karnit Goldwasser’s words for those at the memorial service. “The struggle to bring you back was a long one — two years of pain, hope, and despair. I hoped it was a bad dream and it was bad. But it was not a dream.”

Goldwasser’s wife also spoke of her husband’s love and patriotism, Braun said.

“That morning when you were taken, you went to serve your country, and you never questioned your purpose,” the rabbi translated. “Your voice was loving and all-consuming. Our lives should have continued, full of special moments. You are still my life partner, and you will continue to be my inner voice.”

Love and honor to one’s country often exact a heavy personal price, said Rabbi Kenneth Greene, religious leader of the Freehold Jewish Center/Congregation Agudath Achim, as he led the Mourners’ Kaddish.

“Peace has been shattered in our hearts,” said Greene, as the prayer ended. “But one day, we’ll become whole again.”

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