Translation by Yehoshua Siskin
"Shalom Sivan, My name is Yael Steiner. Today is the first anniversary of the passing of my father-in-law, Aryeh Even, who was the first corona casualty in Israel. A year ago we did not want to speak with the media, but now we do.
Aryeh was secular, his son (my husband) became religiously observant, and we identify as Chasidic. After a year of division between the secular and religious in Israel in the shadow of the corona, I think there is good reason to say something about Aryeh.
Aryeh was a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Israel from Hungary, settled on a kibbutz, and served in the air force. He did not know much about Judaism. He remembered only that his grandfather called bread 'hamotzi' and knew how to recite the alef-beit with Chasidic intonation.
Ostensibly, a big gap should have opened between father and son, but no. The opposite occurred. Aryeh was a much beloved father and grandfather. My husband was closely attached to him and would visit him several times a week. Ever so slowly, Aryeh softened in his relationship towards how we lived. For example, he began to answer 'Amen' to our blessings and those of his grandchildren, and that was deeply moving.
In our last visit to the nursing home, with all the grandchildren, we did not know that this would be our final meeting. He ordered us a kosher pizza with the highest kosher certification, as he was always strict about doing. Always with a smile, with concern, with love. He passed away on Shabbat, alone. We could not be by his side because of the corona restrictions.
One of the precious memories I recall is from the last winter of his life. Again, we did not know that he would soon be leaving us. My husband and I were walking in the rain that was pouring down. Suddenly my husband was reminded of a joke that someone had told him. He felt compelled just when the rain was at its peak to telephone his father in order to tell him the joke. I remember telling him that his phone would get wet, but he simply was unable to restrain himself, and his excitement rubbed off on me.
May these words elevate the soul of Aryeh ben Franz Efraim, the first corona casualty, and memorialize all the other corona victims, with a fervent hope that the most recent corona victim will also be the last."
