Rabbi Shay Schachter of Young Israel of Woodmere and Rabbi Efrem Goldberg of the Boca Raton Synagogue visited Rabbi Leo Dee in Efrat this week while on tour to Israel.
In a tragedy, a terrorist strike in the Jordan Valley on April 7th claimed the lives of Rabbi Dee’s wife L,ucy, and his children M, aia, and Rina HY”D.
Arutz Sheva cointerviewedith Rabbi Goldberg and Rabbi Scachter regarding their visit.
The press coverage of the first funeral and the horrific event that occurred “rocked the entire Jewish world,” according to Rabbi Goldberg.
“I was astonished when Rabbi Dee mentioned attending my lectures at the first funeral. He invoked my name, even though I had never met him and had no memory of ever interacting with him.
This so moved me that I broke down in tears at the thought that this Jewish tragedy, to which every Jew in the world who has a heartbeat feels connected, also happened to me, even though we had never met.
On his blog, Rabbi Goldberg explained why he felt compelled to see the Dee family: “What was different this time? Was it my ego, pride, and respect that he recognized me publicly at such a difficult time? It kept niggling at me.
“After arriving, I went to the shiva house where I had planned to see Rabbi Shay Schachter, a great friend and colleague.
Many attendees of Shiva informed Rabbi Schachter that Rav Leo was citing him and referencing how much he enjoyed listening to his lectures.
We planned our arrival and visited so Rabbi Schachter and I could meet this unique individual in person.
“I had several people from the community in Efrat who had contacted me; they were texting me, they were sending emails saying that Rabbi Dee kept quoting things and saying how he had been studying with me for ten years,” Rabbi Schachter stated. Rabbi Goldberg and I felt that we had no other place to be different than here,” he explains.
“His [students] came up to me and stated that every day when they study before they begin, he always recounts something from a recent year.
On Tuesday on Yom HaShoah, the Rabbis recalled being with the Dee family when the sirens rang.
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