The funeral of Rabbi Haim Druckman, who died last night (Sunday) at the age of 90, ended in the afternoon in the center of Shapira. State officials paid tribute to the man who is considered the oldest rabbi of religious Zionism and one of its leaders, including President Herzog, Prime Minister-designate Netanyahu, Chief Rabbi Rabbi David Lau, and other rabbis. , members of Knesset and many public figures, as well as his daughter, son-in-law and grandson. At the end of the eulogies that took place in the Or Etzion yeshiva plaza, which was headed by Rabbi Druckman for about fifty years, the funeral march left for the nearby cemetery in Sho’ot Yitzchak, where the rabbi was buried in the presence of his immediate family only.
The eulogies were opened by the President of the State Yitzhak Herzog who said: “The Talmud tells of forty thousand students that Rabbi Akiva had, and all of them died between Passover and the assembly, because they did not respect each other. In these terrible moments, the Talmud says: ‘Let the world be silent’. And the Talmud continues and says, “Until Rabbi Akiva came, to our Rabbis in the south, and he taught them, the whole Torah anew.” In this Torah, in his new, deep, foundational Torah, of Rabbi Akiva, there was a great rule: “To love your neighbor as yourself is a great rule in the Torah.”
“Teachers and gentlemen, the people of Israel lost today, we all lost, on “this Hanukkah” – the day it is customary in Hasidism to see as the sealing of the sentence – one of the greatest rabbis of Israel and the greatest student of Rabbi Akiva in our generation: the one who miraculously survived the Nazi inferno, studied as a student at the Bnei Akiva yeshiva In Kfar Hara, he enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces as a member of the Bnei Akiva core, led as a guide a spiritual revolution in the Bnei Akiva movement, and served in recent decades as the head of yeshiva and studios of the Bnei Akiva: Rabbi Chaim Druckman, a righteous tzaddik for blessing.
“As the President of the State of Israel, and in the name of the people of Israel, I stand here humbly today, before your bed, Rabbi Druckman, before the bed of one whose mind is all love and faith. Love for the people of Israel, love for the Land of Israel, love for the Torah of Israel, will be enshrined in your heart. And beside them is the deep belief in redemption Israel, in the revival of the people of Israel in their country, and in our duty, of all of us, to be partners in the process of coming together of the people of Israel – to be partners in the building of the State of Israel. Your life was full of action, charged with a sense of mission, with a rare awareness of the weight of responsibility for the magnitude of the task and the time, and with a willingness to say, as Isaiah said The prophet: “Here I am, my messenger.”
“At every moment of your life, you carried on your shoulders the burden of leading the public, and gave your soul and strength for Klal Israel. Always attentive, always free, always listening. They were all your sons. They were all your students. You received them all, with attention, with hospitality Beautiful, with shining eyes. We met for the last time – how symbolic – at the “congregation” stage at the Western Wall. I saw you walking with weight and determination, and I remembered many dozens of meetings between our families and between us; in deep and inspiring conversations, in your room, surrounded by holy books, and talking about the people of Israel, About the love of Israel, about the State of Israel, about the challenges, about the opportunities.
“I learned quite a bit from you, from your complex, open concepts – more than what is perceived – inclusive, understanding, sensitive, which I sometimes regret that not all the public knew in depth. I learned from the way you loved every Jew regardless of who he was – from the greats of Israel and great leaders, to Geri Tzedek who sought to hide in the shadows Shekinah and you worked with all your might to welcome our people with love and sensitivity, from the people living in Zion to the last Diaspora Jew, and it doesn’t matter what group he is from among the people of Israel. You met everyone. You loved everyone.
“I learned, we all learned – from your perception of all the candles of the Jewish Hanukkah as “one candle” – a Hanukkah candle, according to Rabbi Kook ztzel. Torah came out of the Shapira Center, you placed thousands of students in this wonderful area, and you lived the Torah that you learned and studied.
“Even in complex moments, you knew how to find the right words, express your decisive positions, without canceling the other, without breaking the vessels. You made sure that your disagreements were for the sake of heaven. Your way is a candle to the feet of all of us, from your loving students, to those who disagreed with you. A way that sees you Man, every man, as a loved one created in the image; a way of Judaism that takes care of the light as well as the heavy and at the same time connects and brings closer; a way in which the story we all share – in the Jewish and democratic state – the beginning of the growth of our redemption – is always engraved on the tablet of our hearts.
“From your father, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda zt’al, you learned to walk in the way of Hillel, to be a lover of peace, a pursuer of peace, a lover of mankind and a sacrificer to the Torah. You made a significant contribution to bringing the parts of the people closer together, out of true love for Israel, and you were a magnet and a symbol of the Torah of the Land of Israel, as a Torah of Life, and a Torah of Action, which affects Israeli society in all its parts.
“Ten years ago, the State of Israel awarded you the Israel Prize, for a lifetime’s work and a special contribution to society and the country. This award brought to light, not only the recognition of your personality, but the call of direction and the hope that more generations of “Rabbi Drukmani” will arise who will continue and merge the Torah And the act, and living water was drawn from the deep wells you dug. Our teacher and rabbi, Rabbi Druckman, by your departure from us, we lost one of the sons and builders of the nation and the state, a giant in Torah and measurements, a tremendous leader, one of Aaron’s disciples.
“May you be an advocate of honesty, for your dear and beloved wife, for your magnificent family, for your many students, and for the entire nation of Israel. May your blessed soul be bundled in the bundle of life.”
After him, Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu rose to pay tribute: “Rabbi Chaim Druckman loved the Torah of Israel, the people of Israel and the Land of Israel. He was a beloved personal friend, who was very close to my heart. Rabbi Druckman was 12 years old when his foot first set foot on the soil of Israel, and at the age of 90 the rabbi was buried in the land of the homeland. In between, a rich tract of life was woven of pioneering fulfillment, missions for the common good, and walking as a pillar of fire at the head of the Zionist-religious camp.
“Rabbi Druckman invested his soul in every student, in every trainee, in the yeshiva, in the Bnei Akiva movement, in the military boarding school, in the settlement. Rabbi Druckman did not shy away from struggles for issues that are in the soul of the nation – the integrity of the land, national values, education for Jewish identity, the eradication of terrorism and ensuring the strength of the Israel Defense Forces “To.
“The rabbi always returned, and I had many conversations with him about this, to the main point of political sovereignty: H. Bayer 5588. He saw the declaration of independence as a major, defining event that changed the course of history: our own government, our own flag, our own army, our own economy, our own postcard collection. Rabbi Druckman’s heart expanded at the sight of all this, and therefore they also gave an audible exhortation: Do not look at the negation. Always look at the positive, because God willing we are making huge progress year after year.
“Rabbi Druckman was a man of unity. When he gave his first speech in the Knesset 38 years ago, he said: “Unity is the secret weapon of the people of Israel in the most difficult situations. Go gather all the Jews.” It is clear that it is impossible to agree on everything in Israel, but like him I hold the opinion that it is possible and necessary to form broad agreements around many fundamental issues that are at the core of our national existence. Rabbi Druckman lived an eternal life, a life aimed at securing the future of Israel – and in eternity Israel will be comforted. May his memory be blessed and his work be bundled in the bundle of life.”
Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the first of Zion and the chief rabbi of Jerusalem, came up to eulogize and said: “I remember my sins, and I bear true witness that all ten years I cannot stop marveling at this. He is greater than me in wisdom and number and deeds and he never did anything without consulting me and I consulted him , and when I told him it seemed this way to me or it seemed different to me according to my understanding of the halacha, he never changed even a hair’s breadth.
“Gentlemen, this is a special humility. I know what the great virtues are, and nowadays there are many priests and priests, but the virtue of humility, of simplicity that does not hold its own truth to its soul – a man who has reached the admiration of thousands and thousands of you Israel who bear his name with genius, love and great admiration, behaves with such simplicity , with such humility, lowliness of mind, I have never known anything like this before. This is a unique thing. There are things on which he had a clear opinion and he canceled his opinion. “.
The chairman of the “Religious Zionism” party, Bezalel Smotrich, said in his obituary, among other things: “What will our rabbi do? Without the love, without the smile, without the hug, without the warm handshake, without the encouragement, without the support, without the scolding, how many scoldings have I received from you in the last year and a half.”
The chief rabbi of the IDF, Rabbi Eil Karim, said in the eulogy at the yeshiva, before the funeral began, that “in these days, which unfortunately are characterized by a tendency towards division and extremism, we will greatly miss the enlightening figure of the rabbi, who managed almost until his last day to find the one who unites and unites the ranks.”
The funeral procession was led by the CEO of the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva Center and Studios – Elhanan Galt. The list of mourners:
1. State President Yitzhak Herzog.
2. Incoming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
3. The First Zionist and Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef.
4. The Chief Rabbi of Israel and President of the Great Rabbinical Court – Rabbi David Lau
5. The First Zion and Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem – Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar.
6. Rabbi Yaakov Ariel – former rabbi of the city of Ramat Gan, president of the Ramat Gan yeshiva.
7. Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed – head of Yeshiva Beit El.
8. Bezalel Smotrich – Chairman of Religious Zionism.
9. Yigal Klein – Secretary General of Bnei Akiva.
10. Adir Naaman – the head of the council, a family member and a graduate of the yeshiva high school.
11. Rabbi Shimon Lapid (the son-in-law of the rabbi, and head of the kollel in the High Yeshiva).
12. Rabbi Nachum Druckman (son of the Rabbi. Representative of the Rabbis)
13. Elisha Lapid (the eldest grandson of the rabbi. representative of the grandchildren)
