Obituaries

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U.P. Air Crash Kills 4 In Family

Chicago area man and three teen Israeli granddaughters perish, boy injured.

JTA, Haaretz, Chicago Tribune and other
wire sources.

A

Israeli-born resident of Skokie,
Ill., was killed along with three
of his Israeli granddaughters
when the private plane he was pilot-
ing crashed after takeoff from the St.
Ignace airport. The plane broke in half
and landed near I-75, just past the run-
way north of the Mackinac Bridge. A
grandson, also from Israel, was ejected
from the plane and survived with severe
burns.
Moshe Menora, 73, a native of Haifa
and a former Israel Defense Forces pilot
who had immigrated to the United
States, had taken four of his grandchil-
dren, who were visiting from Israel,
on a daytrip July 13 from Chicago to
Mackinac Island. Heading back from the
Mackinac airport, he stopped for refuel-
ing at the nearby St. Ignace airport and
crashed moments after taking off for
Illinois.

Also killed were granddaugh-
ters Sara Klein, 17, Rebecca
"Rikki" Menora, 16, and Rachel
Menora, 14. Grandson Natanial
"Yossi" Menora, 13, was in criti-
cal condition with burns over
half his body at the University of
Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor.
Sholom Menora, Menora's son
and the father of Rikki, Rachel
and Yossi, said the plane split
Moshe Menora, 73, and his granddaughters Sara Klein, 17, Rebecca Menora, 16, and Rachel
in half. The girls were in the
Menora, 14. (Photos chicagobreakingnews.com )
front half and Yossi was in the
rear. The Israeli daily Haaretz
can act as an observer on the American
who is in the army, told Haaretz, "Every
reported that a fire broke out in the
investigation team, reports Haaretz.
time
we
went
to
the
States,
we
would
cabin of the six-passenger twin engine
Just hours after the accident, Chesed
fly
with
[our
grandfather].
I
was
never
Beechcraft Baron Model 58.
Shel
Emes flew a team of five volunteers
scared.
I
loved
flying
with
him.
It's
safe
Rikki, Rachel and Yossi were from
from
Brooklyn, Queens and Monsey, N.Y.,
to
assume
that
if
I
were
there,
I
would
Bet Shemesh, Israel. Klein, the daughter
to
the
crash site, arriving in Michigan
have
been
on
that
plane."
of Menora's oldest daughter, was from
at
3:15
a.m. Wednesday morning.
The
crash
is
under
investigation
by
the
Jerusalem.
Beginning
at noon, they worked for more
Federal
Aviation
Administration
and
the
Menora was born in Haifa and had
than
three
hours
collecting the remains,
National
Transportation
Safety
Board.
As
lived in the United States for 52 years.
which
were
sent
to
Israel for burial.
the
victims
are
Israeli
citizens,
a
represen-
He worked in real estate.
Chevra
Kadisha
of
Detroit assisted.
tative
of
Israel's
Transportation
Ministry
Another grandson, Yehuda Menora, •

Revered Rabbi

Kobi Nahshon
Ynet news

T

housands came to mourn Rabbi
Yehuda Amital, a revered yeshi-
vah head and leader of the
moderate camp of religious Zionism.
Rabbi Amital, 85, who led the Har
Etzion hesder yeshivah and founded
the Meimad movement, died in his
Jerusalem home July 9 after a long ill-
ness.
Rabbi Amital was one of the promi-
nent leaders of the "Gushniki" stream,
which is considered moderate in reli-
gious Zionism.
Rabbi Amital was a Holocaust sur-
vivor who immigrated to Israel at age
16 and studied at the ultra-Orthodox
Hebron yeshivah. He received rabbini-
cal ordination from Rabbi Isser Zalman
Meltzer, one of the great Torah scholars
of the 20th century, and later married
his granddaughter.
Following his father-in-law, Rabbi
Zvi Yehuda Meltzer, who was appointed
Rehovot's head rabbi, Amital moved to
the city and studied at the Southern

1995 to mid-1996. After
Yeshivah, where he came up
retiring
from politics, he
with the idea of hesder yeshi-
resumed
his work in the
vahs. He then served as head
field
of
education.
of the Har Etzion yeshivah
Amital was married to
together with Rabbi Aharon
Miriam
and was survived
Lichtenstein.
by
his
five
children and
The Har Etzion yeshivah
many
grandchildren
and
is affiliated with a politi-
great-grandchildren.
cal and religious viewpoint
After hearing of his
that is an antithesis to the
death,
Israeli President
doctrine of Rabbi Abraham
Shimon
Peres sent a letter
Yitzhak Cook, which most
Rabbi Yehuda Amital
of
condolences
to Rabbi
religious Zionists follow.
Amital's
family.
While the yeshivah's rabbis
"With the passing of
include prominent right-
Rabbi
Yehuda
Amital,
the Jewish people
ists, it is considered to have left-wing
have
lost
a
great
teacher
and man who
tendencies; and many of its students are
led
to
the
paths
of
wisdom:'
Peres wrote.
young Americans, including members of
"Rabbi
Amital
was
an
example
to the
the Modern Orthodox movement, who
people
and
a
leader
that
won
its
trust
spend a few years studying in Israel.
When Amital reached age 80, he asked wherever he turned — as a soldier, as
a yeshivah head, as a minister in Israel
the yeshivah's management to elect and
and as a political leader. The depths
ordain his successors, in order to avoid
power struggles and future division. Two of his wisdom also made him a unify-
ing force in a divided people. We will
years ago he retired from his position.
remember him with love and admira-
As part of his political activity, the
tion, and we will honor his unique
rabbi served as minister without port-
legacy. Blessed be his memory."
folio for a short time from the end of

Prime Mininster Benjamin Netanyahu
expressed his deep sorrow, saying that
"Rabbi Amital, who fought in the War of
Independence, is an example for all of us
of the love of Israel:'
Rabbi Amital was born in
Transylvania, Hungary, in 1924. In 1944,
with the Nazi occupation, Amital was
taken to a labor camp where he spent
eight months.
He was liberated in October that year;
but his parents, brothers and sister were
murdered in the Holocaust. That same
year, he immigrated to the Land of
Israel.
In an interview at Yad Vashem, Amital
said the Holocaust led him to help in the
establishment of the Southern Yeshivah
in Rehovot and serve as head of the hes-
der yeshivah.
"I knew I had to take the place of
friends who didn't make it; this gave me
the strength to do something; he said.
"The fact that I am among the few that
remained, gave me strength. Otherwise I
wouldn't have taken the job upon myself.
I do not come from a home of rabbis
and leaders."

❑

Obituaries on page 74

Obituaries

July 22 • 2010

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