Thousands gathered today at the levayah of Yosef Eisental z”l, 14, after he was tragically killed during a protest against Israel’s draft law in Yerushalayim, when he was struck by a bus.
The levayah departed from the courtyard of Ohel Torah Yeshiva in the Ramot neighborhood, where Yosef learned. Among those who delivered hespeidim were roshei yeshiva and family members, who spoke of a boy whose brief life left a deep imprint on all who knew him.
But it was the words of Yosef’s father, Rabbi Shmuel Eisenthal, that pierced the hearts of the crowd and left scarcely a dry eye.
“Hashem gave and Hashem has taken, may the Name of Hashem be blessed from now and forever,” the grieving father began. “Yossi—our Yossi—was a precious son to me, a child of delight. A delight in Torah, a delight in his character, a delight in his warm countenance, in a smile that never faded.”
Rabbi Eisenthal shared moments from Yosef’s childhood that revealed his son’s extraordinary sensitivity and generosity. At just six years old, he recalled, Yosef once went out with his mother holding 20 shekels meant for treats. On the way, he noticed a poor man asking for charity. “He couldn’t bear it,” his father said. “He told his mother, ‘I want to give all the money to tzedakah.’”
He described how Yosef would return from special learning programs and distribute every candy he received to his family without keeping any for himself. When he began learning Gemara, his father said, Yosef’s joy in understanding was unmistakable. “What a pleasure it was to learn with you,” he said. “You wouldn’t give up until everything was clear.”
Rabbi Eisenthal spoke of winter Friday nights when Yosef, still new to the demanding schedule of yeshiva learning, would insist on cutting the family meal short so he could return to the beis medrash. “If the meal wasn’t finished, you would bentch and get up to learn,” he said.
In recent months, Yosef had entered yeshiva as a full-fledged bochur and was filled with happiness at the progress he was making. He would come home, his father recounted, and if a sugya was unclear, he would ask, “Abba, do you want to learn?” relishing the moment when everything finally made sense.
During Chanukah, Yosef shared that he had taken upon himself to complete Maseches Bava Basra ten times. When his father asked how that was possible, Yosef replied simply, “It’s not a problem,” and asked for a Gemara he could take with him on the road. “You didn’t yet merit to finish Bava Basra in this world,” Rabbi Eisenthal said softly, “but in the World of Truth you will have great rabbanim. How you worked, how you yearned to know and to learn.”
He spoke of how beloved Yosef was—by his sisters, his mother, his family, and his friends—how they all waited eagerly for the “free Shabbos” when he was meant to come home this week. “It’s so hard to speak of you in the past tense,” he said. “In truth, we can speak of you in the present. Your body is no longer here, but your neshamah will be with us every day, every hour, showing us what it means to love Torah and to love another Jew.”
Rabbi Eisenthal said, “The Ribbono Shel Olam decreed this decree. Everyone feels this was a communal korban. So many tears have been shed by Klal Yisrael. But we must be careful not to ask ‘why.’ We do not ask why. It is forbidden to ask why. We say thank You. Thank You for the 14 years You entrusted us with such a neshamah. We return to You a pure neshamah, one who left this world in the midst of a mitzvah.”
He told the crowd that while no words can truly comfort bereaved parents, his consolation would be if each person present—family members, yeshiva students, neighbors—would take upon themselves a small, realistic commitment. “Not something big,” he emphasized, “but something small that can endure. Then we will know this was truly a perfect offering.”
In the most wrenching moments of the hesped, Rabbi Eisenthal turned directly to his son. “Yossi, our Yossi, you are ascending before the Kisei Hakavod. You are closer than anyone. Tear open the gates of Heaven. Be a melitz yosher for me, that Hashem give me the strength to withstand this test. Pray for your mother, who invested everything in you, physically and spiritually, from the day you were born. Be an advocate for your sisters, who loved and cherished you so deeply.”
He continued, “Be an advocate for little Dovid, whom you were so happy was born, and whom we hoped you would be a model for. I promise you—we will teach him who you were and what you were. Tear open the gates of Heaven for the entire family, for your grandparents, for all the בני הישיבה, for all of Klal Yisrael.”
His voice broke as he concluded with a plea that echoed through the crowd: “Be a meilitz yosher for the world of yeshivos, that no one disturb it in its Torah learning. How much this pained you in recent months—how it hurt you to see Jewish bochurim thrown into prison. May Hashem help that ‘death be swallowed forever, and Hashem wipe away tears from every face.’ Yossi—we will merit to see you again soon, at the resurrection of the dead.”
{Matzav.com}
The Yerushalayim Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday extended by nine days the detention of the bus driver suspected of running over and killing yeshiva bochur Yosef Eisental z”l, during last night’s protest in the capital.
During the remand hearing, Judge Sharon Lary-Babli reviewed police video footage documenting the moments leading up to the fatal incident. When the driver’s attorney argued that his client did not notice the protesters ahead of him or felt endangered and fled the scene out of fear, the judge sharply rejected the claim.
“Tell me he didn’t see them. He didn’t see them? Twenty children are standing right in front of him,” the judge said from the bench.
Describing what is visible in the footage, Judge Lary-Babli said that several youths climbed onto the bus, kicked the protective barrier, and that one of them spat at the driver. In response, she said, the driver accelerated sharply. “At that stage, the driver begins driving at a very high speed as the youth falls from the bus, while dozens of young people standing in front of the bus are pushed aside by it,” she stated.
“I do not believe that driving rapidly into a crowd is the correct option,” the judge added. “The victim is the deceased, not the driver.”
A police representative at the hearing highlighted the severity of the incident, noting that investigators are carrying out approximately 39 additional investigative actions. “The very high level of dangerousness posed by the suspect is evident given the offense and the brazenness of charging toward a crowd of teenagers,” she told the court. While police have, at this stage, removed the suspicion of murder, they emphasized that suspicion of another serious offense has been strengthened.
Yerushalayim District Police Commander Superintendent Avshalom Peled also commented on the incident, saying the intersection where the tragedy occurred remained open to traffic as a designated “fabric-of-life” route. He noted that the driver’s claim of distress is being examined, but stressed that it “does not diminish the severity of the incident.”
{Matzav.com}
