Page 40 - HaMizrachi Shavuot 5783 USA

From Moav and the UK

to the Hills of Beit Lechem

In Memory of Lucy Dee hy”d

Rabbanit Shani Taragin

early a month has passed since with friends at the annual Women’s Beit reflected upon Lucy as “a phenomenal
that fateful Friday of Chol Midrash shiur and breakfast with tears in teacher, making it into a mission to teach
HaMoed Pesach when Lucy (Leah) her eyes, appreciative of the opportunity English and invest in her students. She
NDee (48), from the Zayit neigh- to learn and celebrate only a few miles never spoke lashon hara. If she didn’t agree,
borhood in Efrat and an olah (immigrant) from our cherished city. she wouldn’t argue but remain quiet.”
from the United Kingdom, was critically As I think of Lucy and remember her Caroline Peyser-Bollag, a family friend,
injured in a terror attack near the Hamra together with her close friends and neigh- remarked, “Lucy was always interested in
junction in the Jordan Valley on her way bors, I am struck by numerous remark- making holiday celebrations fun for her
to Teveriya. Terrorists fired on the car she able parallels between Lucy and another family. She loved connecting with people
was driving and then shot over 20 bullets mother from the hills of Beit Lechem: Ruth. and joining together to celebrate. Lucy
at close range, killing her daughters Maia Both Ruth and Lucy left their homelands, would love to hear or share a dvar Torah
(20) and Rina (15), who were in the car their birthplace and their families to come and then think together about how she
with her. Lucy was evacuated by military to the fields of Judea. They were not raised could turn it into a conversation starter to
helicopter to Hadassah Medical Center as observant Jews, but both Ruth and Lucy engage her kids at the Shabbat table. She
in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, despite the pursued lives of Torah observance. At the put a lot of thought into her parenting and
heroic efforts of the medical team, she shiva, the daughter of the Chabad rebbetzin into providing her children with enrich-
succumbed to her wounds three days later who taught Lucy many years ago spoke ing and meaningful experiences.” Valerie
and was laid to rest next to her daughters about Lucy’s unusual curiosity and com- Pessin described her as an “extraordinary
in Kfar Etzion, across the road from my mitment at the young age of twelve! hands-on mother” who was, in Elana
home in Alon Shvut. Thousands attended Abelow-Kronenberg’s words, “idealistic,
her funeral, alternating between songs Having studied Asian and Near-Eastern an incredible wife and an extraordinary
and sobs. The heart-wrenching eulogies of Studies at Oxford, Lucy lived in Japan for
her husband, Rabbi Leo Dee, and her sur- a year while keeping Shabbat and kashrut, friend.”
viving children, Keren, Tali and Yehuda, and later traveled the world with her hus- Rena May-Juni shared how touched she
will not soon be forgotten. band Leo. She served as rebbetzin of the was when Lucy proactively reached out
communities of Hendon and Radlett, and and befriended her soon after her Aliyah.
When tragedy strikes here in Eretz Yis- like Ruth the Moabite, her priority was “Lucy craved deep friendships and worked
rael, we feel the pain on a personal level;
every Jew is a family member. But certain her family and their well-being, instilling tirelessly to maintain these friendships,
losses hit even closer to home. I had the in her children the values of Torat chessed. despite our busy lives as mothers and
merit to learn regularly with Lucy since Like Ruth, Lucy taught through example professional women.”
she made Aliyah in 2014, through shiurim and devotion. Rachel Wilk, a close friend Ruth was willing to sacrifice her past to
offered by the Women’s Beit Midrash of of Lucy’s, said that Leo and Lucy insisted provide Naomi with a future. Not only
Efrat and Gush Etzion. She assiduously their children not only adjust to Israel did she enable Naomi to safely return to
took notes so as not to miss a single word, but also become contributors to Israeli the Land, but she also provided her with
and after each shiur would wait to say society, in shul, school, and especially in a child through Boaz to perpetuate her
“thank you” and explain how that shiur their youth organizations. Lucy modeled family. Like Ruth, Lucy left her homeland
would change her perspective and actions this way of life by regularly attending shul and became a vibrant member of Am
going forward. Bumping into each other with her four daughters and organizing Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael, committed to her
in the supermarket, we would continue community events and shiurim. family and community in the same hills of
our Torah discussions in the fruit and Lucy organized the weekly Shabbat shiur Yehuda. Both had struggles yet remained
vegetable aisles. As Yom Yerushalayim in the Zayit. Her long-time “shiur chavruta” focused on building, surviving and thriv-
approaches, I recall how she would sit and next-door neighbor, Annie Pomerantz, ing with relentless dedication.

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