Rabbi Achiad Ettinger Hy”d was murdered in a tragic terrorist attack. Friends and colleagues recall a life dedicated to Torah and imbued with mesirus nefesh on behalf of Am Yisrael
Photos: Flash90
P
urim was in the air at the kindergartens in Eli, a relatively young community of 950 families located in the Shomron-Binyamin region. But elsewhere, the adults were all too aware that they had just lost one of the town’s finest Torah scholars, Rabbi Achiad Ettinger Hy”d.
During the painful shivah week, neighbors and friends — as well as politicians and other public figures — streamed to the Ettinger home to offer words of consolation to the new widow, Tamar, and her 12 orphaned children, aged one year to 21. The mourners received much love and many hugs and gifts, but nothing will bring back their father — a person widely admired by his community and large circle of acquaintances.
“The Ettinger family came to us directly from south Tel Aviv,” says Michal Weisel, the town’s spokesperson and absorption coordinator. “Rabbi Ettinger was doing amazing work there in the run-down neighborhoods. He established a yeshivah that quickly became a beacon of Torah and avodas Hashem. But when his children grew older, it became vital to find them suitable schools. He chose our town, and they arrived here three years ago. Rabbi Ettinger would travel to Tel Aviv each day — no matter the weather — to his yeshivah, Yeshivat Oz V’Emunah.
“My husband was his chavrusa,” she adds. “He marveled all the time about Rabbi Ettinger’s refinement, his diligence, and his hasmadah. He was a real talmid chacham, a lamdan, with true diligence.”
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