“With that chein and smile, by taking three seconds to say good morning, he made an impact that was remembered years later”
Taken just moments before the disaster unfolded, the delighted smile of Donny Morris z”l — framed by the multitudes who’d come to Meron — captures the before-and-after nature of what happened more than any other.
That smile, says Rabbi Noam Koenigsberg, his rebbi in Yeshivat Sha’alvim, was a fixture, evidence of a nature that radiated happiness. “He was such fun to talk to. As one of Donny’s friends pointed out, he even managed to smile while eating yeshivah-supplied wafers at our weekly gathering. Most people can’t do that. There was someone who had an emotionally difficult Elul who used to initiate conversations with Donny just because he knew that he’d feel better after.”
Underneath the perma-smile that he showed the world was a teen with a refined character and sensitive nature, focused on inner growth.
“At the beginning of the year, the boys were brainstorming for the four goals that we should be focusing on in the shiur,” says Rabbi Koenigsberg. “Donny stood up and said, ‘Wait a minute, you’ve missed the most important one: middos. When we come home at the end of the year, we won’t be discussing Abaye and Rava with our parents, so how are they going to see that we’ve changed if not our derech eretz?’ That was voted in thanks to Donny.”
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