Volume 67, Issue 3

Har Etzion Alumni at Yeshiva Remember a Dear Friend
by Zev Nagel

His parents named him after Yoni Netanyahu, killed leading the successful Entebbe rescue on July 4, 1976, that saved the lives of 104 hijacked hostages.  Netanyahu died a national hero, immortalized a legend for his commitment to the Jewish people.  Like his namesake, Yoni Jesner, killed on September 20th, 2002 in a terrorist bombing in Tel Aviv, will be remembered for the remarkable impression he made on everyone who knew him and his dedication to the land and the people of Israel.

On the Thursday before the eve of Sukkot, Yoni Jesner, 19, boarded the number 4 bus in the heart of Tel Aviv.  A Palestinian terrorist stepped onto the bus and blew himself up, ultimately killing Yoni and five other passengers.

Yoni, a future medical student on deferred admission from a prominent London medical school, attended Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush) located south of Jerusalem in Gush Etzion.  This marked his second year studying in Israel, after growing up in Glasgow, Scotland, hardly a landmark on the map of Diaspora communities.  His having received permission to defer a second year from medical school testified to his tremendous uniqueness; generally British institutions of higher learning do not grant second year deferments.

For those of us who knew Yoni personally, his death came as a shock.  Yoni had a certain aura, one that cannot be described in any shape or form, but that will remain reserved to those of us who had the privilege to know him.  The usage of privilege here should not be taken casually.  Ask any student on the Yeshiva campus who attended Har Etzion last year and he will provide you with countless anecdotes and stories about Yoni, each with a smile and considerable admiration.

Briefly put, Yoni epitomized the guy that everyone aspired to become.  “Enemy,” had no function in his vocabulary and his charismatic personality allowed him to make friends with even the most shy of students.  The grin which he wore each morning to the Beis Midrash brightened everyone’s day.

Occupying a prominent seat at the entrance to the Beis Midrash, Yoni had the opportunity to see everyone entering.  This allowed him to extend a hearty good morning to all and ask them how their day was going.  Students could always be found schmoozing with him, waiting for that predictable moment when he would crack a joke.  Dov Huff, a sophomore at Yeshiva College recounts Yoni’s most impressive feature being, “his ability to prevent his popularity from interfering with his intense devotion to learning Torah.”

Generally, students from the United Kingdom come to the yeshiva with a weaker background in Torah studies.  Yoni, despite the stereotype, defied all expectations and quickly moved up to higher level shuirim.  Joel Jerozolim, a semicha student at Rabbi Issac Elchanan Theological Seminary, having studied at Har Etzion last year remembers, “Yoni was always sitting in the back of the Beis Midrash using his dictionary to look up every single word he didn’t know, plugging away at the gemara, completely unstoppable.”

Yoni’s dedication to his learning became legendary and it surprised no one that when the Beis Midrash was unoccupied, Yoni could be found learning there with intense devotion, making up for those who could not be there.  “The amazing thing about Yoni,” said Alexander Chester, a friend of Yoni at Har Etzion, “was that he was the biggest comedian in yeshiva but he took learning more seriously than anyone else.”

Yoni’s far-reaching impact on people had roots in his years as a leader of Bnei Akiva in his hometown of Glasgow, Scotland.  Yoni shared with them his knowledge and passion for Torah and Israel, as his brother Ari Jesner said during his eulogy, “It was your love of Israel and Judaism that brought you here to study and it is here you now rest.”

A final anecdote will truly bring Yoni’s monumental character to light.  Gideon Black, Yoni’s cousin, who was also on the bus the morning of the bombing but thankfully survived the attack, recounted the following story.  Before leaving Jerusalem the morning of the bombing, Yoni asked Black to wait while he returned a pen he mistakenly had taken from a downtown Jerusalem store while signing a check there a few weeks earlier.  Black described the pen as an inexpensive one, a pen which certainly the store would not have missed.  Yoni had kept the pen in his pocket during the trip hoping for the possibility that his outing would take him past that store.  Indeed he did pass the store and ran in to drop off the pen prior to departing to Tel Aviv.  This commitment to mitzvoth ben adam lechavero – between fellow man – defined Yoni Jesner.

Condolences can be sent to the Jesner family by writing to Yoni@etzion.org.il.  A lecture in memory of Yoni Jesner hy”d is being prepared for later in the month.

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