Volume 67, Issue 4  

In Brief…

Memorial Service Commemorates Life of Yoni Jesner 

On Sunday, October 20th, a memorial service took place for Yonatan Jesner HY”D, a victim of the Erev Sukkos Tel Aviv bus bombing.  Yoni, a Scottish citizen, was killed at the age of 19 while attending his second year in Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush).

A number of Har Etzion alumni in America and in Yeshiva who knew Yoni personally remarked that during the time following Yoni’s death that there had been little opportunity to get together as a group to reflect on his short yet inspiring life.  Although several such gatherings were arranged in Israel, no program was planned in the United States.  Yeshiva College junior Eli Cohn, a friend of Yoni’s, therefore, took the initiative to coordinate an event with Har Etzion and arranged for the hespedim to be broadcast over the Internet.

The program began with a brief multimedia synopsis of Yoni’s life and its tragic ending.  Next, there was an hour and a half video presentation of the memorial service that took place earlier in the day in the Beis Midrash of Yeshivat Har Etzion.  The program featured a number of speakers including Rav Aharon Lichtenstein and Rav Yehuda Amital, the Roshei HaYeshiva of Har Etzion.  Additional speakers included Yoni’s father, as well as Har Etzion rabbeim Rabbi Moshe Taragin and Rabbi Mordechai Friedman.

Over 65 people attended the Belfer Hall service.  Those attending included friends of Yoni who attended Har Etzion with him as well as those that never met him.  There were students from other universities in attendance as well.  Jeremy Stern, a freshman at Brandeis University said, “It was really important for me to take the opportunity to get together with others that are sharing the same pain of losing Yoni.  It makes coping with the tragedy just a little easier.”  Eli Isak 

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