JERUSALEM, Israel – A rabbi, husband and father who lost three family members in a terror attack is following this tragedy meant for evil with something good. He’s given what has been called “the ultimate gift of life” to others.
As mourners sang at the funeral of his wife Lucy, Rabbi Leo Dee, the husband and father of three terror victims, grieved at losing her. He also chose to be thankful, even as he had attended the funeral of two of his daughters, Maia and Karin, just two days earlier.
“On Sunday (during his daughters’ funeral), I talked about looking at the good. Lucy, I have a choice: I could lament over the next 25 years of marriage that I’ve lost, but I actually feel blessed to have had 25 years of a beautiful marriage with you,” he said, in the presence of the mourners.
Tragedy struck at the beginning of Passover, when terrorists fired on a car carrying Lucy Dee and her daughters as they headed to a family vacation.
Maia and Karin died immediately, while Lucy lived three more days.
Rabbi Dee recalled, “Lucy had two bullets, one through her brainstem and one lodged to the top of her spine. There was (an) operation, there was reason for hope, but alas, a family of seven is now a family of four.”
He praised his wife at her funeral. “Your light has travelled across all of humanity in an instant. You held on so we could honor you individually and give you a unique send-off for a unique soul., a soul that has changed and will continue to change so many lives. May your soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life.”
As a final tribute, the rabbi donated Lucy’s organs to save the lives of others. Doctors transplanted her heart, liver, and kidneys to four patients in need. Dr. Eytan Wirtheim, the C.E.O. at Beilinson Hospital near Tel Aviv, called organ donation the “ultimate gift of life for the recipients.”
He said in a statement, “Our hearts break for the Dee family, who suffered an unimaginable loss, and yet, during their darkest hour, they thought about how Lucy could continue to help others by donating her organs so that these individuals can have a renewed sense of life.”
The Dee family immigrated to Israel from the U.K. in 2014. Rabbi Dee sees a greater need now to remain, and he called on Israelis to unite, and the world to support Israel.
At Lucy’s funeral, he exhorted, “If we support the good and reject the evil, then we can all play our part in building a better world.”
He then asked everyone to take a symbolic stand: “So make today Dee’s day, just share a post with an Israeli flag and let the message help. If we differentiate between good and evil, then we can all help make this world a better place. Do it for your soul, do it for the souls of Maia, Rina and Lucy Dee, do it for all of humanity and do it now; it has never been more urgent.”
So far, nearly 10,000 people have tweeted their support, many others have posted on other social media.
Meanwhile, Israeli security forces remain on high alert against the possibility of more attacks, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to find the terrorists and hold them accountable.
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