Rabbi Mordechai (Motti) Gerber, late - resident of Elad, 27 years old, married and father of a 3-year-old child, student of the 'Chachmei Lublin' yeshiva.
The groom, the late Yitzhak Samet, is an 18-year-old resident of Jerusalem and a student at the 'Toldot Aharon' yeshiva.
Both of them came, along with tens of thousands, on the evening of the first holiday of Passover to Bnei Brak, to participate in the funeral and pay their last respects to the Maran Posk Hador, the author of "Shevat Levi," whose soul ascended to the Ganzei Meromim on the night of the Seder, a short time after the night of the consecration of the holiday.
They arrived at the funeral on foot, safe and sound, and were crushed to death by a crowd of mourners, while on the way back they were carried on a stretcher to eternal rest from which they would never return.
The memory of Maran Posk Hador, the great Rabbi of the generation, Rabbi Wasner, will be engraved in the annals of Haredi Judaism until the end of all generations, the 'Yeshiva of the Sages of Lublin' which he founded and headed, hundreds and thousands of comprehensive halachic rulings from all areas of life that were sent to his residence from the four corners of the globe, some of which have already been printed and some of which will see the light of day.
Memory albums from all the stages of his life and chroma pages from his 'history' will be distributed by agile entrepreneurs; memorial and awakening rallies will be organized in city squares; in cities and haredi concentrations, streets will not be neglected to be paved to perpetuate his memory.
Even existing streets, bearing the names of wildflowers and wild plants, will be transformed in the dead of night into 'Shevat HaLevi' Street. In the next century, every Passover Eve, the editors of newspapers, weeklies, monthlies and magazines will not forget to embellish their newspapers and dedicate 'color columns'; generous people will spend their fortunes to establish yeshivas, kollels and Torah talmudic schools that will proudly bear the name of the Maran Posk of the generation, who departed in good health and at an advanced age, leaving the world of Halacha an orphan.
Because this is how one should honor a people who have lost one of their spiritual shepherds.
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Mordechai Gerber left behind a broken widow and a three-year-old child for whom the word 'father' is no longer relevant. A child who will not get to lick letters with honey in his father's presence at the age of five, a child who will know for his entire life that there is a concept called 'father', but he will never understand what it means.
Yitzhak Samet, who was blessed with the opportunity to sign the 'Tannaim' document on his engagement day, but will never be able to attend his wedding. His parents, who in their minds saw themselves leading their son to the wedding, instead led him to a wedding of bricks, dirt, and marble.
While it is true that 'the whole nation was mistaken', we are left with no choice but to have a moral and ethical obligation to triple the commemoration of Maran's memory in one breath with the memory of the two killed.
A proposal is currently taking shape to establish a state/municipal/interior ultra-Orthodox investigative committee that will sit on the dock and investigate the funeral events. Its mission is to find those responsible, draw lessons, and most importantly, amend regulations and draw lessons so that such incidents will not happen again.
Even if those responsible are found guilty, even if lessons are learned, and even if regulations are amended - none of this will return Mordechai Gerber to the bosom of his family and his young child, nor Yitzhak Samet to the bosom of his parents.
If we want to give comfort, it is only a promise from public officials that 'their memory will not be forgotten by us.'.
I would recommend that the 'Investigation Committee' ensure that every Torah book, booklet, album that is to see the light of day, every newspaper, weekly, monthly and magazine that dedicates and perpetuates the memory of Maran Baal Shevat Halevi, Z.A., will not ignore those crushed to death who ascended to heaven with him.
The investigation committee will also oblige the Bnei Brak municipality, on whose borders the tragic disaster occurred, that immediately after the festive ceremony of 'removing the lot' on the occasion of the naming of the street 'Shevet Halevi', the dignitaries will continue with two more 'removing the lot' ceremonies: one for Mordechai Gerber Street and the other for Yitzhak Samet Street.
We cannot bring Mordechai Gerber and Yitzhak Samet back to life, but we certainly have the power and ability to provide life and comfort to the bereaved families.
And only we can do it.
• Published in Religious Press Line
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