Today is the 20th Yahrtzeit of Shalhevet Pass, Hy'd

Crookshanks

Mon, Mar 15 2021, 11:01 am

Today, Bais Nissan, is the 20th yahrtzeit of Shalhevet Pass, a 10 month old baby murdered by an Arab sniper in Chevron. Please take a moment to say a perek of tehillim, or do a chessed for someone else, as an aliyas neshama for Shalhevet Techiya bas R' Yitzchak.

amother

Fuchsia

Mon, Mar 15 2021, 11:02 am

Thank you for the reminder. I was just watching a clip about Chevron last night and thinking about her. May her neshama have an aliyah.

Crookshanks

Mon, Mar 15 2021, 11:02 am

On March 26, 2001, Beis Nissan, Shalhevet Pass was in her stroller with her parents, visiting her grandparents in Chevron. Her parents, Yitzchak and Oriya, had been married for two years. Shalhevet, 10 months old, was their first child.

At 4 p.m., a Palestinian sniper aimed at and shot Shalhevet in the head. She died instantly. When Oriya heard the gunshots she grabbed Shalhevet only to discover she was already dead. Yitzchak, pushing the stroller, was seriously wounded by two bullets. Compounding the tragedy, Oriya lay in the playground for hours, not allowing anyone to touch Shalhevet. Shalhevet Techiya, Hy"d, bas R' Yitzchak was buried in the ancient Jewish cemetery in Chevron, and the nation mourned.

The judges who sentenced the terrorist to three life terms said: "It was enough for one bullet, fired from a sniper rifle, to end the life of the infant Shalhevet Pass, who up to that event was unknown to the wide public, and just lived her life as all other children, until one day as the evening came she was hit in her head, and she died, and Shalhevet whom was still small and in her infant stage, was sentenced to death by a vile killer whom intentionally, using a telescopic sight, pulled the trigger. The picture of the shot baby is on our table, is engraved in our minds and does not give peace to our souls. We cannot understand and we cannot accept the unbearable ease with which the killer decided to harm a helpless person... We the judges are only humans and we cannot see anything else but the image which emerges in our senses, an image full of hate, blood and bereavement. We must not accept this image and we need to do everything we can to condemn it."

Rabbi Manis Friedman wrote a song for Baby Shalhevet, sung by his brother Avraham Fried at a concert to benefit Chevron.

(https://youtu.be/o2Xs39KkO8A)

Too young to walk

You went further than us all

And though you never said a word

You said more than words can say

The sweet fragrance of Gan Eden

Was still fresh upon your skin,

The angels cried,

Oh, the day you died

The day your flame lit up the skies, ohhhh.

CHORUS:

Oh baby Shalhevet, there's fire in your name

Without you, there's an emptiness

We are wicks without a flame

You left this world a tiny babe

But to me you're so much more

You're the giant heart of sacrifice

That will open Heavens door.

You left this world a tiny babe

But to me you're so much more

You're the giant heart of sacrifice

That will open Heavens door.

This holy place,

Where our Jewish soul was born

And Davids melodies still ring from every stone

By the cave that holds our history, and where every Jews at home

We breathe its air, oh,

He sent you there,

You're a child of Chevron, ohhhh.

CHORUS: Oh baby Shalhevet, there's fire in your name

Without you, there's an emptiness

We are wicks without a flame

You left this world a tiny babe

But to me you're so much more

You're the giant heart of sacrifice

That will open Heavens door.

You left this world a tiny babe

But to me you're so much more

You're the giant heart of sacrifice

That will open Heavens door.

Go storm the Heavens, little one

Go proudly to His throne

I'm here to plead for Yisroel;

I'm Shalhevet,

Shalhevet from Chevron.

We will never forget you,

Shalhevet...

Shalhevet.

On Shalhevet's tenth yahrtzeit, David Wilder, Chevron resident, tour guide, and activist, interviewed Yitzchak Pass.

Q: You live about 50 meters from the location of the murder. How do you deal with it, on a daily basis? Unfortunately, bereavement, both mine and in a more general national sense, is an integral part of our lives. It's impossible to ignore it and we have to deal with it. I chose to deal with it by living where it happened, to show that it won't break us, to the contrary, it heightens our determination and increases our strength. There's no doubt that every time I walk past the monument put up in Shalhevet's memory, I feel a little pinch at my heart, it's constant, it's opposite my eyes all the time, it's impossible to ignore it, but we learned to live with it, and somehow to receive strength from it.

Q. How did you choose to eternalize Shalhevet?

First of all, from our standpoint, and from that of the entire community, it was a murder that stood out due to its result. This was an infant, ten months old, that shocked the entire world. We received thousands of reactions, letters, not only from Jews and people living in Israel, who shared our grief. We understood that Shalhevet wasn't our private possession, rather, essentially, someone who belonged to all Am Yisrael the Jewish people. One of our first decisions was to write a Torah in her memory. This way, anyone who felt a part of this could be a partner, and many Jews helped us from all over the world, and thank G-d, that Torah, which her grandfather, my wife's father wrote, is here in Hebron. Afterwards, in consultation with others in the community, we decided to open a Torah study hall, to eternalize her name, called Shahevet Techiyat HaAretz (Shalhevet, the living land), It was important to us to show that her murder just intensified our determination to be a part of our land, and that we are willing even to die for its sake, and to raise up and awaken, to instill love for Eretz Yisrael, the importance of our connection to the land, to settle it, to live anywhere and everywhere in our land.

Q. When I stop by the monument with tourists, I stress, above everything else, that the family, despite the terrible tragedy, is still here. How do you stay here? Why?

First of all, we are stubborn. The Jewish people are stubborn, a stiff-necked people. We are enrooted in this land. Both in our personal family, and in a more general way, this is everything. There is nothing, not murder, not Arabs, which can uproot us from here, because we are a stiff-necked people. Despite what the Jewish people have experienced, we have been able to hold our heads high. We have to understand how they lived in Galut where anyone could do whatever he wanted to Jews, and here, and here, in Eretz Yisrael, we hold our heads high, standing straight and tall, no one will ever get us out of here.

שִׂימֵ֨נִי כַֽחוֹתָ֜ם עַל־לִבֶּ֗ךָ כַּֽחוֹתָם֙ עַל־זְרוֹעֶ֔ךָ כִּֽי־עַזָּ֤ה כַמָּ֨וֶת֙ אַֽהֲבָ֔ה קָשָׁ֥ה כִשְׁא֖וֹל קִנְאָ֑ה רְשָׁפֶ֕יהָ רִשְׁפֵּ֕י אֵ֖שׁ שַׁלְהֶֽבֶתְיָֽה

"Place me like a seal on your heart, liked a seal on your arm, for love is as strong as death, jealousy is as strong as the grave; its coals are coals of fire of the flame of G-d."

-Shir Hashirim, 8:6

amother

Fuchsia

Mon, Mar 15 2021, 11:11 am

There's another song about Shalhevet also, "...the flame must never go out, the flame must never die... Chevron is ours, now and forever - Am Yisrael Chai. And while we long for the day, when we will return, from the corners of the earth - Shalhevet's flame must burn."

cnc

Mon, Mar 15 2021, 11:51 am

Wow. I can’t believe it’s 20 years already. I remember when Avraham Fried first sang that song.

bigsis144

Mon, Mar 15 2021, 11:57 am

amother [ Fuchsia ] wrote:

It’s by Lenny Solomon:
http://alljewishlyrics.blogspo...../?m=1

At the entrance to Gan Eden
In the land of holy stones
Lies the hopes and reams of many Jews
It's the city of Chevron

There are people who are living there
With the courage of their own
and they know that we stand beside them
That they are not alone

Chorus:
The flame must never fall out
The flame must never die
Chevron is ours now and forever
Am Yisroel Chai
And while we long for the day
When we will return
From the corners of the earth
Shalhevet's flame must burn

When Avraham bought the land
With a 400 shekel coin
He knew this was where the physical
And Spiritual world enjoin
Now every day you're standing strong
With the dangers that are unknown
We realize you're representing us
By living in Chevron

Chorus...

We've seen them through come painful times
And others might lie ahead
But her soul will last forever
Shalhevet's flame will never end

—
This is the song I thought of first, too.

amother

Azure

Mon, Mar 15 2021, 12:17 pm

My baby is named after her.

amother

Olive

Mon, Mar 15 2021, 12:17 pm

May her neshama have an Aliya.

The saddest part is just thinking how old she would be now, what she’d be up to, all the what if’s Crying

amother

Jetblack

Mon, Mar 15 2021, 12:35 pm

amother [ Azure ] wrote:

My baby is named after her.

A recent baby or an older child now?

Chayalle

Mon, Mar 15 2021, 12:37 pm

Her neshama should have an aliyah, and she should continue to be a melitza yeshara for all of us.

I can't believe it's so long already.

Crookshanks

Mon, Mar 15 2021, 2:04 pm

amother [ Azure ] wrote:

My baby is named after her.

That's so beautiful! When was your baby born?

Crookshanks

Mon, Mar 15 2021, 2:05 pm

amother [ Olive ] wrote:

May her neshama have an Aliya.

The saddest part is just thinking how old she would be now, what she’d be up to, all the what if’s Crying

True. Because when she passed away, I was a few months younger than her.

amother

Jetblack

Mon, Mar 15 2021, 3:45 pm

Crookshanks wrote:

True. Because when she passed away, I was a few months younger than her.

And I was almost 29! Lol

browser

Mon, Mar 15 2021, 4:13 pm

Her neshama should have an aliya

amother

Babypink

Wed, Mar 17 2021, 12:32 am

bigsis144 wrote:

Thank you for posting. The heartbreaking story made such an impression on me, a teen at the time, and then I heard this song at a bais yaakov high school concert years later and found it so haunting, touching, devastating, yet determined. Ive searched YouTube so many times over the years trying to hear it but is it possible it was never recorded professionally? Can anyone share a link?

amother

Fuchsia

Wed, Mar 17 2021, 1:26 am

amother [ Babypink ] wrote:

I'm pretty sure it was on a CD called "Chevron," containing songs about Chevron by several singers. I've also looked for it since, although I didn't know the singer's name.

It seems you can purchase it for $1 here: https://shlockrock.com/downloa.....song/