my brother’s son.
Category: Life

the following is an article i found online that briefly tells of the accident that took the life of my younger brother's son, eitan....

First to arrive on the scene of their own tragedies 
 
By Nadav Shragai 
 
tags: Israel, highway safety  

The remains of the military Toyota off-road vehicle in which four people from Mitzpeh Yeriho died Sunday were the only evidence yesterday of the horrific scene on the Jerusalem-Jericho road. Family members are usually kept away from such disaster scenes, but this was different. Shalom Khouri, who had replaced the community's security coordinator, was first on the scene.

He found his 13-year-old son, Ahiya, dead, inside the crushed vehicle. A few minutes later Mitzpeh Yeriho's rabbi, Rabbi Yehuda Kroizer, stopped by in his car. He was on his way home when he saw the accident and stopped to help. He immediately recognized two of his own children: Shlomo, an Israel Defense Forces officer, who was driving, and Ishai, 12. He burst into tears. Kroizer's wife, Shlomit, also began "dealing with" the incident, due to her membership in the community's aid society, without knowing that she was one of its primary victims.

Ishai Kroizer, Ahiya Khouri and Eitan Orenbach grew up together. They were all students at a school in Mekor Baruch, Jerusalem, and on Sunday afternoon they were at a self-defense class in Mishor Adumim. All three were there to celebrate their bar mitzvah this year. Shlomo was company commander in the ultra-Orthodox Nahal Brigade. 
 
Many of Mitzpeh Yeriho's 1,600 residents (320 families) are walking among the houses, red-eyed. At the funerals, people sobbed in each other's arms.

This is a religious community, with nine synagogues representing the range of religious Zionism and Haredi-national-religious thought and observance.

The climate is desert, but nearby are the oases of Ein Parat, Ein Fuar and the Ein Kelt nature reserve.

Among the original settlers were some non-religious people. However, the religious ones stayed and the non-religious established Vered Yeriho.

As in many other settlements, former prime minister Ariel Sharon had a hand in the creation of Mitzpeh Yeriho. Most of the residents lean toward the National Religious Party.

Only 20 percent work within the community. The remainder - programmers, physicians, business people or social workers - commute to Jerusalem. Many are in education, like the Khouris and Baruch and Miryam Orenbach, whose son Eitan died in the accident.

The community has known sadness, but nothing like this. There have been no terror attacks here, and no fatalities in the few traffic accidents involving people from Mitzpeh Yeriho. A boy once died from electrocution. In another incident, an immigrant from Russia was murdered. "But we've never had a blow like this," community secretary Moshe Eyal said yesterday.

At the funerals, Sunday night and yesterday, the teachers of the boys who died spoke about their innocence, their kindness, their pleasant faces and their willingness to help others. Only Baruch Orenbach, the father of Eitan, 12, confessed that he did not know how to give a eulogy for a 12-year-old boy. 

8:29 AM - 6 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

words to live by....thanks kelly

Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably,

And never regret anything that made you smile

6:11 PM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

***happy passover!!!***

6:54 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

the jar and the coffee...

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the jar... and the coffee...

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.  He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.They agreed it was.The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the Jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes".

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table  and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the  empty space between the sand. The students laughed."Now," said the  professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognise that  this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things, your family, your children,  your faith, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions. The things that if everything else was lost and only they remained,  your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter. Your job, your house,  and your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff.  If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no  room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the
things that are critical to your happiness.

Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your  partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and wash the car. Take care of the golf balls first,  the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand. 

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend." 

3:24 PM - 3 Comments - 3 Kudos - Add Comment

ya think???
Current mood: amused

------------AUGUST BABY ---------------
outgoing personality. takes risks. feeds on
attention. no self control. kind hearted. self
confident. loud and boisterous. VERY revengeful.
easy to get along with and talk to. has an "every
thing's peachy" attitude. likes talking and singing.
loves music. daydreamer. easily distracted. Hates
not being trusted. BIG imagination. loves to be
loved. hates studying. in need of "that someone".
longs for freedom. rebellious when withheld or
restricted. lives by "no pain no gain" caring.
always a suspect. playful. mysterious. "charming"
or "beautiful" to everyone. stubborn. curious.
independent. strong willed. a fighter.

11:48 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

my little goalie

last night was lindsey's first hockey game....she was in goal and according to leo (one of her more seasoned teammates)...'did really great for her first time playing' !! i couldn't be there but i heard all about it. now she's walking around like an old lady complaining of muscle pain....lol. hope she doesn't lose any teeth!!

5:43 PM - 2 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment

i am absolutely the worst mother in the world

so at jamie's game tonight, of course i'm feeling like the good parent because i'm there as opposed to rich, who is at the devils rags game at the garden...and there i am talking to my friend ginny on the phone, oblivious to what's going on in the game and my son scored his first goal of the season....he looked over to see me cheer for him and all he saw was me chatting away, not even knowing that there was a goal...i am in so much trouble...i think he hates me.

5:16 PM - 4 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

*****our season opener*****

this is it everyone....the day we have been looking forward to for the last 5 long months....heather, nicole and samantha have already joined me for the ritual pre-season....pre-home-opening stalking expeditions and i invite the rest of you to join us any day that we are out there at practice, the deli; wherever....actually nicole is going to try to arrange a bbq with her new friend travis and maybe some of his new friends and teammates, seeing that she has bonded with him just recently....lmao..... see you all at the game tomorrow evening.....let's go devils....and more importantly..... go leafs...GO HOME!!!

7:10 AM - 4 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

my jamie is 11 today!!

happy 11th birthday to the man that made me a hockey mom....if it hadn't been for you my monday and thursday evenings and weekends would have been too slow and boring! no equipment emergencies, no scrimmages, no practices and most of all no games!!! you are the coolest boy a mom could ask for and a hell of a defenseman to boot!! love you jamie. (i changed my pic for you today!!!)

3:57 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

layla's birthday....

...so this week layla's turning 13...wahooo!!! i changed my pic to commemorate her birthday...that one's from her party last year.....

2:34 PM - 4 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment