Isroel Feld Remembered (3).
Title In Memory of Isroel Feld by Rabbi Avraham- Isroel Feld Remembered (3).Author Yair Davidiy
Publication Date 2016
ISBN 965-90255-3-X
Price $25
In Memory of Yisroel
From Rabbi Avraham Feld,
In Memory of My Brother, Yisroel Lipa
Today we say goodbye to my beloved brother, Yisroel Lipa.
There are some people whose greatness is difficult to put into words, because so much of what they accomplished was never announced, never publicized, and never done for recognition.
Yisroel was one of those people.
He helped build and establish villages in the South Hebron Hills, a place that was not always easy, comfortable, or convenient. He put his hands to the land and helped turn difficult ground into a home.
He had a beautiful orchard.
He raised sheep.
He worked the land and lived close to the animals and to the earth.
But those things, beautiful as they were, were not the greatest orchard Yisroel planted.
His greatest orchard was the human beings whose lives he helped bring back to life.
Over the years, young people who were troubled, lost, or badly damaged in one way or another found their way into his home.
Yisroel did not necessarily "rehabilitate" them with programs or grand speeches.
He did something much simpler, and perhaps much more powerful.
He let them live with him.
They saw a man who worked, who cared, who loved his family, who took responsibility, who lived with animals and the land, who got up in the morning and continued.
And they saw a family.
A remarkable family.
Nine daughters and three sons.
Twelve children raised in a home that became, for many others, a place where they could see what a family could be.
And today, almost all of those children have built families of their own. They are married and have children, continuing the chain that Yisroel began.
And then there is the youngest, Moshe, who has inherited something very special from his father, his love of animals and the land. Moshe raises animals, especially camels, carrying forward in his own unique way the world that his father loved.
Perhaps this is one of the greatest measures of a person's life:
Not only what he built with his own hands,
but what continues to live because he was here.
The villages continue.
The orchard continues.
The animals continue.
The family continues.
And somewhere in the lives of those young people whom Yisroel welcomed into his home, something continues too, a little more strength, a little more hope, a little more knowledge that a person can be accepted, loved, and given another chance.
Yisroel did not need to tell people how to live.
He showed them.
He showed them that life has work in it.
That life has responsibility.
That life has family.
That life has the earth beneath your feet and animals beside you and children around you.
And sometimes, when a person is lost, that example is enough to help him find his way home.
My brother Yisroel Lipa was a builder.
He built homes.
He helped build villages.
He cultivated an orchard.
He raised sheep.
He raised children.
And, perhaps most importantly, he helped raise people who had fallen down.
That is a tremendous legacy.
We will miss his voice, his presence, his humor, his strength, and simply knowing that he was there.
But we should also remember that a life such as his does not disappear when the person leaves this world.
Every child, every grandchild, every person he helped, every tree that grew in his orchard, every animal he cared for, and every home that became possible because of his efforts carries something of Yisroel Lipa forward.
May his memory be a blessing to his entire family and to all those whose lives he touched.
May the Holy One comfort his children, grandchildren, siblings, relatives, and friends among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
And may the memory of Yisroel Lipa continue to inspire us to do what he did:
To build rather than destroy.
To welcome rather than reject.
To give a person another chance.
To love our families.
To care for the land and for the living creatures entrusted to us.
And to leave this world having made somebody else's life better because we were here.
Yehi zichro baruch.
May his memory be a blessing.
Trustee -- Dr. A. Pater Physicist & Mathematician
President -- Rabbi David Feld Lt. Col. USAF ret.
Field Director -- Rabbi Avraham Feld
Director- MOSSAD MACCABEE-
Emergency rescue, education and social aid -
Public charity number #5508767
Jerusalem, Israel
050-432-8200
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