By BenZion Schijveschuurder

Speech given by BenZion Schijveschuurder at recent gathering of Jewish Leaders in N.Y.C

Good Evening

I am here today to tell you a very personal story. My name is BenZion. I am 22 years old.

Seven months ago, on August 9th, in the early afternoon, my life was radically changed forever, when a suicide bomber entered the Sbarro restaurant where my parents and 5 brothers and sisters were having lunch. He triggered the bomb that shook all of Jerusalem.

At that moment, I was in my apartment, only a few blocks away. The whole building shuddered from the blast. Word came to me from a medic at the scene that my family was there.

I ran quickly to the closest hospital and there I found my sister, Leah, 11 years old, on her way into surgery to remove a nail in her throat, 2 centimetres away from severing her jugular vein. Then I saw my sister, Chaya, 9 years old, her body covered with burns, being wheeled into surgery. Six nails and bolts were removed from different parts of her body.

Together with my two brothers, I began searching every hospital for my parents and my three other brothers and sisters. Late that night we found my 14 year old sister Raaya, She had died on the operating table.

Mom, Dad, my four year old brother Avraham Yitzchak and my 2 year old sister, Chemda, were not at any hospital.

With no hope left, I went to the morgue, and found all of them there.

The funeral was very difficult. We had to say goodbye, in one day, to half of our family. We used to be 10 souls.

Both Mom and Dad had made aliyah from Holland at 21, and brought their parents and other family members with them.My parents were children of Holocaust survivors and the stories of their many relatives who died in the gas chambers, accompanied them all their lives. It was because of all of those who had died that my parents wanted to have a big family, 8 kids, and to live in Israel. And they named all of us after those who died, in order to keep their memory alive.

We were a very close family. My Mother took care of each of us in a special way and my home was a place I wanted to be. In one disastrous explosion, our warm and stable family life, our entire world, was shattered, and 5 of us were left alone.

A new reality set in. One we never imagined could ever happen and could never have been prepared for. Everything our parents had one taken care of for us, we had to take care of alone.

I was just finishing my 3 years of army service in Lebanon and the Jordan Valley, and was planning my life ahead, when my role as a young man was over, and I became a Mom and Dad to 4 remaining siblings including my 9 year old and 11 year old sister, who desperately needed love and stability.

I wanted to try to keep us together while at the same time taking care of the needs of my little sisters, Chaya and Leah. For them it was very difficult to understand why mom and dad were not with them every day in the hospital, during all the treatments, and we didn’t know how to tell them the cruel reality that they would never see them again.

After trying for 3 months to stay together in our own home, suffering from the great personal loss we were feeling , while at the same time to create a normal atmosphere for my two young sisters, we decided that we needed to find a real home for them where they could grow up like other young kids.

This decision was very difficult for us. We asked ourselves, what our parents would have wanted us to do. We wanted our sisters to grow up with the same education they would have received at home with the same love and attention.

Finally we decided to move my sisters to Zurich to live with their aunt. I went with them to stay close to them and to make their new home as familiar as possible. Sadly, we had to separate from my two brothers who stayed in Israel and went to live with another aunt.

Two weeks ago I married Meirav, my wife who is here with me tonight. We will be moving to Zurich to be with my sisters who are having a very difficult time adjusting to the loss of Mom and Dad and the familiar house they once knew.

This new reality is also very painful for me. At my wedding, they were not there to walk me to my Chuppah and to share with me in one of the most joyous moments of my life. I miss them very much.

Unfortunately, our story is not unique. Day after day, many more names are added to the list of the victims of Arab terrorist attacks. Dad after day, many families have to deal with a new reality of death , mourning and loss. We are thankful to the One family organisation and the many people like you here tonight, who care about us so much. It is wonderful to know that we are really not alone.

Thank you.

© Israel My Beloved