In late February, as part of the Bergen County Unity Mission to Kerem Shalom with Sulamot and Mizrachi, we had the privilege of hearing from Rav Doron Perez. Rav Doron is the executive chairman of World Mizrachi, and someone, through the depth of his vision, his eloquence and moral clarity, who has not only been a major factor in the revitalization of the Mizrachi movement, but has done a great deal to bring together Jewish communities in Israel and the Diaspora. For those of us who are deeply committed to the underlying values which Mizrachi champions, an immersive commitment to Torah study, service to the Jewish People, and the centrality of the Land of Israel, Rav Doron’s work has been a singular blessing.
And yet, Rav Doron was not there that day to speak about his important work, even though our mission was planned through his organization. Rav Doron, at that time, was actually on official leave from the organization. Instead, he was there to address us strictly as a father, experiencing the worst possible trial that any parent could ever be forced to endure.
Captain Daniel Perez, HY”D, Rav Doron’s son, an officer in Israel’s armored corps, had been missing since Simchat Torah. While it was known that he had been injured in intense fighting outside of Kibbutz Nachal Oz that day, in which Daniel had heroically led fierce resistance which saved the vast majority of the Kibbutz, his fate was not known.
Rav Doron’s presentation was, to me, completely unforgettable. The dignity with which he spoke, the deep courage that he demonstrated, were staggering. There was a sublime synthesis that day of profound emunah, in Chazal’s sense of אפילו חרב חדה מונחת על צוארו של אדם, אל יימנע עצמו מן הרחמים, that even under the more dire conditions, we do not despair of salvation, on the one hand, with a deep, unwavering kabbalah, acceptance, that a terrible outcome was possible. It was the single most remarkable manifestation of the pasuk in Iyov, הן יקטלוני, לו איחל, “even if He shall smite me, I will continue to yearn for him”, that I had ever witnessed (See Sotah 27b).
As we are all aware, just a number of weeks later, Rav Doron and his wife, Shelly, did receive the terrible news that their son had been killed, and that the monsters of Hamas were holding his body, as they continue to do to this very day. In his exquisite hesped for his son, just before Pesach, Rav Doron referenced the pasuk in Yechezkel that captures this time for all of Am Yisrael, “b’damayich chayi,” in your blood, you shall live, applying it to his own son’s willingness to give his own blood so that Am Yisrael might live in Eretz Yisrael.
It is a great privilege for the entire Rabbinical Council of Bergen County to host Rav Perez this Monday evening, June 17, at 8 p.m. at the Jewish Center of Teaneck to address emunah in times of crisis, “Never Despair: The Power of the Human Spirit.”
We invite the entire community to join us for this unique opportunity to hear from a leader of world Jewry who personally has made the ultimate sacrifice for Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael. Please register to join us at https://www.jcot.org/form/doronperez.html
