Itamar constructs new religious center in memory of Fogel family

Stonemason and artist Assaf Kidron works on the ark in the new complex in Itamar.

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Photo credit: Zev Livni

Next week will mark the first anniversary of the terrorist attack that killed Ehud and Ruth Fogel and three of their children in their home 

A new study and prayer complex will be inaugurated on the first anniversary of their deaths.

One week from Wednesday, on the one-year anniversary of the murder of the Fogel family in the Samarian community of Itamar, a a new beit midrash (Jewish study and prayer complex) will be inaugurated in their memories.

Builders are putting the final touches on the building, to be called Mishkan Ehud, or Ehud Hall, in memory of the late Rabbi Ehud (Udi) Fogel, who was murdered in his home along with his wife Ruth and three of their children, Yoav, Elad and baby Hadas. The new building will become the permanent residence of the Itamar Yeshiva.

The decision to construct the complex was made during the shiva, or seven-day mourning period, for the family. Its purpose is to commemorate the family as well as strengthen the settlement enterprise.

Stonemason and artist Assaf Kidron is building an ark in the building’s main hall, using local stones and mortar made from earth from the Fogels’ garden. Kidron, a resident of Itamar, was the last person to see Ehud Fogel alive. Kidron initiated and led the project of constructing the holy ark from local stones. The ark will rise to a height of five meters, and is designed to be the most prominent feature of the beit midrash. During the inauguration event, a Torah scroll will be introduced to the ark. The scroll, contributed by a Brazilian businessman, will have its final letters ceremoniously inscribed on the one-year anniversary of the murder.

“I’ve had a strong a sense of mission planning and building this holy ark, because the entire world, which was shocked by the murder, will turn their eyes to Itamar on the anniversary of the murder to observe how the community is recovering,” said Kidron. “I feel we will emerge stronger.”

 “The holy ark is built from local stones, which absorbed our Jewish history in the land of Israel,” he said. “The stones speak for themselves and convey a connection to the land, to deep-rootedness, to the Bible and to continuity.”

Residents of Itamar said on Sunday that NIS 2 million ($530 million) would be required to complete the building, and they were appealing to the wider public to contribute. Itamar Yeshiva director Aryeh Goldberger said, “It was very important for us to show that we continue to live and build here, despite all those who plot to destroy us.”

The women’s prayer section of the new structure will be called Ruth Hall after Ruth Fogel, and the smaller lecture halls will be named after each of the murdered children. “Residents of Itamar experienced a very traumatic event,” said Goldberger, “but it has spawned a large and impressive permanent structure, which gives all of us the strength to continue and hold on to this place. This is the appropriate Zionist response.”

Two Palestinians have been convicted of the Fogel family’s murders and have each been sentenced to five terms of life imprisonment.

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