23/2/2003 21 ADAR A’
Farewell to Prof. Dafna Yisraeli at her funeral
Delivered by Rabbanit Dr. Ayala Glicksberg
Daphna the Jewess
It is barely thirty days since Dov was called to the Divine Court, and his loving wife has already joined him, in keeping with “in their lives and in their death they were not divided”.
We are gathered here, family and friends, tearful and mute, each of us with his or her personal image of Daphna.
As for me, I first met Daphna 27 years ago, when her daughter Sharona and my daughter were both studying in the religious governmental intermediate classes of “Amana”.
Over the years Daphna occupied several niches in my heart: Daphna the insightful, Daphna the internationalist, Daphna the advocate of women’s causes, Daphna the friend. But I wish mainly to highlight Daphna and her Jewish soul.
Daphna acquired her authentic Jewish foundations in her parents’ home in Montreal, Canada, in the Gewertz family, a Jewish family known for its generosity and philanthropy, one of the pillars of the community.
Daphna had two brothers and a sister: Werner, Gizelle, and Sami. Daphna could have gone on living a life of serenity and luxury in verdant Canada, enjoying an exilic existence as one of the daughters of the wealthy class. But Daphna sought challenges, and strove in all her actions for the truth. She was blessed with a sensitive Jewish soul, and thus chose to fulfill practical Zionist goals and made Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael.
Together with Dov, she established a home infused with the art of integration.
They resided in Tel Aviv, but they also had a home in Jerusalem.
Daphna was a “Yiddishe Mama” in the richest sense of the term, while holding her own as an internationally recognized professor.
To her offspring she imparted the spiritual world from which she had come, adding to it a flavor of the present, Israeli and universal.
Her children and their spouses: Leora and haRav Yuval, Sharona and Sallow, Chaim and Eilat, all – those born to her and those acquired – received from her limitless honor, understanding and love.
Her love, warmth and self-giving continue to flow to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
When Leora and haRav Yuval, who had been conforming to the traditions of the Gur chassidim, began to marry off their offspring, Daphne desired to learn and understand their marital customs, and she consulted with me. For she was always aspiring to merge and integrate, and was staunchly proud of all the branches of her steadily expanding clan. She lived in and was aware of the constant tension between tradition and modernity, between conservation and change. The Jewish soul within her required an unceasing response.
In one of her intimate talks, Daphna revealed that one of her dreams had been to fulfill the model of “Yentil” by Bashevis Singer; the Yentil who aspired to become a Yeshiva student, a Talmid Chacham.
Daphna dreamed of becoming a “Talmid Chacham”, the pinnacle of Jewish spiritual achievement, and perhaps this was one of the motivating forces underlying her struggles for gender equalization.
Twenty-two years ago Daphne and her colleagues organized the first international congress of “Women’s Worlds”, which quickly became a permanent international institution. The Congress took place in Haifa. Women from the First and Third Worlds participated, including a guest from Egypt. Daphne invited me to present the first research that had been done by then on the subject of “Women and Judaism”. That initial gathering was a breakthrough in every respect, and Daphna never neglected the Jewish angle.
In her research she gave expression to integration of home, workplace and family. She applied in her life the principle, “With the wisdom of women did she build her home”. Daphna lived in flexible harmony with the various junctions of life, sharing with others her fortune and knowledge, supporting and contributing with all her being in all areas of activity, with her home and her husband Dov, whom she so respected, as the basis. Daphne constantly added layers and strata, but never uprooted the basic foundations. Daphna – a truly great Jewish woman.
Beloved Daphna, together with your wonderful family – we escort you in a mass embrace, and ask that, upon your arrival before the Celestial Throne, you plead for mercy for the People who dwell in Zion and for the Jews of the Diaspora, “for thy work shall be rewarded”.
May your soul be bound in the bond of life!
May He swallow up death forever.
Signed in tears
Dr Ayala Glicksberg