Last week, I wrote about Zidan Sayif, the Druze police officer who was killed defending the worshipers in the Jerusalem synagogue that was assaulted by terrorists. The piece chronicled the efforts to honor his memory undertaken by Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community. Since then, others in Israeli society have joined that cause, from President Reuven Rivlin, who delivered a eulogy at Sayif’s funeral, to Israeli supermarket magnate Rami Levy, who donated a truckload of groceries to the officer’s family to carry them through their mourning period.
Now, Jews around the globe can also give back to Sayif’s family, and help provide for the welfare of the wife and four-month-old daughter he left behind, through the auspices of the One Family Fund UK. The organization collects money for the families of victims of terror, and traditionally serves Jewish clientele, who are tragically the primary targets of such attacks in Israel. But if you go to their web site today, you can donate to the Zidan Sayif fund, which goes directly to his family.
The fund is the project of a group of Israeli and diaspora Jews who sought to honor Sayif’s sacrifice. “I was immediately struck by the bravery that he showed in the face of such brutality,” said Dr. Samuel Lebens, an Orthodox rabbi and British immigrant to Israel who helped organize the initiative. “But I was also struck by the following thought: in one sense, this was an age old story—vile anti-Semites were willing to slaughter Jews in pure and righteous prayer, and a righteous gentile was willing to risk life and limb in order to save them. But in fact, this story is a new story—an Israeli story. Sayif wasn’t an outsider who was willing to risk his life for us. He was a Druze who was committed to the State of Israel. He was an Israeli who served the State with distinction.”
“And then I thought that when a person, and a community, throw their lot in with us, as Sayif and his community have done, we have an extra special responsibility to throw our lot in with them—to stand by them in their times of pain, and to show them our love and gratitude.”
Lebens proposed the idea of establishing a memorial fund to his Facebook friends, and soon after, they’d tapped their contacts both in Israel and Britain and established the One Family UK campaign. “We’re hoping that as many people as possible will respond, and send a clear message to Sayif’s family: that we honor him; that we’re grateful to him; and that we stand shoulder to shoulder with them and with the Druze community in their times of pain, and in honor of their heroism.”
Readers can donate to the campaign here.
Yair Rosenberg is a senior writer at Tablet. Subscribe to his newsletter, listen to his music, and follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
