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Unprecedented Kaddish in the Jerusalem Western Wailing Wall for
Guy Von Dardel
Guy Von Dardel, Raoul Wallenberg's brother passed away in
Geneva, on August 28th., 2009, at the age of 90.
Despite his advanced age, his death was premature in a very
important sense, for Guy has devoted his whole adult life to
campaign for his brother Raoul, who vanished in 1945, victim of
abduction by the Soviet forces. Unfortunately, he passed away
without achieving his lifelong dream to get Raoul back home.
Von Dardel, a particle physicist, together with his surviving wife –
Mathilda, and daughters, Louise Von Dardel and Marie Dupuy, led an
uncompromising quest to get answers about the fate and wherebouts of
Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomats who managed to save scores
of Hungarian Jews from the Nazi claws.
Until his very last
breath, skeptical about the official Russian version that Raoul died
in a Soviet prison in 1947, Guy Von Dardel devoted himself to the
sacred goal of bringing Raoul back home.
Guy Von Dardel was a
source of inspiration to all those who cherish the values of civic
courage displayed by Raoul Wallenberg.
In an unprecedented
initiative by the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation together
with the
Jerusalem Working Group, a Kaddish prayer will be offered at the
Jerusalem Western Wailing Wall (HaKotel Hama'aravi), this
coming Tuesday – September 1st., 2009, at 05:00 pm Jerusalem time.
The public is hereby invited to attend the Kaddish ceremony.
Saying Kaddish for a non-Jew is an uncommon and yet justifiable
gesture, backed by the Jewish Halacha. Rabbi Oshry, for Yeshivat Ohr
Somayach, for instance, says that:
"...it is clearly
permissible to say Kaddish in memory of the gentile woman who saved
so many Jews from death...May He who grants bounty to the Jewish
people grant bounty to all the generous non-Jews who endangered
themselves to save Jews."
Sources:
- Tractate Sofrim, Chapter 19
- Gesher Hachayim, by Rabbi Yechiel Michel
Tuchachinsky, Ch.30
The burial of Prof. Von Dardel will take place
Thursday September 3 at 3PM at Eglise Evangelique Lutherienne,Place
du Bourg de Four in Geneva.
 Raoul
Wallenberg | A STUDY
OF HEROES | General
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