Heartbreaking Playtime: Story of Ari's Pretend Funeral

Among those tragically lost in the Meron disaster was Rabbi Elazar Mordechai Goldberg z"l, a 37-year-old resident of Beitar Illit. Yesterday, social activist Eli Rabinowitz shared an emotional moment on Twitter, capturing the poignant scene of his 8-year-old son, Ari, processing the family tragedy through play.

Ari assembled a play scenario where his father lay on a bed, wrapped in a tallit, representing a journey to burial. When he showed this to his mother, she broke down in tears and embraced him. Rabinowitz tweeted about this heart-wrenching moment in the midst of the shiva: “This afternoon, 8-year-old Ari, the child of Elazar Goldberg z'l, a victim of the Meron tragedy, played with his Playmobil at home. He showed his mother an image of what he had constructed – his father wrapped in a tallit, lying on a bed. I was left speechless at that moment.”

Rabbi Elazar z"l, a devout follower of the Shidlovtza community, worked as an educator at the ‘Adret Eliyahu’ Talmud Torah in Beitar, influencing the lives of hundreds of students. He left behind four bereaved children.