Page 27 - Issue 11

IN MEMORIUM

Frank Stein, a great friend to Habonim Dror and the other Zionist youth movements, and

former director of the Israel office of the ZFA (Zionist Federation of Australia), passed away
last week at age 52. He fought a brief but difficult battle against cancer, and his death came
as a shock for all those whose lives he had touched. Frank grew up in Betar in Brisbane,
Australia and after making aliyah he worked for many years with English-speaking programs for
Jewish youth in Israel, and helping many British and Australian olim find their bearings in
Israel.

I fondly remember Frank meeting me in the airport the day I made aliyah, and the selflessness
with which he helped me out during my early days in Israel. He lent me his car, would replenish

my Milo supply when it got low, updated me on Australian gossip, and always went out of his way
to help our shnatties, resolving all kinds of issues that arose through the years. He helped me
out in countless ways, and I am in no way unique in this -- the hundreds of people that came to
pay their respects at his funeral all have memories of Frank helping and supporting them at
various times in their lives. Frank was indeed one of those special and rare people in the world,
whom I feel very lucky to have called a friend.

Vered Samuel

In Memory of Gideon Prodgers
th
By Mika Gavrieli, one of Gideon’s shnat madrichim; Gideon passed away last year on April 5 ,
following a difficult battle with Leukemia. He was halfway through South African Shnat 2007
when he became ill.

It's been a year.
So much has happened; in the world, in the movement, in my life.

I wish that my writing will mean something – comfort, relief. I want to hug my chanichim, I know
that they all had a hard time, finding their way to grieve, knowing that some people were closer
to him than others.
But everyone needs their time to grieve, everyone has memories from this amazing person,
some from his childhood, some from school, some from the movement, and some knew him all
their lives.
I knew him as a chanich, and through the year I got to know this thoughtful guy. He was open-
minded but had a stance. He made me think about the way I see others, challenged me to
invest, to see how people are more complex, how they change and have various sides to them.
He wanted so badly to return to machaneh, planned to take Shorashim to Israel the next year.
He never stopped planning for the future, and continued to choose life each and every day. I
want to say so much more, but can’t find the words, so I’ll just say that I miss you.