Terror victim: Rina saved us all

Lying in his hospital bed on Friday afternoon, Rabbi Eitan Shnerb recalled for reporters the events just before Palestinians detonated a bomb at "Dani’s Spring."

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
IDF soldiers searching in the West Bank for the terrorists who killed Rina Shnerb, August 2019 (photo credit: IDF)
IDF soldiers searching in the West Bank for the terrorists who killed Rina Shnerb, August 2019
(photo credit: IDF)
Rabbi Eitan Shnerb gave his daughter Rina a last kiss in the moments after her death in Friday’s terrorist attack, and told her, “We will be strong.”
Lying in his hospital bed on Friday afternoon, he recalled for reporters the events just before Palestinians detonated a bomb at “Dani’s Spring,” catching him and his two children in the blast.
The trio had gone from their home city of Lod to the West Bank spring, located near the Dolev settlement. To ensure that they had a safe outing, they were careful to check with the IDF to make sure they arrived at the spring at a time when it was under security surveillance.
As they walked on the path to the spring, Eitan, who is a paramedic, helped prep his 19-year-old son Dvir, who is also studying to be paramedic.
“Rina also joined the conversation,” Eitan recalled. He explained when and when not to use a tourniquet.
Then there was an explosion. Eitan said he had been close to a few explosions in his life, but that this one was much larger.
“Everything went black. I heard Dvir yelling at me and I shouted to Rina,” he recalled. Then when he could see her, he understood that she was no longer alive.
“At first I wanted to think it was a dream,” he said, but it was impossible to escape the reality in which his daughter was dead and both he and his son were wounded.
He told Dvir, “We must remain strong, we must not despair.”
Dvir told his father to call the paramedics and to be careful about how he told his mother, Eitan’s wife, about the attack. Then Dvir lost consciousness.
“Rina is the one who saved us all. She died a hero’s death and saved us,” because she was the one who took most of the force of the blast.
Eitan is the father of 11 children. According to media reports, this was not his first terrorist attack. During reserve duty, he helped thwart a terrorist infiltration by two armed Palestinians in the West Bank.
Both he and Dvir were taken to Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem.
On Friday afternoon, Rina was buried in her home city of Lod.
The crying at the funeral as hundreds of people gathered around her shroud-covered body was palpable.
Eitan spoke to the crowd through a cellphone from the hospital.
“It hurts and we pray that this will never happen again. We are trying to be strong. We are strengthened by the Bible of the people of Israel in the Land of Israel,” the rabbi said.
Rina’s sister, Tamar Levanoni, said she was grateful for every moment the family spent with Rina over the 17 years of her life.
“We learned from you to not just be satisfied with simple answers but to seek deeper explanations,” she said.