Rabbi Eli and Dina accompanied us from the beginning of the yeshiva, through the construction of the house, dozens of meals we dined at their table, hundreds of small and large consultations that went through them and they always equipped us with advice and resourcefulness, through the faith building and the yeshiva building and then elsewhere.
I had the privilege of accompanying Rabbi Eli for about a year in the lessons he would give in Tel Aviv, he would give a Torah portion lesson in our house to the Ramat Aviv community, and then give a lesson in the yeshiva and then go to meetings with "Dor Shalem Doreh Shalom."
Rabbi Eli would arrive at our house early after a long drive and rest shortly before the lesson, about half an hour. There was one room in the house where you could rest, my brother's room that was in adolescence, there were all kinds of black posters of singers who were in the field of heavy rock, and mother was afraid that Rabbi Eli would lie in the room with black lounges with skulls and scary things above him.
Rabbi Eli would hear the apprehension and reassure her and would smile his special smile. Not only in his context he would reassure her that he could sleep properly, also in the context of my brother, that everything would be fine and this is a stage in life and most importantly love a lot.
To love a lot, I heard this advice from him many, many times in many contexts, as his guidance and as advice he heard from his masters.
This faithful smile that always accompanied him in every piece of advice, gave proportion to the issue that you always feel is fateful and alas ... and the smile gave proportion, and also there was a confident smile that things would go well and things would work out and no worries.
Ohad Junger
