TIMES OF ISRAEL
by Melanie Lidman
July 1, 2014

The signs of hope are still visible in Nof Ayalon, but with the death and funeral of Naftali Fraenkel, the town, like the country, is now united in grief. 

NOF AYALON, central Israel — Despite frantic prayers and more than two weeks of desperate searching, the saga of the three kidnapped boys ended Tuesday with the mourner’s kaddish, the traditional prayer for the dead, with three families clasped in prayer and an entire country standing behind them.

“Dear soldiers, intelligence personnel and police, we still thank you very, very much,” Rachelle Fraenkel told more than 10,000 people who gathered next to her hometown of Nof Ayalon for the funeral of her 16-year-old son Naftali. “You promised you would find and bring them back. And you brought them back. That is a great kindness, too.”

People from across the country poured into the towns of Talmon, Nof Ayalon, and Elad. Standing in direct sunlight for hours, mourners’ sweat mixed with tears as politicians, rabbis, and family members memorialized the three boys.

…..Rachelle Fraenkel to her son: ‘We will learn to sing without you, but we’ll always hear your voice inside of us’

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http://www.timesofisrael.com/an-entire-community-joins-the-mourners-kaddish/