B"H
Mossa'ei Shabbth Hanukkah/Parshath Wayeshev 5767
This Shabbath, the first day of Hanukkah, marked one year after
Nahshon Walls z"l, succumbed to cancer.
In his memory,
Qiddush Rabbah was held on the Tapu'ah West Hill, a community with which he had a special relationship, and a
Mellaweh Malkah was held in the
Kibbutz Galuyoth Beth Beth K'nesseth.
Last year on Erev Shabbath Wayeshev, the Shabbath just before Hanukkah, a close friend of Na
hshon's asked of him, "Please just make it until Hanukkah."
Defying doctors' prognoses, Na
hshon only left when he was damn good and ready to leave. On the first night of Hanukkah, after "amen" was said to the last of the three brachoth, and the first Hanukkah light was lit, Nahshon expelled his last breath, and passed on into the next world.
My favorite anicdote about Na
hshon, I heard from him directly.
Na
hshon designed and sewed various flags and traditional, Jewish four-cornered garments. His flags included those with Kahanist themes as well as the Medinath Yehudah flag.
While Na
hshon was in prison, he took advantage of the "vocational" equipment available to him, such as sewing machines. Believe it or not, he actually made and sold via mail-order, Kahanist-related flags,...mind you,...using the equipment of the Israeli prison system. In order words, Nahshon used government-owned facilities and equipment to produce and to sell, the very materials which the Israeli government had been running around, trying to brand and confiscate.
And he did it right under the government's nose.
Na
hshon Walls is remembered for his mesiruth nefesh (self-sacrifice), among other reasons.
I also remember Nahshon for his creativity and his innovation, which included the design of the state of Judea flag, and bigei tzitzith (four-cornered garments requiring tzitzith).
Na
hshon was also a guide and roll model for some of the "hilltop youth."
But, one of his most significant contributions was the building of the
beth-k'nesseth (synagogue) on the Tapu'ah West Hill, replacing the one destroyed by the Israeli Army, three years ago.
Nahshon Walls, May his memory be for a blessing.