Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Rabbi Leo Dee and his remaining three children after two of his daughters, Maia and Rina, were killed on April 7 when their car was ambushed by terrorists in the Jordan Valley. The sisters were buried on April 9 at the Gush Etzion Regional Cemetery in Kfar Etzion, one day before their mother, Lucy Dee, succumbed to her wounds and died on April 10, 2023.
Shown here (l-r): Lucy Dee, and daughters Rina, 15, and Maia, 20.
British Israeli Rabbi Leo Dee, who in the span of three days lost two daughters, Maia and Rina, and his wife, Lucy, in a terrorist car attack, holds a press conference in Efrat on April 10, 2023.
(JNS) - In a video message, Rabbi Leo Dee - whose wife, Lucy, 48, and daughters, Maia, 20, and Rina, 15, were murdered in a terrorist attack - called for the observance of April 10 as "Dees Day."
"Today, we differentiate between good and evil, right and wrong," he said.
Dee described being unable to reach his wife and daughters, who were traveling in a different car, after hearing that there had been a terrorist attack. Then he saw a missed call from one of his daughters.
"The feeling that she called me during the attack, and I wasn't able to speak to her, would come back and haunt me for a while," he said.
After recognizing the family's suitcases, with blood on them, and after authorities showed him an identification card for one of his girls, Dee learned that his two daughters were murdered and that his wife had been airlifted to a hospital with two bullets lodged in her body. Somehow, he managed to drive 90 minutes to be with her.
"I went numb. I didn't cry yet. I was highly rational," he said.
There was cause for hope, but that turned out to be short-lived. "Alas, our family of seven is now a family of four," he said.
Noting that it was the first time in 30 years that the holidays of Passover, Easter and Ramadan coincided, Dee stated that all three have to do with making the world a better place. He said humanity has lost the ability to differentiate between good and evil in recent years, as a "small minority" has peddled moral relativism.
"If you feel that it was wrong to shoot dead, at close range, three beautiful, innocent young ladies in the prime of their lives, then please post a picture of you, or your spouse, or your children with an Israeli flag," he said. "Or just post a picture of an Israeli flag and share it on Facebook, Instagram or whatever social-media app you use."
Dee compared moral relativism to a cocaine addiction, where the addict keeps magnifying the problem.
"Let's reverse this negative loop," he said. "We will never accept terror as legitimate. We will never blame the murder on the victims. There is no such thing as moral equivalence between terrorists and victims. The terrorist is always bad."
Dee compared Israel to a child who is blamed for building a sand castle on the beach after another kid destroys it. After Jews gave the world the Bible, Israel has built so much life-saving and life-improving technology, yet it is blamed on the global stage.
"The Israeli flag is the sign of good. It's the side of building something worthy," he said, urging listeners to post photos of themselves with the flag. "Do it for your soul. Do it for the souls of Maia, Rina and Lucy Dee."
"Do it for all of humanity and do it now," he added. "It has never been more urgent."
Saving life in death
The organs donated by the late Lucy Dee have been donated, saving the lives of five people. A 61-year-old woman received a heart; a 58-year-old woman received a lung; a 25-year-old received a liver transplant; a 58-year-old and a 39-year-old received kidneys.
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