A 'fighting family' loses a beloved daughter 
 
By Anat Cygielman and Nadav Shragai 
Ha'aretz
June 9, 2002 
 
Yael Shorek's father, Yehuda Kandel, heard the news of the 
death of his daughter yesterday morning as he left the synagogue 
in the religious moshav of Kfar Pines, near Pardes Hannah, 
where he lives. A police van drove into the moshav, where cars 
are not normally seen on the Sabbath, and broke the bitter news 
to Kandel. He decided to say nothing to his wife Elisheva and 
two of his sons who had come to pass the Sabbath with the 
family. He kept the news to himself until Shabbat was over. 

Yael, 24, was Yehuda and Elisheva's only daughter, and she was 
born after three of her brothers. "They waited a long time for 
her," said Issachar Oppenheimer, a family friend for the past 
35 years. After Yael was born Yehuda and Elisheva had another 
son. Yehuda Kandel received a decoration for his part in the 
battle for Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem. He also fought at 
Suez. Kandel's Honey, which he makes, is renowned. 

The Kandels are known as a fighting family, stalwarts of 
Greater Israel. The Kandel's eldest son, Shai, 31, lives in 
Karmei Tzur with his family; Ofer, 29, lives in Haifa; 
Nachshon, 26, lives in the Old City in Jerusalem and 
Kobi, 21, studies at a yeshiva in Hebron. 

Yael and Eyal were introduced by a rabbi who knew both families 
and were married 18 months ago. At first they lived in Bat Ayin, 
but after their rent went up they moved to a mobile home in 
Karmei Tzur, next to Yael's brother, Shai. Yael, who was 
nine months pregnant, was due to give birth in two weeks time. 
The couple planned to move to Jerusalem. Yael was planning 
to be a teacher. Eyal was due to complete his army service 
in a week's time. He served as a career soldier in a special 
forces unit. Eyal planned to study in a yeshiva and enrich 
his knowledge of Judaism. 

Rachel Erlich, a friend of the couple, said that the move 
to Jerusalem was meant to be a temporary one and that in 
the long term Eyal and Yael Shorek planned to make their 
home in one of the settlements in Judea and Samaria. 

Eyal Shorek was born on Moshav Sadot in Yamit and grew up 
on stories of the withdrawal from Sinai. The family moved 
to Moshav Kidron near Gedera, but pining for the desert 
landscape of the Sinai peninsula brought them to Kfar Adumim, 
a mixed religious and secular settlement in the Judean Desert 
near Jerusalem. Eyal studied at Boyer, a secular high school 
in Jerusalem, but later went to the religious pre-military 
preparatory school in Atzmona (the site of another recent 
terrorist attack). 

The residents of Kfar Pines don't listen to the news on Shabbat, 
but rumors of the disaster spread quickly. "There were rumors 
that something happened in Hebron," said Issachar Oppenheimer. 
"We thought maybe something happened to the younger son. 
I asked the rabbi if something serious had happened. 
He said something very serious, but didn't say anything 
more. Yehuda sat on the balcony and read the paper. 
He didn't want to disturb the family on Shabbat."