The son of Tzeela Gez, delivered following her murder in a terrorist attack last week, was named in an unusual ceremony in the Samaria community of Bruqin on Tuesday, according to Israeli media reports.
The infant is currently unable to undergo a brit milah, the ritual circumcision ceremony during which Jewish boys are typically named, due to medical complications arising from the attack.
Family and community members gathered after morning prayers to give him the name chosen by his mother: Ravid Chaim.
The rabbi of Bruqin, Meir Hilvitz, and Shomron Regional Council head Yossi Dagan attended the ceremony. After the name was announced, participants recited Psalm 121.
The family requested continued prayers for the recovery of Ravid Chaim ben Tzeela, who they said was in need of “great mercy from Heaven.”
On Monday, the grieving family arrived at a protest mourning tent set up by the Shomron Regional Council at the site of the attack. The symbolic break from traditional mourning, usually held exclusively at home, was aimed to draw attention to what many area residents feel is a deteriorating security situation.
Hananel Gez, Tzeela’s husband, issued a passionate plea to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take concrete action to prevent further attacks. “My precious Tzeela, I love you so much. It hurts that you’re not here with me. We are here so your murder won’t be in vain. You rose to heaven like a righteous woman. You only did good. We want to ensure that no one ever suffers like we, the Gez and Aviav families, are suffering now.”
Tzeela Gez’s family decided to donate her organs, including her corneas. One of the recipients will be a youngster at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Petach Tikvah, and the other a patient at Rabin Medical Center’s Beilinson Hospital in the same city.
