BOG 2015: Perpetuating Teens’ Memory by Helping Others

The French Friends of Tel Aviv University dedicated a treatment room in the memory of Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrach, the three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped and murdered prior to Operation Protective Edge last summer. The moving ceremony was held at TAU’s Maurice and Gabriela Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine during the 2015 Tel Aviv University Board of Governors Meeting. The room will be used to provide dental care to children from disadvantaged communities.

Gilad’s parents, Ofir and Bat-Galim Shaer, attended the inauguration ceremony, which took place in the presence of TAU Vice President Raanan Rein; President of the French Friends of TAU Prof. François Heilbronn; TAU Governor and member of the Honorary Committee of the French Friends Association Dr. André Amiach; Head of the Dental School Prof. Ervin Weiss, and members of the French Friends delegation.

Prof. Heilbronn gave special thanks to Dr. Amiach, a long-time supporter of TAU’s Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine, whose idea it was to dedicate the room to the three boys, and offered his heartfelt condolences to Gilad’s parents. “Though we are French citizens, we are also Zionists who believe in the dream of Israel, and TAU is the realization of that dream,” he said.

Mr. and Mrs. Shaer thanked the School of Dental Medicine, where their eldest daughter has been treated in the past, and further thanked the French Friends Association. “After Gilad’s death, we received so much love from the Jewish Diaspora, and this event is even more proof of your support,” said Mr. Shaer. “Although the pain is horrible, this is the best way to perpetuate the memory of our child – by doing something for the people of Israel and their future. People say that where there are two Jews, there are three opinions, but we all have one heart.”