Court Speech Affect on the Family

 

Introduction

I apologize to the court for speaking in English but I always think of Talia in English & it is therefore difficult for me to talk about her except in English. I have a Hebrew translation if required.

General

Firstly, in order to explain how Talia’s death has affected our family you will need to understand how we lived prior to that terrible March day in 2005.

 

Since immigrating to Israel from Britain in 1979 with 2 small children , the family had been based in Haifa where I first starting working. In 1983 after 3 sons we were overjoyed to be blessed with a daughter & a sister for Jeremy, Benjamin & Doron. Our parents & sisters all lived overseas so with no close family in Israel unlike other families, we would always make a special effort to be close to the children on shabbatot & over the chagim. Most of the children’s education was in Haifa. After that, all 4 children served in the army so that by 2005  Jeremy & Benjamin had graduated from the Technion & Hebrew University, Doron was in his first year at Ben Gurion & Talia was in the first year pre University Machina at the Yehudah and Shomron Mcllala in Ariel. At the same time the 3 boys were already married & unlike Talia no longer living at home .Talia had a regular boyfriend, Motti, who lived in Jerusalem.

 

Parents

I qualified as an Israeli & British Chartered Accountant and  had held senior financial positions with international companies until 2004. In 2005 having recently spent a year working in London I had just set up a Consultancy practice with a friend based in Haifa. Marilyn by comparison had for the last 13 years been working as an English teacher at the pre academic unit of Haifa University. The impact of the accident was traumatic for both of us.

 

For myself, I lost all my motivation to secure new business which required me to network, meet with people  & maintain contact with all my ex colleagues. This was because it was very painful for me to have to continually talk about the accident with all the emotional & legal repercussions. The result was that the consultancy side of my activities has now become very small. Meanwhile, during the shiva we learnt from our family doctor that Talia had recently told him that  she wanted  to become a social worker so with the help of my family I spent most of my time in establishing 2 separate charities in memory of Talia  in Israel & Britain. As you can appreciate the administration & management of a registered charity is extremely time consuming & I now find that I have to invest considerable time devoted to these activities. In a way this has been difficult & painful for my wife & children as the charity is a constant reminder of our terrible loss.

 

For Marilyn, suddenly teaching other students the same age as Talia became a trauma in itself as every female student at the University of similar build or learning attributes would focus her back to her loss. For 2 years she has found difficulty teaching that same age group and that has resulted in less work being available for her.

 

For both of us, shabbatot & chagim have been very difficult, as well as attending weddings or social functions particularly with Talia’s friends. Every time we see one of her friends under the chuppa there are tears in our eyes as we know that we & Talia will never have that privilege . We shall never have a daughter to take care of us in our old age . For like an earthquake, we were  suddenly left with no child at home &  have been catapulted  into the next generation of the aged!

 

Immediate Family

 

Talia was constantly telephoning us, sometimes several times per day, arranging family birthdays, weekends , messibot or telling us about the latest offers. Suddenly the line went dead as if we all fell into a vacuum. As a result the connections between all of us as well as between our sons’ families have become more tenuous. All of us, Talia’s parents and siblings, have our own story about how we have been affected by Talia’s loss & this will be played out for the rest of our lives.

 

The Boys

 

Over and above the implications of Talia’s loss on Marilyn, myself and her friends, her brothers have lost their little sister forever- a sister who would telephone them frequently, daily, asking how they felt and about how their work, their studies or their wives were. She was a sister who was always available for a chat at any time of the day or night, answering the phone in that cheerful voice that they will never again hear at the other end of the line. Doron tells me that he sometimes rings Talia’s phone number, knowing that a miracle is not about to occur and that she will not answer, but just to hear her happy, enthusiastic voice on the recorded message. That voice has dimmed within the darkness of mourning for him. She would always put so much effort into her visits to her nephews, radiating warmth and love. They will all miss out on that. The great light that was Talia has been extinguished  and with it the joy in our lives.

 

Close Family

I would finally like to add that my sister in law’s breast cancer was diagnosed in England as a being caused by shock arising from Talia’s death & her 91year old grand mother, now living in an old aged home in England, is still traumatized from the accident.

 

Other Evidence

I would now like to submit to the court a short film , with some appreciations in order that you can gage the impact of Talia’s death on her chevra.

 

דף פתיחה

סיפור חייה של טליה

התאונה

זכרונות מטליה

·    תמונות

·    קטעי קול ווידאו

·    דברים שכתבה

·    סיפורים וזכרונות

הנצחה

·    ארועים

·    כותבים לזכרה

·    הוקדש לזכרה

·    קרן טליה למען ילדים

פורום

קישורים רלוונטיים