Eliyahu David Kay and Possible Relative, Danny Kaye

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

Eliyahu "Eli" David Kay was a 25 or 26 year old South African who had made Aliyah to Israel and was a paratrooper in the IDF.  He lived in Modiin and was a guide in Jerusalem.  Kay grew up in Johannesburg’s tight-knit Chabad community. After graduating from Torah Academy, he continued his studies at the Rabbinical College of Australia and New Zealand in Melbourne for a year, before moving on to Israel. He planned to marry in a few months. Eliyahu David Kay is survived by his parents, Avi and Devorah Kay; siblings Kasriel, Chanan and Na’ama; and by his grandparents, Jessie and Cliffie Kay, and Rabbi Shlomo and Lynndy Levin.

 Eli was just murdered by a senior leader of the  Hamas political wing who was a teacher,  42-year-old Fadi Abu Shkhaydam from Shuafat refugee camp, shot while on his way to pray at the Kotel in Jerusalem.  The attack, which took place at the Chain Gate, was the 2nd in a week to take place in the Old City. On Wednesday, two border police officers were lightly wounded in a stabbing attack near the Ateret Cohanim yeshivah. Why this Palestinian, Fadi,  had turned violent is not understood yet.  Eli was just a person in the killer's view in his urge to kill Jews.  Fadi's wife had left for Jordan 3 days ago, giving the impression that she knew what he was planning.     

Palestinian media circulate ‘last letter’ of Hamas member Fadi Abu Shkhaydam, who killed an Israeli and wounded 4 others in Old City: ‘I dreamed of meeting God as a martyr’  Israel police have arrested the wife.  

                           

      Shuafat's Main Street

Shu'fat, or more commonly Shuafat (Arabic: شعفاط‎ Šuʿafāṭ), is a Palestinian refugee camp in Jerusalem jurisdiction located next to Shuafat, a Palestinian Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The camp is located outside the Israeli West Bank barrier (unlike most other Jerusalem's neighborhoods), but technically the Shuafat refugee camp is the only Palestinian refugee camp located inside Jerusalem or any other Israeli-administered area.                                                     

Family members gather at the funeral of Eliyahu David Kay, 25, who was murdered by a terrorist in Jerusalem’s Old City.(Photo: Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90).  One of Kay’s brothers, Kasriel Kay, told the gathering that he would not eulogize his brother, as fitting their Chabad-Lubavitch tradition. Instead, he urged the crowd of mourners to change their lives for the better in his brother’s memory.

                                                   

“There’s no reason to be sad for him. … He will be at peace,” said Kasriel Kay. “Eli would have [chosen] no other way [to die], either this or in the middle of the war.”

Rabbi Warren Kaye may be one of the mourners.  He's Rav Bet HaSefer and Deputy Head at Shivtei Yisrael, Modiin.

Eliyahu David Kay arrived in Israel in 2016 to study at the Chabad-Lubavitch yeshivah in Kiryat Gat. After completing his studies, he served as a paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces and went on to become a sergeant before working on an agricultural kibbutz near the Gaza border, and then as a tour guide for the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. His family had recently joined him in Israel, emigrating from South Africa.  “When he felt the obligation to serve and protect our homeland, he signed up to be a combat soldier, ready to give his life for the Jewish people. He lived his life with great meaning, forming powerful, personal connections at every stage.”

When I heard his name, I thought of Danny Kaye, whose surname was originally David Daniel Kaminski, and his name in Hebrew is דוד־דניאל קאַמינסקי.  Danny was an American Jewish comedian, actor, singer, dancer, comedian, musician, philanthropist, and cook in Hollywood, born on January 18, 1911 in Brooklyn, New York to  to Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants Jacob and Clara (née Nemerovsky) Kaminsky. He was the youngest of three sons. His parents and older brothers Larry and Mac left Dnipropetrovsk , now called Dnipro, two years before Danny's birth; he was their only son born in the United States. and died in 1987.  Both Danny and Eli are fair-haired.  I see a possible resemblance.  Danny died at 76 on March 3, 1987. So Danny's parents had 2 other sons, Larry and Mac.    Could it be possible that Eli Kay could have been related?  Eli leaves a brother, newly married.  Eli was engaged.   Danny left a daughter, Dana.  

Dnipro is Ukraine's 4th largest city with a population of 980,948 (2021). 

Danny Kaye said that as a young boy, he had wanted to be a surgeon, but the family could not afford a medical education. Danny traveled the world on behalf of UNICEF.  He married Sylvia Fine.   He was the first ambassador-at-large of UNICEF in 1954 and received the French Legion of Honour in 1986 for his years of work with the organization.  I remember him as Hans Christian Anderson in a movie, Hans Christian Andersen (1952).    He made 16 other movies, all terrific.  

If Eli's brother took a DNA test and Danny Kaye's daughter and male cousins took a test, they could find out if they are related.  It would also help if someone had a well kept family tree, too.  I have just found a DNA relationship of 4th cousins to  Kay and  Kaye. My brother and I both match several Kaminsky people.   I use FTDNA. If they're not directly related, they could be distantly related, like I am to both surnames.  I have found a South African contingent of Goldfoots as well, even though my Lithuanian grandparents came to the USA. I'm counting on Eli Kaye's surname also being Kaminski.    "[Among Ashkenazi Jews] everyone is a 30th cousin," Pe'er said. Pe'er is of:  researcher Itsik Pe'er, an associate professor of computer science and systems biology at Columbia University. [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds]"They have a stretch of the genome that is identical." The study has clinical implications: Among Ashkenazi Jews, some genetic diseases such as Tay-Sachs and cystic fibrosis occur more frequently.

So when a soldier in Israel is slain, we all mourn.

Resource; 

https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2021/11/yesterdays-terror-in-jerusalem.html

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnipro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shu%27fat_Camp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Kaye

https://www.timesofisrael.com/best-of-the-best-thousands-of-mourners-attend-funeral-for-terror-victim-eli-kay/

https://www.timesofisrael.com/jerusalem-terror-attack-fatality-named-as-south-african-immigrant-eliyahu-david-kay/

https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/5320429/jewish/Thousands-Gather-in-Jerusalem-for-Funeral-of-Terror-Victim-Eliyahu-Kay-25.htm

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-arrests-wife-of-gunman-in-jerusalem-terror-attack/

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/who-knew-all-european-jews-are-30th-cousins-or-closer-n199641