Hezbollah Rocket kills Newton, Mass. man trying to get his dogs to safety

[Ian David]

Newton native found a home, purpose in kibbutz's rolling field

Below: Dave's dog Duke, who stayed with his body after he died. Friends say he was probably trying to get his dogs to safety at the time of the attack.



By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | August 3, 2006

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The couple eventually settled on a farm, Kibbutz Saar, just south of Lebanon. She worked at a local hospital. He drove a tractor, tending to rolling groves of pomelo, which is similar to grapefruit. He ate onions he plucked from the ground. He took in stray dogs.

<snip>

Yesterday Lelchook was killed, apparently struck by shrapnel from an exploding missile. He had been riding his bike as warning sirens wailed. Bonnie Rose Schulman, spokeswoman for the Israeli consulate in Boston, said Lelchook was struck while riding to a bomb shelter. A friend on the kibbutz said he might have been trying to bring some of his dogs to safety.

<snip>

News of his death hit hard among those who knew him, in Israel and his former home. His mother, Doris, had been seeing friends at the Newton Senior Center when her other son called to report a family emergency. On the drive home, she heard a radio report of a man killed in northern Israel and prayed it wasn't her son.

<snip>

``David I just think of as being a humanist," his brother said. ``He loved to meet people. He loved to find out about people." He met his Israeli-born wife, Esther, during a trip to Israel. In 1980, shortly after they married, the two decided to move to the country and start a family.

<snip>

``We said that we hoped he would be safe, and why didn't he leave the kibbutz?" Doris Lelchook said. ``And he told us that he had to take care of his dogs there."

More:
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/08/03/newton_native_found_a_home_purpose_in_kibbutzs_rolling_field/


See also:

(VIDEO) Dave Lalshouk, 52, decides to stay in Kibbutz Sa'ar, north of Nahariya, to look after property; friends say he was killed as he was bringing his dog into house
Hagai Einav

<snip>

Alberto Ubin, a friend and neighbor, said: "He emigrated from Boston 20 years ago, met a woman from Nahariya, married her and conceived two daughters. 15 years ago the came to the kibbutz and we were the family who adopted them. I am trying to think what made him leave the house when the siren was sounded, to mount the bicycle and ride on the road. I think he tried to bring a dog he adopted lately inside the shelter."

Ubin was at home when the rocket fell nearby. "I heard the explosion and understood immediately what had happened. I ran to the fire and realized that the rocket had hit a house I lived in in the past. A neighbor stopped me and said 'don't carry on' and explained who was injured. I cried, and all memories surfaced before my eyes," he said.

Dana Brand was "adopted" by the Lalshouk family when she moved in to the kibbutz 13 years ago. "Dave was a good man who cared a lot, but for small things, private and family things. He didn't like to standout."

Brand said Dave loved animals. "If there was an abandoned animal in the kibbutz they called him to help. The orchards were also his life. As he invested all his free time in that."

More:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3285512,00.html

[QuettaKid]

1. damn.damn.damn.

F*ck this and all other wars.

[RestoreGore]

2. The killing on ALL sides must stop! N/T

[Lerkfish]

3. amen

[Virginia Dare]

4. That's probably the way I'd go too...

My critters would go to safety first. Oh, and by the way, CEASE FIRE NOW!!!!!!

[Karmakaze]

5. Why is it...

that we get the entire life story of an Israeli victim of this war, but we barely even get to hear the names of Lebanese victims?

That is a rhetorical question.

[Buzz Clik]

6. With nonstop coverage of Qana?

Selective hearing, I guess.

[Karmakaze]

10. Name one victim of the Qana bombing.

Bonus points for telling me what their occupation (or parents occupation if a child) was.

[Bridget Burke]

7. Well, this guy was an AMERIC AN!

(By the way--I think it was dreadful that he died.)

The Lebanese victims are "foreigners." And the children's life stories would have been too short to be of much interest to the general public.

[Ian David]

9. Those stories are in Arabic. But all our Arabic translators were gay.

I've seen plenty of coverage of reporters basking in the carnage of Lebanon interviewing people on the streets.

I've seen plenty of photos of the sad and desperate people of Lebanon.

I don't know why you're amazed that a Boston newspaper would go into detail about a man from the Boston area who was killed.

It's like complaining that the Boston newspapers had so much coverage about the people who died in the Rhode Island nightclub fire, but hardly anything about the people who died in a similar fire in Chicago.

[Kingshakabobo]

8. So sad.....

:cry: