Since their arrival in West Hempstead in 2010, Rabbi Elon and Estee Soniker have grown in their roles at Congregation Anshei Shalom, as trusted sources for life events and spiritual questions. Initially under the leadership of founding Rabbi Yehuda Pearl, he was succeeded by Rabbi Soniker in 2016 as the shul continued to expand. The Soniker family was also growing. In 2022, they welcomed their seventh child, Uriel.
He lived for only seven weeks, during which the West Hempstead community shared in the pain and then mourned with the Soniker family in a very public manner. This week, Mosaica Press released the book Uriel’s Light: Reflections on Tragedy by Rabbi Soniker, on the third yahrzeit of its namesake.
“The book is a collection of letters that we wrote when he was alive, drashos during the year after his passing, dealing with grief and loss, some reflections, why bad things happen to good people,” Rabbi Soniker said.
“I’m hoping that the perspective of experiencing loss and expressing grief, dealing with challenges with faith, can give people chizuk. We found that when our son Uriel was alive, we would write a weekly email to the shul. It was our perspective, a level of absence while keeping everyone updated, and people got a lot of chizuk from reading those letters,” he said.
“It is a real, authentic pain and suffering with trust in Hashem. Recognizing the hand of Hashem, given to us as part of our journey.”
The book begins with an introduction by Rabbi Avraham Steinberg, CEO of the Talmudic Encyclopedia and director of the Medical Ethics Unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Yerushalayim. “Rabbi Soniker’s collection of drashos, drawn from his personal experience of immense sorrow, stands as a testament to his resilience,” he wrote. It also has a handwritten approbation from Rabbi Mordechai Willig of Riverdale, a rosh yeshivah at Yeshiva University.
The book’s chapters include details on the funeral, thoughts on parshiyos, holidays, letters written to the congregants of Anshei Shalom, and the siyum conducted on Uriel’s first and second yahrzeits.
“The drashos in the year after are about emunah and bitachon. I try to be open with the grieving process, and you can see it in the writings and the Torah that Hashem is along the journey with us,” Rabbi Soniker said. “This is part of our journey in life. The yahrzeit was pushed off to the tenth of Av. Tish’ah B’Av was on Shabbos; he passed away on the tenth of Av.”
He thanked the hundreds who attended Uriel’s funeral and the staff at Mosaica Press for their assistance in publishing the book.
“It was a blessing to have his holy neshamah in our family. It gives you a new experience in dealing with grief. I’ve never sat shiv’ah before,” Rabbi Soniker said. “Burying a son gave me insight and the ability to be there with people in their grief and suffering in a way that I was not able to before. I see a reflection of what I gained from my son Uriel; I attribute this to him. He brought light to the world, inspired people. The book is a continuation of his light.”
