Eric & Jodi Block

We shared only a few good times all together, but have so
much affection for Avner, Ayelet, Roy, Noa & Ofri. We met at
the AGO...Eric heard you speaking Hebrew, and being from
Halifax (where Hebrew is seldom heard), he still gets that
urge to speak to every Israeli he encounters (good thing we
don't live in Thornhill!). We started talking and somehow
made the connection that Avner and I were both
Russophiles...I couldn't believe it when I heard Ofri and
Avner speaking to each other in what is to both Avner and I
a 2nd/3rd tongue. Soon, we were making plans to have
dinner. Though we are so different in some ways (Eric's
idea of an ambitious hike is from Rosehill Ravine to the
Brickworks), we were immediately enamoured by your warmth,
your humour, your easy manner, and your incredibly
wise-beyond-their-years children.

We've been in touch sporadically -- just because life gets
busy. I recall emailing Avner in the fall and laughing when
I got his response a day later apologizing for the delay
because he was (still, as he emailed me) in Tibet trekking
with Roy. I shared the message with Eric and we laughed, in
awe of his adventurous spirit and the vision of father and
son experiencing the wide world together. Amazing.

Avner was in our lives but briefly, but we adored and
appreciated him as we do you -- his family -- even when out
of sight. Eric and I received word of his death this
morning, stood together reading of this tragic accident, and
cried for him, for Ayelet, and for Roy, Noa and Ofri. I
write this with tremendous sadness, and with a message of
outreach and friendship at this terribly difficult time.

With love,
Jodi, Eric, Sophie & Faye Block