Avraham David’s father Naftali Moses said that he just wanted to learn Torah. His goal was to learn in Yashlatz, above any other yeshiva. He knew two sedarim of Mishnayot B'Al Peh, and he used to go to his gemara shiurim without his gemara, because he knew Rashi, Tosafot and the other commentaries by heart. They were part of him.
His mother agreed. "Someone from eleventh grade in Yashlatz asked him, 'What are your hobbies?' He answered, 'Learning.' 'What do you like to do?' 'Learn.' It is an honor, and gives me strength to hear this."
Naftali said that last Chanukah, he asked Avraham David to accompany the family on vacation. The boy was afraid that he would lose time learning, but his father had arranged for him to learn in the hesder yeshiva at Mitzpeh Ramon while the family was hiking. Not wanting to miss even a minute of learning during the drive, Avraham David and his father learned Mesechet Brachot in the car all the way there and back.
His father said that Avraham David was very highly motivated, and that he excelled at anything he decided to do. While he was going through the hospitals searching for his missing son, Naftali ran into a rabbi in whose shul he and Avraham David had celebrated Simchat Torah a few years ago. The rabbi recounted to him a comment made by one of the young men there at the time. The bochur said to the rabbi, "Do you see that boy over there (motioning to Avraham David)? Watching him gives me cheshek to marry and become a father, because I hope I would be blessed with a son that dances with such simcha."
Avraham David's step-father Rav David Moriah observed, "Since his Bar Mitzvah, Avraham David was on an unbelievable maslul (track). He gave himself goals of learning, and implementing what he learned. Whatever he learned in the sefer, he absorbed and incorporated into his life. After he learned about zerizut (quickness), he did everything with zerizut. He didn't look at the Torah as books, but a Torah of life."
Rav David said that in the past snow storm when Yashlatz was closed, Avraham David was at the door with his back pack. He was going to yeshiva, and since it would be closed, he was ready to sleep in a sleeping bag and learn in the adjoining yeshiva, Merkaz HaRav.
Avraham David had taken it upon himself to sleep for six hours a night and learn for the rest of the day. If he was tired and went to sleep at 9 PM, he got up at 3 AM. Often he slept in the hallway of the yeshiva with an alarm clock, so as not to wake up his roommates.
David Moriah usually learned with Avraham David on Thursday nights in the yeshiva, but on the night of the attack, Rav David asked for a rain check, because he had a tiyul scheduled for his class. He thought aloud, "What if I would have said, 'It's Thursday night. Come home with me for Shabbat.' Maybe he would have come. No. He wouldn't. He'd have wanted to stay and learn."
His mother Rivka Moriah said that she would give him household chores that he could do with the least bitul Torah possible. He'd empty the dishwasher while reciting Mishnayot B'al peh.
Rivka said, "If my son loved soccer or playing ball, I might feel sad now that he would miss those sports. But his love was learning. Now he can do what he loved to do the most with any chavruta he wants in the light of the schechina."
(From Voices Magazine)
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