In Memorium: Betsy Rigell—Friend to Israel and ICEJ Shomer Society Member
By Wim van der Zande
The ICEJ recently lost a dear friend, Betsy Rigell. Betsy loved Israel and had been to the Land with her husband Sid many times, bringing groups to Israel. When Sid passed away, she felt an urge to work as a volunteer at the ICEJ in Jerusalem, and her six children encouraged her to do so. She applied and was accepted to work with me in the mail department. The ICEJ staff loved her warm and open character and her heart for prayer.
I was privileged to work with Betsy, and we “clicked” right from the beginning. Age-wise, Betsy could have been my mother—her oldest son, Creg, was a few weeks younger than me. Thus, I became her oldest “son” in Israel, and for many years, “Mother Betsy” and I worked side by side as the ICEJ mailing team. She loved distributing staff mail in their pigeonholes and putting stamps on the daily outgoing mail before we would drive it to the post office on Yaffa Street. “It’s such a privilege to be able to work in Jerusalem,” we often said to each other. Because parking was a recurrent problem, Betsy frequently prayed for a parking spot. If we couldn’t find one, I stayed in the car while she emptied our post office box inside.
Betsy was also a great help during the yearly Feast of Tabernacles. I oversaw all the translators who volunteered to help pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem from around the world receive the messages in their own language. Before each days’ events started, Betsy helped me distribute headsets and ensure each translator received a run sheet, the speakers’ speech text, and drinks during the sessions. Betsy loved that job and happily walked the long corridors back and forth, encouraging the translators throughout each day.
Wim van der Zande
After working at ICEJ Jerusalem for about six years, Betsy returned to the United States. But she continued to help with the Feast of Tabernacles until age made it too hard to continue. Throughout the years, Betsy and I stayed in touch by email until receiving the news from her son that God called her to her heavenly home.
Betsy inspired everyone, young and old, who met her. She was indeed a woman of valor and of blessed memory.
Even in her graduation to heaven, Betsy blessed Israel and left a loving legacy gift to the ICEJ, which is being used to help rebuild lives destroyed by the October 7 terrorist attack.
Rigell Estate Establishing Music Therapy Center
Kibbutz Kfar Aza was one of the hardest-hit communities on October 7 and is facing severe communal and individual trauma. In response, the ICEJ is helping with a project to renovate a building in this kibbutz to establish a music complex that will serve as a meeting space for children, youth, young adults, and adults to provide open areas for various forms of music therapy. The project is funded in part by Betsy’s estate.
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