The son of a prominent UK rabbi has drowned in the sea while on his honeymoon in the Philippines.
Benedict Hayyim Anidjar Romain died on Sunday after the "weather turned" quickly and he was caught in a riptide in southeast Asia.
Rabbi Jonathan last saw his son two weeks before the 34-year-old sculptor and his wife Stella, 30, departed for their honeymoon, following their nuptials last summer. His father carried out the ceremony for the wedding.
Rabbi Romain told the Jewish Chronicle: "It’s deeply painful. But I know from seeing so many others suffer a massive bereavement that, one day, we will laugh and sing again. Although I must admit it doesn't feel like that right now.
"I have officiated at several hundred funerals and grieved with many congregants over the years, which makes me aware, though it’s obvious really, that my grief is not unique and that many others have suffered searing pain too, so there is nothing exceptional about what our family is facing.
"It has also shown me how those who were beyond comfort at the time, eventually re-enter the stream of life and, although they never forget and the pain is always deeply etched in their memory, they can still have happy lives and consider themselves blessed."
Rabbi Romain can take solace from the sculpture of a prayer book turning into a dove which Benedict created at Maidenhead Synagogue, where he attended regularly as a child.
He said: "It’s right by the synagogue entrance. I love walking past it every day."
Rabbi Romain and his wife Rabbi Sybil Sheridan, a part-time minister at Newcastle Reform Synagogue, are awaiting details of their son’s repatriation.
The couple, who have three other sons, decided not to make the trip to the Philippines, where Stella's parents are currently supporting their distraught daughter following the tragedy.
Her parents were coincidentally on holiday near the island when Benedict and Stella were staying.
Rabbi Romain added: "By the time we get there, a 17-hour flight and then another half-day travel, we hope he will have been brought home."
Benedict was a sculptor who studied fine art at the Cardiff School of Art and Design and at Oxford Brookes University.
