Group-Analytic Contexts, Issue 80, June 2018

68 Group-Analytic Society International - Contexts
OBITUARY
Herzel Yogev, 1964-2018
We members of the Israeli Institute of Group Analysis are mourning
deeply the loss of our beloved friend Dr. Herzel Yogev.
Herzel fought against lung cancer for the past year. He faced
this violent attack on his life with unbelievable courage, nobility, and
dignity. We, a close group of friends with whom he chose to share
this terrible news, joined with his family members in praying for a
cure. The truth is however, that he was really the one who gave us the
strength to strengthen him. He let us into his personal struggle with an
openness and kindness that enabled us to participate in his fight from
close up. His warmth, vitality and resourcefulness were catching: it
led us to believe with him and with his family, that he would survive
against all the odds.
Herzel was a loving father to his 2 grown-up children, a
devoted husband to Anat and a rock of support for his 5 brothers and
sister. He was an esteemed member of the institute and a creative
thinker in the field of psychology, in general, and group analysis in
particular.
He published numerous papers in the Journal of Group
Analysis and in other prestigious professional journals. The issues he
explored in our field dealt with the urgent necessity to constitute a
culture of mutual understanding and mutual concern between
individuals, groups and nations. A quick glance through the keywords
and abstracts of Herzel’s papers published in the Journal of Group
Analysis, in which he served as a reviewer, reveals the broad scope of
his thinking; we find notions like holding, empathy, potential space,
talking peace, emotional availability, coexistence, “to be with”,
alongside systems theories, chaos, mathematics and neurology. They
signify the humane essence of his vision and represent his desire to
harness theoretical concepts for the healing of relationships between
people.
Herzel practiced what he preached: The many patients he saw
in his private practice (in individual group and family settings) are
grieving the loss of a dedicated, warm and wise therapist who made a
difference in their lives.
The divide between the living and the dead is an ultimate
brutal demarcation. Herzel’s loss is uniquely personal for his family,
for each one of us who knew him as friend and colleague, for us