LEVERETT — A sixth grade student at Leverett Elementary School, known as a soccer star who liked to compete with his friends to see who could read the most books, drowned on Sunday in Puerto Rico after he was swept away by violent waves.

The family of Zedekiyahu “Justice” Mekuria Miller, 12, said the boy was on a trip with his beloved soccer coach and his family.

“Justice is the most joyful person I’ve ever known in my life,” the boy’s mother, Swan Keyes, said Wednesday. “The thing that I hold most is his love. This boy had a tremendous heart. This was a spirit of joy, of lightheartedness and care for the world.”

Keyes said the family, who moved to Leverett from California about eight years ago, is “in the process of grieving, which is quite intense,” and that it was difficult to speak about her son in the past tense.

“The soccer coach loved him,” Keyes said. “He’s a man who had given so much of his love and time and devotion to a lot of children in Amherst, and with Justice he really cared, and thought Justice could go pro.”

Keyes said the group went into their San Juan hotel’s restaurant to order food, but Justice and his 11-year-old friend wandered out of sight and down to Condado Beach. The boys entered the water and began to struggle against the current and waves.

Bystanders and the soccer coach tried to rescue the children, but Justice was pulled under the water and swept away, Keyes said. It was hours later that, “miraculously, they found his body fully intact, unscathed.”

A local prosecutor told the Puerto Rican news outlet El Nuevo Día that “11 people have died in four months on that property. … Please be careful.”

Justice was of African-Jewish descent. Keyes said that she and her husband Abbazero’s spiritual communities are the New England Peace Pagoda, where “the monks are praying around the clock right now for his spirit rising,” and Beit Ahavah synagogue in Florence, where Justice was due to have his bar mitzvah in October.

The family is in contact with investigators in Puerto Rico; the soccer coach and his wife identified Justice’s body, Keyes said, and told his family that the boy had a peaceful look on his face.

“The coroner told us, ‘This is clearly a happy child,’” Keyes said.

Justice’s mother described the boy as a cryptocurrency “genius” who was interested in music and “always making beats.” Soon after she heard of his death, she went outside and saw a rainbow in the clear blue sky that stretched as far as the eye could see.

“Justice knows how I am with rainbows,” Keyes said. “If I see a rainbow, I need to pull over to the side of the road and stop.”

The Leverett Elementary School principal and staff have been “beautiful” in the wake of the tragedy, Keyes said. When the weather is warmer, the family is planning to hold a public memorial ceremony at the Peace Pagoda.

“The most important thing is the spirit of Justice. We will do work in his name,” Keyes said. “There will be something that comes out of this tragedy to benefit other children.”

Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.]]>