It is hard to believe it has been three years already since the brutal murder of the Yeshiva students at Merketz HaRav Yeshiva in Israel. Time is going so quickly and it is hard to believe it has been ten years since 9/11. We must always remember those of us who have died at the hands of our enemies. We must remember them in order to force us to act against our enemies while our leaders fidget and mumble incoherently.
After WWII the jewish organizations repeated the mantra 'Never again' in the hopes that the hatred of Jews and the Jewish people would go away. But just chanting 'Never again' is no better than sitting around chanting 'Kumbaya'.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142426Three Years since Mercaz HaRav Massacre
Adar 16, 5771, 20 February 11 10:15
by Maayana Miskin
(Israelnationalnews.com) Three years have passed since the murderous terrorist attack at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in Jerusalem, in which eight young men were brutally murdered in cold blood as they studied Torah in the Higher Yeshiva library. Naftali Moses, whose son Avraham David was among the victims, spoke to Arutz Sheva's Hebrew-language news service about the approaching yarzeit.
Naftali Moses said that after his son was murdered, he found a measure of comfort in Jewish music. The Moses family has since sponsored Jewish musical events in their community, and is planning another on the date of the muders, the first of Adar Bet, Saturday night, in their hometown of Efrat.
Music “helps us cope, as a family,” Moses said. Making it a communal event helps the family to give back to the community, which gave its support following the tragedy, he said.
“Rabbi Akiva said that the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies,” he noted. “The evening will follow in the path of King David, the songs that will be sung will be verses from Psalms.”
He spoke about his son, who was just 16 when he was murdered by a gun-wielding terrorist. “One of his teachers said he had a smile like an angel,” he recalled.
“In the last year of his life, he was unusually dedicated to learning Torah. He would get up to pray at sunrise every morning,” Naftali continued. “One time I came to bring him a birthday present. I got there during the afternoon break and entered the dormitory to look for him. I asked one of the students where Avraham David was, and he said 'You're Avraham David's father? You're looking for him here?' I said 'yes,' and he answered that there was no way Avraham David was in the dormitory – he was in the Beit Midrash [study hall – ed.].”
Other victims of the 2008 terrorist attack were Segev Peniel Avihai, 15, Doron Meherete, 26, Roi Roth, 18, Neria Cohen, 15, Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar, 16, Yochai Lifshitz, 18, and Yehonadav Chaim Hirschfeld, 19. Several other young men were wounded, some of them severely. The rabbis who taught the martyrs are in continued contact with their families.
The terrorist who perpetrated the attack was Alaa Abu Dhein of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber. He was shot and killed by brave off-duty IDF officers Yitzchak Dadon and David Shapiro, who raced into the building to stop the attack before police who reached the scene reacted. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
One year after the attack, eight Torah scrolls were dedicated to Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva in honor of the eight victims. Around the same time, Yitzchak Dadon's new baby son was ritually circumcised by the father of one of the victims.