Israel Matzav

Sharon, Massachusetts teenager murdered in terror attack in Israel

Greetings from Chicago where I have VERY limited internet access.

An 18-year old on his 'gap year' in Israel was murdered today in a terror attack near Gush Etzion. Below is the email sent out by my alma mater, Maimonides School in Brookline, Mass. from which Ezra Schwartz HY"D (May God Avenge his blood) graduated just a few months ago (Hat Tip: Lance K).

Dear friends,

It is with a broken heart that I must share with you the very sad news that Ezra Schwartz, z"l, a graduate of the Class of 2015, was murdered in a terrorist attack in Israel earlier today. Ezra was spending his gap year studying at Yeshivat Ashreinu in Beit Shemesh.

While here at school we are focused on supporting our 550 students and our alumni in the Class of 2015, I am writing you this brief note because we are all part of the Maimonides School family and today we suffered an unbearable loss.

We offer our deepest condolences to Ezra's parents Ari and Ruth Schwartz of Sharon and siblings Mollie '14, and current Maimonides students Avi, Elon, and Hillel.

May the Schwartz family and the Maimonides School family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

Very sincerely,

Naty Katz
Head of School

No, he was not in the IDF - he was in the Ashreinu Yeshiva in Beit Shemesh. Here's Arutz Sheva. 

[Ezra Schwartz] and the other students who were hurt in the attack had come to help build the Oz Vegaon site, which was established in memory of the three yeshiva students who were abducted and murdered last summer.

His funeral will be held in Boston on Sunday.

ZAKA emergency services have contacted his family in the US, as well as a relative in Israel who is to identify his body.

The Beit Shemesh Municipality announced that it is "shocked and grief-stricken by the murder of the yeshiva student, in the shooting attack at Guush Etzion."

Schwartz had come, together with five other students from abroad, to hand out food to soldiers in Gush Etzion.

The five other students were lightly wounded and are being treated at Shaare Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem.

The students are in Israel as part of a program in which youths volunteer for 9.5 months, studying at yeshiva during the day and volunteering in the evenings.

The adult who was killed in the attack was Yaakov Don, an alumnus of Yeshivat Har Etzion, where I also studied. 

Full story of the Alon Shvut terror attack here. There was also a terror attack at a Tel Aviv synagogue today. That story is here. 'Peace' is not at hand.

Labels: Gush Etzion, Palestinian terrorism, Tel Aviv, terror victims

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:09 AM