Victim of terror in Hebron believed in Israel

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“We sang the whole way,” recalled Simcha, “It was lively and spiritual.” She said that “looking back,” she remembered the Arabs staring at them as they passed, the hatred for the Jews apparent.

And then gunshots and explosions split the night. Arabs opened fire from the rooftops around Beit Hadassah and threw hand grenades down at the young men and women below. The shooting went on for a minute or two, recalled Yerachmiel, until someone ran and got a rifle from a nearby booth and started shooting. The terrorists fled. Yerachmiel, who was in Hesder at the time, saw the person in front of him was dead and although he himself was severely wounded, he dragged another person under a nearby Jeep out of range of the bullets. They didn’t know until later, but Tzvi died there. The wounded were evacuated. Six died.

“I was in intensive care for a few days,” recalled Yerachmiel. “I was not at the funeral. Boruch Hashem we pulled through. I had many visitors. Some of the visitors ended up marrying each other,” he said, smiling at Simcha. “It’s somewhat of a happy ending to part of the story.”

Simcha knew Tzvi from Brooklyn Bnei Akiva meetings and Camp Moshava at Indian Orchard, Pennsylvania. She said she learned some “very spiritual songs” from him when they both came on Aliyah. “He was a strong believer that everyone should come to Israel; it drove him crazy that the Jews are in America.” When she had difficulty initially in the dorms at Tel Aviv University, he wrote her letters encouraging her to “think positively, you’re here in Israel, everything will be ok.” She said “he was mischievous when he was younger but became idealistic, quiet, outspoken about things that were important to him and very serious.”

After his death, two books were published based on his writings and many named their children after him. The Elyashivs have a Tzvi as well.

The Glatts found out about the massacre and flew in for the funeral as did Robin and returned for the yahrzeit in following years.

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