Dear Friends, Yesterday's terror is on all of our minds. Three of our closest institutional partners had loved ones murdered in the bombing; one of the victims, Tal Kerman, had visited our community during last year's exchange program with New Jewish High School and participated in the videoconferencing project Please read Rabbi Daniel Lehmann's e-mail to the Ironi Hey community, and the message sent by Daniel Hoffman previously. See also the message from Rabbi Edgar Nof of Or Hadash whose students will be visiting us in April. We also learned that the daughter of a Gordon College faculty and several students from the Reali school were among the victims. We pray for an end to these senseless murders and send our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims.

Cynthia Marcus and Ruth Aronson

Letter From Rabbi Lehmann

March 6, 2003

2 Adar II, 5763

Dear Akiva, Nurit, and Atalia,

All of us at The New Jewish High School are deeply saddened by the news that two Ironi Hei students were among the victims murdered in yesterday's terrorist attack. We remember Tal fondly, and we are broken hearted by this tragic loss of life. Please convey our condolences to their families and to the entire Ironi Hei S chool community. On a personal level, I want to express my deepest sympathies. A strong bond ties our schools together, and I feel as though one of my own has been killed.

Tomorrow we are planning to have a memorial service to mourn for Tal and to express our feelings of loss. Any relevant information you can share would be helpful. We would be honored if one of you could speak via phone or videoconference. Our plan is to start the service at 11:30am in Boston. Please let me know if any of you could be available. I know it must be an exhausting. We plan to invite some key leaders of the Boston-Haifa committee as well as local media.

We hope and pray that you, our brothers and sisters, will be spared any more tragedy. May God comfort you among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

You and the entire Ironi Hei School are in our thoughts and prayers,

Rabbi Daniel Lehmann

Letter From Rabbi Edgar Nof

As a friend of Or Hadash, I'm sure that you'll understand what I am about to tell you.

As you probably know by now, the terrorist attack in Haifa yesterday killed 15 innocent people and wounded more than 30. What you couldn't know is that one of the victims was Yuval Mendelevitch, son of Chagit and Yosef, who celebrated his Bar Mitzvah here at Or Hadash last Sukkoth (Sept. 21, 2002).

Yuval was on his way home from the Reali School, about 8 blocks from the Synagogue. On the way, he was killed instantly when the bus blew up.

Yesterday, we called our 450 members and families, and were relieved after every call until we reached the letter "M".

When we talked to Yosef, he told me that, although they weren't sure yet, it was more than likely that Yuval had been killed. At the time of the explosion, Yuval had been talking with his father via cellular phone when Yosef heard a noise like that of an explosion, and then the phone was disconnected, and he kept saying "Yuval, please answer me", but there was no answer.

At about 8:00 PM yesterday evening, I was at the Mendelevitch house. The body had not been identified yet. To make things worse, a different Bar Mitzvah family thought they saw Yuval on TV, which raised in the family a false hope that maybe Yuval was still alive.

Finally, the family was notified that Yuval's remains had been identified at the Abu Kabir Pathological Institute.

At 2:00 PM today Yuval was laid to rest at a ceremony in which members of Or Hadash participated, along with all of the students of his school and friends and neighbors of the Mendelevitch family; a total of about 5000 people. 5 Cabinet Members and Members of Knesset eulogised Yuval (one of the MKs was Chen Reshef from Shinui, who was also bar mitzvahed at Or Hadash 25 years ago).

Last year, we were very proud of our 182 Bar Mitzvah children, but with the loss of Yuval, we will look back on 2002 as our most successful year and as a year of great loss.

Yuval was an excellent student and pleasant person. He was always on time for class and always did his homework. He was very popular among his friends and did an excellent job on his Bar Mitzvah. We will always remember him because his Bar Mitzvah was on the first day of Sukkoth, which the Torah tells us is the happiest day of the year. Next Sukkoth won't be so happy for us.

We have been saying Kaddish this year for Danielle Menshel z"l who was killed one year ago in the Motzah Restaurant bombing (about one mile from the synagogue), and we would have been finished on March 31. Now, even before we have completed the Kaddish for Danielle, we will start saying Kaddish for Yuval.

We want to thank you for your friendship. Please say Kaddish for Yuval, may his memory be blessed.

Shalom,

Rabbi Dr. Edgar Nof

Adar Bet 5763 - March 2003