UK family devastated by grandfather’s murder
OF THE five men murdered in Kehilat Bnei Torah shul this week, one was a British Charedi man, Abraham Goldberg.
Mr Goldberg, a 68-year-old greatgrandfather originally from Liverpool, was described as a “tolerant, good man” by his cousin, Michelle Hirschfield.
She said: “We are devastated… I was due to see him in a couple of weeks when he was going to be in London. He was simply praying at his usual synagogue, going about his daily life, not trying to impose his views on anyone.”
According to a family member, Mr Goldberg, a chemical engineer, lived in Golders Green before making aliyah with his family in 1991. He attended Liverpool Institute High School for Boys at around the same time as Paul McCartney. He leaves a widow and six children, as well as many grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Three of the other victims of the West Jerusalem attack were American-Israeli rabbis, including Moshe Twersky, a leader at the local Toras Moshe yeshivah. He leaves a wife and five children.
Rabbi Twersky was the grandson of Rabbi Joseph B Soloveitchik, a founding father of Modern Orthodox Judaism, known to many as “the Rav”.
The head of Toras Moshe yeshivah, Rabbi Moshe Meiselman, said of the 59-year-old victim that there were “very few people on this man’s level. He was a serious servant of God, a major Talmud scholar and a very pure person.”
Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky, 43, was also killed in the attack. The rabbi, who had a wife and five children, was reportedly well-known for his volunteer work.
Another victim, Rabbi Kalman Ze’ev Levine, 55, regularly attended the shul.
The fifth casualty was Zidan Saif, a 30-year-old Druze policeman who died trying to protect the worshippers.
The JLC and Board of Deputies are encouraging UK Jews to pray for the Har Nof dead. However, there was criticism of a joint JLC-Board press statement that described the victims as having been “killed” rather than “murdered”.