Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on March 23, 2015

People listen to a broadcast of the funeral services for the seven children of the Sassoon family who were killed in a house fire in Brooklyn, New York. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA

Seven Jewish siblings who were killed in a devastating New York house fire over the weekend were being laid to rest on Monday after being flown to Israel for burial.

Dozens of mourners, including the chief rabbi of Israel, attended the emotional service, which was repeatedly interrupted by anguished cries.

Why seven? Seven beautiful lilies, their father, Gabriel Sasson, cried out during a eulogy. So pure. So pure.

The bodies of the Sassoon siblings, age d five to 16, were flown to Israel overnight from New York and whisked away to Jerusalem in a convoy escorted by police.

The bodies, wrapped in shrouds, were displayed on stretchers for a memorial service in a room crowded with dozens of mourners. After the service, they were to be buried at Jerusalems main cemetery.

David Lau, Israels chief rabbi for Ashkenazi or European Jews, described the fire as an unspeakable tragedy and urged the family to remain strong. Each one is a flower in Gods garden, he said.

The fire has shattered the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn. Investigators believe it was caused when a hot plate, left on for the Jewish Sabbath, malfunctioned, setting off flames that incinerated the stairs of their home, trapping the children in their second-floor bedrooms as they slept.

The blaze killed three girls and four boys. Both the mother and a daughter Gayle Sassoon and 14-year-old Siporah Sassoon remain in critical condition.

The tragedy had some reconsidering the practice of keeping hot plates on for the Sabbath, a common modern method of obeying tradition prohibiting the use of fire on the holy day.

Originally posted here:

'Seven beautiful lilies': Jewish siblings killed in Brooklyn fire buried in Israel

Category: Ashkenazi
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