Hamas member opens fire with automatic weapon
A 25-year-old recent immigrant to Israel from South Africa was killed and four were wounded on Sunday morning in a terrorist shooting attack in Jerusalem’s Old City. Two of the injured were civilians, and two were border police.
The young man killed in the attack, Eliyahu David Kay of Modi’in, arrived in Israel in 2016 to study at the Chabad-Lubavitch yeshivah in Kiryat Gat. After completing his studies, he served as a paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces and went on to become a sergeant, before working as a tour guide for the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. His family had recently joined him in Israel, emigrating from South Africa.
According to eyewitnesses, Kay was on his way to the Western Wall, where he worked as a tour guide, carrying tefillin and a volume of Likkutei Sichot, anthologies of teachings by the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory.
Kay grew up in Johannesburg’s tight-knit Chabad community. After graduating from Torah Academy, he continued his studies at the Rabbinical College of Australia and New Zealand in Melbourne for two years,before moving on to Israel. He planned to marry in a few months.
Jen Schiff, who was soon to be engaged to Kay, spoke with reporters on Sunday night about the young man’s character:
“It is very shocking and deeply tragic news today,” said Schiff. “I just felt it was important to share how much Eli loved this country, and how he came here by himself and fought for this country. He had a bunch of injuries in the army, and yet continued to go through all of the training and have his own soldiers.”
“He is the strongest person I’ve ever known, emotionally and physically,” she continued. “And he’s the smartest man I’ve ever met; caring and considerate and gentle and firm and very loving and accepting, no matter what their background, no matter what they say or do. He always treated people with love and respect.”
“I know that when this happened today he didn’t feel alone,” Schiff concluded, “and that he knew that being in this country and doing what he did and who he was, it was giving what he had to the people around him and to the people of Israel.”
Menachem Deutsch, a former classmate from Johannesburg described Kay as a sensitive, sincere and deep person. “He didn’t just live through the stages of life. He went all the way with what he believed. He threw himself into yeshivah, and took the learning and growth seriously,” he told Chabad.org.
“When he felt the obligation to serve and protect our homeland, he signed up to be a combat soldier, ready to give his life for the Jewish people. He lived his life with great meaning, forming powerful, personal connections in every stage.”
Zalmen Zajac, a study partner of Kay’s in Kiryat Gat, recalled the young man’s “excellent middot (character traits)” and studiousness. “He really wanted to do what’s right. His sincerity was legendary, and he loved Chassidut.”
Following his army service, Kay lived on Kibbutz Nirim near the Gaza border, where he worked in agriculture, something he did, said his friends, to further connect him to the Holy Land.
The South African Board of Jewish Deputies said it was “devastated” by the news of Kay’s death. “The South African Jewish community is reeling from shock,” the statement said.
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein of South Africa noted that “the Kay family have for generations been pillars of the South African Jewish community – exemplars of kindness, contribution and faith – and we are heartbroken at their loss.”
“They are a family renowned and beloved for making this world a better place through their good deeds, and Eli lived with the same spirit and values,“ Goldstein continued. “Eli left this world al kiddush Hashem (in sanctification of G‑d’s name), on his way to daven (pray) at the Kotel, where he worked as a tour guide. He was murdered for only one reason: being a Jew.”
Rabbi Survives Attack
One of the injured, Rabbi Zeev Katzenelnbogen, a 46-year-old father of eight, was wounded as he was returning home from morning prayers at the Kotel. He was still wearing his tefillin and tallit when the shooting started.
“I didn’t really understand what was happening … in a split second, I got a really strong pain in the arm right at the spot of the tefillin,” Katzenelnbogen said from his hospital bed at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem.
“I understand the great miracle, the benevolence that G‑d did for me,” he said. “In a second, I could have lost my life and I received it as a gift.”
“It’s written that the tefillin are connected to the heart. … There’s a connection to G‑d and you feel it—you feel covered, you feel protected,” the rabbi added.
He said he did not know if the tefillin slowed down the bullet.
Also wounded in the attack were yeshivah student Aaron Yehuda Imergreen, who is hospitalized in serious condition at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, and two police officers who were lightly hurt and received treatment at Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem before being released.
The attacker, a 42-year-old member of the Hamas terrorist organization armed with an automatic rifle, was killed after two female police officers rushed to the scene near one of the entrances to the Temple Mount and opened fire on the shooter. They were immediately joined by other police. Security officials said the first-responders’ actions prevented far more casualties.
The attack, which took place at the Chain Gate, was the second in a week to take place in the Old City. On Wednesday, two border police officers were lightly wounded in a stabbing attack near the Ateret Cohanim yeshivah.
President Isaac Herzog of Israel called on the international community to recognize Hamas as a terror organization after today’s fatal shooting attack in Jerusalem, committed by a member of the Palestinian group’s political wing.
Eliyahu David Kay is survived by his parents, Avi and Devorah Kay, and siblings Kasriel, Chanan and Na’ama.
The funeral will be held on Monday, Nov. 22., at 11 a.m. at Har Hamenuchot, Givat Shaul, Jerusalem.
