Thursday, December 4, 2008
My Nephew, Benzi Chroman
by Mordecai Alexander
He will never become a statistic to his family.
There is no greater pain than the loss of a child.
Our family cannot fathom the pain and sorrow of my brother-in-law, Chaim Ber, his wife Elka, and the nine married siblings of Benzi. There are no words we can find in our hearts to comfort them.
When we read and hear about terrorist attacks against our Jewish brothers and sisters - whether it be in
He was chosen - along with the other kedoshim - as a kapara for our entire Jewish nation.
Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, London or Mumbai - our pain and sorrow are usually short-lived, often not lasting the day. Although we are Torah Jews and we know these are not random acts of fate, but messages from HaShem, most of us just continue with our daily lives. The hundreds of names of victims of terror are no longer actual brutally murdered children or grandchildren, but become grim statistics that molder in newspaper archives and Internet memory banks.
Benzi will never become a statistic to his wife and children, his parents or his siblings. For reasons beyond our microscopic understanding, he was chosen - along with the other kedoshim - as a kapara for our entire Jewish nation. Yet, none of this will comfort my brother-in-law and his wife, who bury their child but can never bury their pain.
There is much talk in the religious media and on the Internet about the need for unity and peace among all Jews worldwide. There is a slowly emerging universal awakening about the unacceptably high price of machloket and sinat chinam among Jews - not only between different groups of Jews, but even in the midst of religious Jews in the same community, and sometimes on the same block.
The horrors of Mumbai, the terrible carnage inflicted on our Jewish brothers and sisters by Muslim animals disguised as humans, cannot hold the world’s attention more than a few days at most. The world will move on and most of us will continue with our daily routine of life, perhaps less secure in our world, praying that our governments will be able to stop the next terrorist attack and prevent more bloodshed.
The pain will never go away.
But Benzi is gone forever, and the pain of his father and mother will never go away. We grieve with them, and all of Israel will share their sorrow and express their sympathy; yet most of us will move on with our lives. Chaim Ber and Elka, the parents of Benzi, will never forget and never stop feeling the pain of a lost child.
They will be comforted by the outpour of worldwide support of Klal Yisrael, and will arise from their period of mourning and see much nachas from Benzi’s three children and their other precious grandchildren. HaShem will give them the strength to find meaning for their loss and perhaps eventually help others in their sorrow.
But the pain will never go away.
Titnachamu min hashamayim.
Please donate NOW at www.krumanfoundation.org
He will never become a statistic to his family.
There is no greater pain than the loss of a child.
Our family cannot fathom the pain and sorrow of my brother-in-law, Chaim Ber, his wife Elka, and the nine married siblings of Benzi. There are no words we can find in our hearts to comfort them.
When we read and hear about terrorist attacks against our Jewish brothers and sisters - whether it be in
He was chosen - along with the other kedoshim - as a kapara for our entire Jewish nation.
Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, London or Mumbai - our pain and sorrow are usually short-lived, often not lasting the day. Although we are Torah Jews and we know these are not random acts of fate, but messages from HaShem, most of us just continue with our daily lives. The hundreds of names of victims of terror are no longer actual brutally murdered children or grandchildren, but become grim statistics that molder in newspaper archives and Internet memory banks.
Benzi will never become a statistic to his wife and children, his parents or his siblings. For reasons beyond our microscopic understanding, he was chosen - along with the other kedoshim - as a kapara for our entire Jewish nation. Yet, none of this will comfort my brother-in-law and his wife, who bury their child but can never bury their pain.
There is much talk in the religious media and on the Internet about the need for unity and peace among all Jews worldwide. There is a slowly emerging universal awakening about the unacceptably high price of machloket and sinat chinam among Jews - not only between different groups of Jews, but even in the midst of religious Jews in the same community, and sometimes on the same block.
The horrors of Mumbai, the terrible carnage inflicted on our Jewish brothers and sisters by Muslim animals disguised as humans, cannot hold the world’s attention more than a few days at most. The world will move on and most of us will continue with our daily routine of life, perhaps less secure in our world, praying that our governments will be able to stop the next terrorist attack and prevent more bloodshed.
The pain will never go away.
But Benzi is gone forever, and the pain of his father and mother will never go away. We grieve with them, and all of Israel will share their sorrow and express their sympathy; yet most of us will move on with our lives. Chaim Ber and Elka, the parents of Benzi, will never forget and never stop feeling the pain of a lost child.
They will be comforted by the outpour of worldwide support of Klal Yisrael, and will arise from their period of mourning and see much nachas from Benzi’s three children and their other precious grandchildren. HaShem will give them the strength to find meaning for their loss and perhaps eventually help others in their sorrow.
But the pain will never go away.
Titnachamu min hashamayim.
Please donate NOW at www.krumanfoundation.org
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Just Received this Letter From A Friend Of Benzion
Mumbai.
It seems so far away, so so far away. Yet last week it was just next door.
I knew one of the murdered victims from yeshiva. Bentzion Kruman. He was a sweet soul. He was a gentle soul. Why? WHY?
What is the rationale behind killing an innocent man or woman? What is gained?!?
What kind of world are we living in??
A human life being ripped away is very, very sad. Knowing and having been touched by that human being makes it all the more poignant.
Bentzi, you had so much more to offer this world! Your wife needs you! Your children need you! Your parents need you! Your friends need you! And yet you are gone.
Due to no fault of your own. But rather to the blind insane hatred that was visited upon you that dreadful day.
We wonder, did you know that you were not going to walk out of there alive? Did you at least have a feeling of false hope? Were you hungry? Thirsty? I'm sure you were worried about your family, but did you really think that they would never see you again??
Did the monsters taunt you? Did they allow you the dignity of being a human being in your final hours? When the Malach Hamoves came for you did it hurt? Did you feel the pain?
We are crying. Our eyes have ceased to shed tears as we watched your young son say Kaddish yet we are crying. We are weeping.
Our hearts are broken.
Klal Yosroel is broken
The world is broken.
It seems so far away, so so far away. Yet last week it was just next door.
I knew one of the murdered victims from yeshiva. Bentzion Kruman. He was a sweet soul. He was a gentle soul. Why? WHY?
What is the rationale behind killing an innocent man or woman? What is gained?!?
What kind of world are we living in??
A human life being ripped away is very, very sad. Knowing and having been touched by that human being makes it all the more poignant.
Bentzi, you had so much more to offer this world! Your wife needs you! Your children need you! Your parents need you! Your friends need you! And yet you are gone.
Due to no fault of your own. But rather to the blind insane hatred that was visited upon you that dreadful day.
We wonder, did you know that you were not going to walk out of there alive? Did you at least have a feeling of false hope? Were you hungry? Thirsty? I'm sure you were worried about your family, but did you really think that they would never see you again??
Did the monsters taunt you? Did they allow you the dignity of being a human being in your final hours? When the Malach Hamoves came for you did it hurt? Did you feel the pain?
We are crying. Our eyes have ceased to shed tears as we watched your young son say Kaddish yet we are crying. We are weeping.
Our hearts are broken.
Klal Yosroel is broken
The world is broken.
Jews murdered in Mumbai's Chabad House were tortured first
Mumbai hospital doctors were horrified by the condition of the six Israeli bodies recovered from the smashed, blood-spattered rooms of Chabad Center Monday. Local and Israeli pathologists confirmed they were tortured by their Islamist terrorist captors before being bound together and killed in cold blood.
DEBKAfile adds: Israelis were the largest group of foreigners murdered by the Islamist terrorists. The single captured gunman confirmed they had been specifically targeted. The six bodies were flown home by an Israeli Air Force plane and are being laid to rest Tuesday in their home towns in state ceremonies.
Laid to rest Tuesday, Dec. 2 in state ceremonies in six Israeli towns are Norma Schwartzblatt-Rabinovitz, 50, from Mexico, who was due to immigrate to Israel and two of whose children already live there; the center's director Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his wife Rivka, 26; Ms Yocheved Harpaz, 59, mother of four from Givatayim; Betzion Chroman, 28, father of three, who held dual US-Israeli citizenship, and Leibisch Teitelbaum, father of 8, an American from Brooklyn.
Israel's president, political leaders, rabbis and tens of thousands of mourners attended the eulogies for the dead at Kfar Chabad near Tel Aviv and their funerals. Rivka Holtzberg was six months pregnant. Her two-year old child, Moshe Holtzberg, was saved by his Indian nanny who fled the building with him in her arms. He was found later to be covered in bruises from a beating.
An Indian doctor, who conducted the post-mortem of the victims in Mumbai, said: "Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the 26th itself (the first day of the Islamist terrorist attack). It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again."
"Bombay has a long history of terror. I have seen bodies of riot victims, gang war and previous terror attacks like bomb blasts. But this was entirely different. It was shocking and disturbing," a doctor said.
Asked what was different about the victims of the incident, another doctor said: "It was very strange. I have seen so many dead bodies in my life, and was yet traumatized. A bomb blast victim's body might have been torn apart and could be a very disturbing sight. But the bodies of the victims in this attack bore such signs about the kind of violence of urban warfare that I am still unable to put my thoughts to words," he said.
At the Mumbai synagogue, members of the Jewish community, Israeli diplomats and visitors gathered Monday for a memorial for Rabbi Gavriel Holtzman and his wife Rivka, directors of the Chabad Center which provided a home from home for Israelis and Jews visiting India. Their two-year old son, rescued by his Indian nanny, cried for his parents. His nanny, Sandra, travelled to Israel with the child and his grandparents.
DEBKAfile adds: Israelis were the largest group of foreigners murdered by the Islamist terrorists. The single captured gunman confirmed they had been specifically targeted. The six bodies were flown home by an Israeli Air Force plane and are being laid to rest Tuesday in their home towns in state ceremonies.
Laid to rest Tuesday, Dec. 2 in state ceremonies in six Israeli towns are Norma Schwartzblatt-Rabinovitz, 50, from Mexico, who was due to immigrate to Israel and two of whose children already live there; the center's director Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, and his wife Rivka, 26; Ms Yocheved Harpaz, 59, mother of four from Givatayim; Betzion Chroman, 28, father of three, who held dual US-Israeli citizenship, and Leibisch Teitelbaum, father of 8, an American from Brooklyn.
Israel's president, political leaders, rabbis and tens of thousands of mourners attended the eulogies for the dead at Kfar Chabad near Tel Aviv and their funerals. Rivka Holtzberg was six months pregnant. Her two-year old child, Moshe Holtzberg, was saved by his Indian nanny who fled the building with him in her arms. He was found later to be covered in bruises from a beating.
An Indian doctor, who conducted the post-mortem of the victims in Mumbai, said: "Of all the bodies, the Israeli victims bore the maximum torture marks. It was clear that they were killed on the 26th itself (the first day of the Islamist terrorist attack). It was obvious that they were tied up and tortured before they were killed. It was so bad that I do not want to go over the details even in my head again."
"Bombay has a long history of terror. I have seen bodies of riot victims, gang war and previous terror attacks like bomb blasts. But this was entirely different. It was shocking and disturbing," a doctor said.
Asked what was different about the victims of the incident, another doctor said: "It was very strange. I have seen so many dead bodies in my life, and was yet traumatized. A bomb blast victim's body might have been torn apart and could be a very disturbing sight. But the bodies of the victims in this attack bore such signs about the kind of violence of urban warfare that I am still unable to put my thoughts to words," he said.
At the Mumbai synagogue, members of the Jewish community, Israeli diplomats and visitors gathered Monday for a memorial for Rabbi Gavriel Holtzman and his wife Rivka, directors of the Chabad Center which provided a home from home for Israelis and Jews visiting India. Their two-year old son, rescued by his Indian nanny, cried for his parents. His nanny, Sandra, travelled to Israel with the child and his grandparents.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
A link in our family's chain is broken, victim's brother sobs
"These were indescribable days," Yehoshua Chroman said of the period since his 28-year-old brother Bentzion's death in the Mumbai terror assault last week.
Bentzion left behind a 24-year-old wife, Emuna, and three children, the oldest just five years old, the youngest barely three months.
Speaking at the Bobov Yeshiva in Bat Yam, where Chroman had studied, Yehoshua called on his lost brother to help the family through the difficult time ahead.
"You left us here without you. You left your young wife alone," he said between sobs. "Don't forget them. Be with them always. Remember us.
"We will need a lot of strength. A link in our family's chain is broken, so we'll have to hold on to each other harder."
At the gathering of over a hundred members of the Bobov hassidic community, local rabbis and friends spoke of a "sweet, smart boy."
To the sound of weeping, neighborhood rabbi Yaakov Rojza recalled knowing Bentzion "since he was eight years old. He was such a smart and charismatic child. We're going to bury him today. How do you bury such a sweet child so soon?"
"I met him at prayers," said neighbor Moshe Yaronsky, who recalled he was always "a smiling, gentle man."
A yeshiva friend and member of the ZAKA team who went to Mumbai to collect the bodies recalled "entering Chabad House on Saturday night. It was like a nightmare.
"When I saw you [Bentzion] I couldn't look at you. We took your passport and identification card from your pocket. We shouted out Shema Yisrael.
"I want to apologize to you, Bentzi, if we missed a bit of blood. It was such hard work."
A dual US-Israeli citizen, Bentzion worked as a kashrut supervisor for the New York-based Volover Rebbe, Rabbi Nahum Ephraim Teitelbaum, the father of fellow victim Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum.
He was in India for a plant inspection and was on his way home to Israel when he visited the Mumbai Chabad House, said friends. The terrorists attacked the building, known locally as Nariman House, shortly after he arrived.
Speakers at the memorial ceremony said he was beloved by those he worked with.
"He did his work intelligently, beautifully," said Rojza. "No one was ever angry with him. He sanctified God's name among the Gentiles he worked with."
"There is no filling the vacuum left behind here in Bobov," said another speaker.
Yehoshua told the gathering that Bentzi had planned to end his work travels, which were taking a toll on his family.
"Before he left for India, Bentzi said, 'this is the last time I travel. I can't bear to leave the kids like this.' But he needed to make a living, to support his family."
"I never believed that a brother has to accompany his younger brother to his funeral," added Yehoshua. "How do I go to a funeral of someone so young, a brother who barely started his life?
"But we have no questions or complaints for God," he insisted in a broken voice.
As they escorted the body of the young man into a ZAKA van that took it for burial to Petah Tikva, Chroman's mother and wife wailed, "we love you, Bentzi."
Jpost.com
Bentzion left behind a 24-year-old wife, Emuna, and three children, the oldest just five years old, the youngest barely three months.
Speaking at the Bobov Yeshiva in Bat Yam, where Chroman had studied, Yehoshua called on his lost brother to help the family through the difficult time ahead.
"You left us here without you. You left your young wife alone," he said between sobs. "Don't forget them. Be with them always. Remember us.
"We will need a lot of strength. A link in our family's chain is broken, so we'll have to hold on to each other harder."
At the gathering of over a hundred members of the Bobov hassidic community, local rabbis and friends spoke of a "sweet, smart boy."
To the sound of weeping, neighborhood rabbi Yaakov Rojza recalled knowing Bentzion "since he was eight years old. He was such a smart and charismatic child. We're going to bury him today. How do you bury such a sweet child so soon?"
"I met him at prayers," said neighbor Moshe Yaronsky, who recalled he was always "a smiling, gentle man."
A yeshiva friend and member of the ZAKA team who went to Mumbai to collect the bodies recalled "entering Chabad House on Saturday night. It was like a nightmare.
"When I saw you [Bentzion] I couldn't look at you. We took your passport and identification card from your pocket. We shouted out Shema Yisrael.
"I want to apologize to you, Bentzi, if we missed a bit of blood. It was such hard work."
A dual US-Israeli citizen, Bentzion worked as a kashrut supervisor for the New York-based Volover Rebbe, Rabbi Nahum Ephraim Teitelbaum, the father of fellow victim Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum.
He was in India for a plant inspection and was on his way home to Israel when he visited the Mumbai Chabad House, said friends. The terrorists attacked the building, known locally as Nariman House, shortly after he arrived.
Speakers at the memorial ceremony said he was beloved by those he worked with.
"He did his work intelligently, beautifully," said Rojza. "No one was ever angry with him. He sanctified God's name among the Gentiles he worked with."
"There is no filling the vacuum left behind here in Bobov," said another speaker.
Yehoshua told the gathering that Bentzi had planned to end his work travels, which were taking a toll on his family.
"Before he left for India, Bentzi said, 'this is the last time I travel. I can't bear to leave the kids like this.' But he needed to make a living, to support his family."
"I never believed that a brother has to accompany his younger brother to his funeral," added Yehoshua. "How do I go to a funeral of someone so young, a brother who barely started his life?
"But we have no questions or complaints for God," he insisted in a broken voice.
As they escorted the body of the young man into a ZAKA van that took it for burial to Petah Tikva, Chroman's mother and wife wailed, "we love you, Bentzi."
Jpost.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
