Community of Nof Ayalon rallies around Frankel family

The town of 430 families united with Frankel family praying all through Shabbat; Naftali Frankel described as "a normal youngster" who is athletic, loves soccer.

By BEN HARTMAN
Naftali Frankel (photo credit: Courtesy)
Naftali Frankel
(photo credit: Courtesy)
In the small community of Nof Ayalon, home to Naftali Frankel, head of the yishuv Josh Patt described how the community has dealt with the news.
He said that news of the kidnapping circled the community already around 10am on Friday both officially and by way of local teenagers getting updates on WhatsApp, including all the false rumors the rest of the country heard.
Patt said the town of 430 families has united with the Frankel family with prayers all through Shabbat in the local synagogues.
He said that with school week starting tomorrow people will be on hand to talk go the children about the situation, adding that in a small place like this, everyone is helping look out for one another.
Asked about hitching rides, he said public transport is a serious problem, and while the parents tell their kids not to hitch rides, most youth don't usually have other options.
Yishai Frankel, Naftali's uncle, said the family wasn't getting involved in the issue of hitching rides, saying "we still don't know what happened and we're trying to avoid rumors and speculation."
He said the family had also heard all the false rumors like the rest of the country on Friday but have detached from it and "are together, helping each other and getting all our updates only from official sources."
Asked about Naftali, he described his nephew as "a normal youngster, a little kid really, athletic, loves soccer and was studying for his bagrut."
He added that the family "is in shock, it was a very tense Shabbat and we were all together in the house."