Mother and daughter killed in car accident near Jerusalem

The driver that crashed into the family's vehicle was driving well over the speed limit at approximately 150 kph.

By TAMAR URIEL-BEERI
Tzipi Rimmel and her three-week-old daughter, who died in a car accident on Route 443. (photo credit: Courtesy)
Tzipi Rimmel and her three-week-old daughter, who died in a car accident on Route 443.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
A 34-year-old and her three-week-old daughter were killed overnight Saturday in a car crash on Route 443.
According to police reports, the 18-year-old driver who crashed into the family’s vehicle was driving at about 150 kph. He is from Kfar Akab, an Arab village in east Jerusalem, and is still unconscious.
The mother was identified as Tzippi Rimel, and the three-week-old had been named Noam Rachel, born on the day commemorating the death of foremother Rachel.
The Rimel family’s son, Itay, was critically injured in the crash, which occurred on his 12th birthday, and the father, Ephraim, who was originally listed as seriously wounded, had his condition escalated to critical while being treated in the hospital.
Hadassah-University Medical Center released a statement explaining that Noam Rachel was brought to the hospital in critical condition, and that after numerous attempts at CPR, the staff was forced to pronounce her death in the same hospital where she was born three weeks prior.
The funeral for Tzippi and Noam was held Sunday afternoon in their hometown of Neveh Tzuf in the Western Binyamin mountains.
“The stories of the family and friends from Neveh Tzuf touch the heart and tell of a special family, full of grace and blessed action,” Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi said on his Facebook page.
“We strengthen the dear family at this difficult hour and the residents of Neveh Tzuf, and pray for the recovery of the others who were injured,” said Binyamin Regional Council head Yisrael Gantz.
Jewish youth movement Ezra expressed condolences over the deaths of Tzippi and Noam Rachel. Ephraim Rimel is the Jerusalem coordinator for the movement.
Tzippi was on shlihut (an emissary mission) with Ephraim in Chicago for Kollel Torah MiTzion, which establishes community-based Torah study centers for the Diaspora.
“Tzippi... enriched and elevated our Chicago community for four years as an integral and cherished part of our kollel family,” said Rabbi Reuven Brand, head of the Yeshiva University Kollel Torah MiTzion. He said that even after their return to Israel, Tzippi and Ephraim, parents to five, would host young students for Shabbat in their home.
Brand continued to describe the eulogy given by the principal of the school at which Tzippi taught as an English teacher, in which she described “how other teachers all considered Tzippi their best friend and the unbelievable creativity and love she brought to her classroom and students.”
Police are trying to understand what made the driver crash at such speed into the family. Negligent driving is suspected. An MDA senior medic said the crash left both vehicles “very crushed and disassembled,” with the wounded “trapped inside.”


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