Jerusalem bus stop terror attack leaves six dead, including rabbis and a new immigrant

The deceased are Yaakov Pinto, 25; Rabbi Levi Yitzhak Pash; Rabbi Israel Matzner, 28; Rabbi Yosef David, 43; Sarah Mendelson, 60; and Rabbi Mordechai Steintzag, 79. The following provides a brief description of who they were.

Pinto had immigrated from Spain to Israel. He had recently gotten married.

“With great sorrow and pain, we received the news of Pinto’s murder, a resident of Jerusalem who was killed in the deadly shooting attack at the Ramot junction.

“With immense sorrow and grief, Kol Torah Yeshiva announces that our devoted staff member – a maintenance worker well known throughout the neighborhood, a man of many acts of kindness who gave generously of his own means and who was constantly immersed in Torah study – was murdered,” N12 News reported.

According to the news site, Pash’s funeral will take place at 4 p.m. at the Har Hamenuhot Cemetery.

Mourning his death, one of his friends wrote in a post on Facebook, among other things, that Matzner was a prominent Torah student who listened and sympathized with him even when he did not always choose the same path.

“The Torah world has lost a great scholar today; Israel’s soul is marred,” Matzner’s friend wrote, according to Ynet.

David was a resident of Ramot.

N12 News reported that he was at the bus stop at that time because he was heading into yeshiva to study. He was holding his books when he was killed.

“David always had the biggest, brightest smile on his face, regardless of the financial difficulties he was faced with,” his family said, per Ynet.

“He raised his four children – the oldest being only 10 years old and the youngest being less than one – with dedication and loyalty,” they further said.

The Bnei Akiva movement mourned Mendelson’s death, saying, “Baruch dayan ha’emet. The movement weeps and mourns the murder of our colleague, Sarita (Sarah) Mendelson, this morning at the hands of evildoers in the Ramot neighborhood.”

“For decades, Sarah worked as the director of government relations in the movement’s treasury department and was murdered on her way to work at the national headquarters in the Nayot neighborhood of Jerusalem,” it continued.

“The movement and the entire Bnei Akiva family send condolences and embrace the dear family in this difficult time.”

Steintzag, who lived in Ramot, was the founder of the well-known bakery in Beit Shemesh called Dr. Mark’s Pastry.

Per Ynet, he made aliyah from Pennsylvania in 1993. Feeling that the Jewish state needed healthier bread options, Steintzag began producing sourdough bread and other whole wheat loaves for the Israeli market.

“For Steintzag, bread did not just mean food,” his bakery’s Instagram account wrote on Monday, eulogizing him. “To him, it was a symbol of warmth, belonging, helping others, and home.”