By Joel Goldenberg
The Suburban
Montrealers gathered last week at Dorchester Square downtown to mourn the latest victims of Palestinian Hamas-approved terrorism — Levi Yitzhak Pash, 57, Yaakov Pinto, 25, Yisrael Matzner, 28, Rabbi Yosef David, 43, Rabbi Mordechai Steintzag, 79, and Sarah Mendelson, 60.
The victims were shot at a Ramot Junction bus stop in Jerusalem by two terrorists, who were themselves killed by an Israeli soldier and several civilians.
The vigil, which included photos of the victims and six lit candles in their memory, took on an even more sombre atmosphere as it took place hours after the assassination of conservative personality, devout Christian and staunch Israel defender Charlie Kirk, who had been speaking at an outdoor event at a Orem, Utah university.
The Montreal event was organized by Concordia student Ashley Steinwald, a member of the pro-Israel student group StartUp Nation, and featured singer Steven Abadi’s powerful renditions of You’ll Never Walk Alone and Hatikvah.
“The purpose of this vigil is not only to mourn the loss of the victims, but to honour them, their memory and to ensure that even in the face of terror, we do not forget!” Steinwald said. “We must stand together as a community that values life, remembrance and resilience. Am Yisrael Chai!”
Rabbi Reuben Poupko of Côte St. Luc’s Beth Israel Beth Aaron Synagogue said that “we’ve lost way too many,” including more than 900 IDF soldiers who have been killed since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
“Every one of them is sacred and a world unto themselves,” Rabbi Poupko said, emotionally referring to the IDF soldiers as “the finest generation of Jews to walk this earth.”
The rabbi added that those killed at Ramot “represented an authentic picture of that area of Jerusalem — each one has a really wonderful story, people dedicated to Jewish education, to religious Zionism, one had a famous bakery in Ramot, really wonderful people.
“Here’s what we know…there’s only one argument that matters. That’s the argument being made on the battlefield and the skies of Israel by the Israeli army and air force who have rewritten the map of the Middle East. They are the ones who are supporting us, defending us, because, remember, Ramot was a terror attack, but in the last year, hundreds of terror attacks have been stopped before they happened. That’s the argument that matters, not the encampments, recognition of phantom states, not the boycotts. None of that is going to make a difference in history. What will make a difference is what Jews in Israel do, what the Israeli army does.” n