Yeshiva head: J'lem shooting is continuation of 1929 massacre

In his eulogy to the eight students gunned down Thursday in a shooting attack at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem, the religious school's head rabbi Ya'akov Shapira declared the attack "a continuation of the 1929 massacre" of the Jewish community in Hebron. He said the gunman had targeted "everyone living in the holy city of Jerusalem."

The eight victims were buried Friday afternoon, each with Torah scrolls stained with their blood, in accordance with the Halakhic decision ruled by former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu.

Earlier Friday, thousands gathered outside the bullet-scarred Mercaz Harav yeshiva to begin funeral processions for the eight students, who were killed by the gunman from East Jerusalem when he burst into the library were they were studying and opened fire.

In his eulogy before the procession, Rabbi Shapira also criticized the government over its willingness to cede territories to the Palestinians.

"The time has come for all of us to understand that an external struggle is raging, and an internal struggle, and everyone believes the hour has come ... for us to have a good leadership, a stronger leadership, a more believing leadership," said Shapira, weeping.

"The murderer did not want to kill these people in particular, but everyone living in the holy city of Jerusalem," he said. "The murderers are the Amalek of our day, coming to remind us that Amalek has not disappeared, just changed its appearance."

A rabbi recited psalms line by line, the crowd repeating after him, in memory of the dead students, one of them 26 years old and the rest teenagers between ages 15 and 19. One of the dead was American student Avraham David Moses, aged 16.

People packed nearby balconies to observe the ceremony, after which the bodies were taken for burial.

The procession left the yeshiva at 10 A.M. and continued on to the victims' communities across the country for burial.

Hundreds of mourners, among them family, friends, and public figures, paid their final respects to Doron Maharata, the oldest of those killed Thursday. Maharata, 26, is survived by his parents and six siblings.

Maharata's family immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia as part of Operation Moses when he was eight years old. Upon their arrival, the Maharatas made their home in Kfar Hitim before moving to Ashdod.

Maharata was matriculated in the religious elementary school in Ashdod, and continued his studies at the Bnei Akiva Kfar Haroeh yeshiva. At age 17, he enrolled in the Mercaz Harav as part of the "Hesder Mercaz" track, in which students perform nine months of army service.

After six years in the yeshiva, Maharata enlisted into the Armored Corps, even reporting for reserve duty during the Second Lebanon War. In recent months, he began his rabbinical studies while also taking some exams administered by the Chief Rabbinate.

"Doron was a very smart, honest person," a fellow yeshiva student, Yishai Rotem, said. "I'll remember his joie de vivre and his excitement from anything that was new. He was a cordial man who always wanted to help. He also mentored at a small center for Ethiopian immigrant children, took them on trips and taught them their first steps in Israel."

Among those who eulogized Maharata were Minister Yitzhak Cohen and MKs Shlomo Molla and Zvi Hendel.

"Doron's life is a flag and a symbol for all of us," said Ashdod Mayor Zvi Zilker, who also spoke at the funeral. "He lived for the land, and we say thanks to him for his contributions to the state."

Nine other people were wounded in the attack, including three listed in serious condition.

The head of the Zaka emergency service described the scene after the shooting as "like a slaughterhouse."

The other victims were named as Yochai Lipschitz, 18, of Jerusalem; Yonatan Yitzchak Eldar, 16, of Shiloh; Yonadav Chaim Hirschfeld, 19, of Kochav Hashahar; Neriah Cohen, 15, of Jerusalem; Roey Roth, 18, of Elkana; and Segev Pniel Avihayil, 15, of Neveh Daniel.

The yeshiva, which enrolls close to 1,000 students, is widely recognized as the flagship institution of the Religious Zionist movement. The yeshiva was headed for many years by Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Hacohen Kook, the son of the noted rabbinic scholar Avraham Hacohen Kook.

The Jerusalem Police increased its forces in the city in the wake of the attack. On Friday, only Muslim men over the age of 45 with a valid blue identity card will be allowed to enter the Temple Mount for prayers. Female worshippers will not be limited from entering.

The seminary shooting was the first major attack by Palestinian terrorists in Jerusalem since a suicide bomber killed eight people on February 22, 2004.

	Doron Maharata, killed in Thursday's terrorist attack in Jerusalem. (Haaretz Service)