Only On a Jerusalem Bus: Remembering the Eight Slain Students

by Hillel Fendel
The terrorist slaughter in Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav, in which eight budding Torah scholars were gunned down by an Arab terrorist, is constantly in the air.
A Jerusalem woman related the following:
"Every morning I take the 35 bus line to work. It's a quick ride, and usually takes no more than 12 minutes. The third stop after I get on by the shuk (Machaneh Yehuda outdoor market) is directly in front of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav.
“This morning, I found myself a bit anxious, unsure of what I was going to see as we passed by. As I looked around, I saw death notices pasted all over the street, and flowers that had been brought lined the entrance to the Yeshiva.
“When the bus pulled up to the stop, the driver shut off the engine and stood. With tears in his eyes, he told everyone on the bus that one of the boys killed on Thursday night was his nephew. He asked if we would mind if he spoke for a few minutes in memory of his nephew and the other boys who were killed. After seeing head nods all over the bus, he began to speak.
"With a clear and proud voice, he spoke beautifully about his nephew and said that he was a person who was constantly on the lookout for how to help out anyone in need. He was always searching for a way to make things better. He loved learning, and had a passion for working out the intricacies of the Gemara (Talmud). He was excited to join the army in a few years, and wanted to eventually work in informal education.
"As he continued to speak, I noticed that the elderly woman sitting next to me was crying. I looked into my bag, reached for a tissue and passed it to her. She looked at me and told me that she too had lost someone she knew in the attack. Her neighbors' child was another one of the boys killed.
"As she held my hand tightly, she stood up and asked if she too could say a few words in memory of her neighbor. She spoke of a young man filled with a zest for life. Every Friday he would visit her with a few flowers for Shabbat and a short dvar torah (Torah thought) that he had learned that week in Yeshiva.
"This past Shabbat, she had no flowers..."

Shpoler Ainekel adds: It's worth watching this youtube video about the attacks, to get a better picture of the cruelty and butchery involved:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iekAncY7yZ0

Ribono Shel Olam (Master of the Universe), you took away our precious Dvar Torah (Torah thought), you took away our budding flowers. We ache for them back! We ask that you return them as a doubled nechama (consolation), as Tzemach Dovid Avdecha (Budding Kingship of David, Your Servant), and as Torah Chadasha maIti Taytzei ("A new level of Torah shall come forth from Me"), Amen!