The Woman Who Died In The Poway Synagogue Shooting Took A Bullet For The Rabbi
Lori Gilbert Kaye, 60, was "a true Eshet Chayil, a Woman of Valor," her friend said.
The woman who died Saturday after a gunman opened fire at a synagogue in Poway, near San Diego, died saving the rabbi, her friend said.
Lori Gilbert Kaye, 60, was killed in the attack, which occurred on Shabbat, the last day of Passover, and the six-month anniversary of the deadly synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh.
Kaye was "a true Eshet Chayil, a Woman of Valor," her friend Audrey Jacobs wrote in a Facebook post.
"You were always running to do a mitzvah (good deed) and gave tzedaka (charity) to everyone," Jacobs said.
According to CNN, Kaye died after she stepped in between the gunman and the synagogue's founding rabbi, Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein.
Goldstein, 57, suffered gunshot wounds to both his index fingers, and will likely lose his right one, a doctor at the Palomar Medical Center reportedly said.
As he was being taken into surgery, Goldstein reportedly told Roneet Lev, a synagogue member and Kaye's friend for 25 years, that Kaye had saved his life.
A spokesperson for the hospital told BuzzFeed News that Goldstein is in stable condition.
Kaye "leaves behind a devastated husband and 22-year-old daughter," Jacobs said. She was reportedly at the synagogue Saturday to recite Yizkor — a special memorial prayer said four times a year on major holidays — for her mother who died in November.
Her husband, a doctor, rushed to the synagogue to treat victims after he heard about the shooting. He fainted upon learning his wife was one of them, Jacobs wrote.
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein
"She didn't die a senseless death," Lev told CNN. "She died advertising the problem we have with anti-Semitism and to bring good to this world ... If God put an angel on this planet, it would have been Lori."
After getting out of surgery Sunday, Goldstein spoke on the Today showabout Kaye, who he said he'd been friends with for more than 30 years. Kaye and her husband had flown to New York just two weeks prior to attend Goldstein's daughter's wedding, he said."
I started this congregation 35 years ago from the ground up...Lori was the one who helped me secure a construction loan," he said. "And she’s been a steadfast member, supporter, and philanthropist. Just a kind soul. Everyone in the community knew her."
Goldstein called upon the government to do more to keep houses of worship for all religions safe from violence and terrorism.
"I guarantee you, we will not be intimidated or deterred by this terror," Goldstein said. "Terror will not win. As Americans, we can’t cower in the face of this senseless hate that is anti-semitism."
Kaye's death has been met with an outpouring of grief and condolences, with many people calling her a hero.
Also injured in the attack was Noya Dahan, 8, and her uncle, Almog Peretz, 34.
Noya's family moved from Israel to the US eight years ago after both her parents were injured by rocket fire.
Noya Dahan
Her father, Israel Dahan, told CNN their home was vandalized with swastikas a few years ago, and now his children are questioning why they even moved to the US.
"(We were) under the impression that everything is good here," Dahan said. "Today we noticed this is not even close to be regular life."
Alongside her post about Kaye, Jacobs shared a photo of Noya lying in her hospital bed.
"She asked for her picture to be shared and for everyone to know she’s strong," Jacobs wrote.
Peretz, who still lives in Israel, was visiting the family in the US for Passover.
He was shot in the leg while saving multiple children, rushing them towards the exit, a witness told Fox 5 San Diego.
In the chaos, Danny Almog, who was in the synagogue at the time of the shooting, couldn't find one of his daughters. After calling out her name, Peretz replied that he had her with him.
“He grabbed all the kids in his hands and was just running towards the exit (when) he saw another kid over there," Danny Almog said. "He grabbed him and started running and (that's when) the shooter shot him in the leg. He didn’t care. He kept on running with the kids and just ran out.”
Source: By Julia Reinstein (BuzzFeed News)
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