The Great Choral Synagogue of S. Petersburg held a ceremony to commemorate the victims of the recent terrorist attack in Israel. On August 31 in Hebron, a terrorist attack for which Hamas claimed responsibility, took the lives of four people: husband and wife Yitzchak and Talya Imes, Kochava Even-Chaim, and Avishai Shindler, Hy”d.
This latest terrorist act shocked Israel and the Jewish community worldwide. The Jews of S. Petersburg were no-less shaken by the tragedy and wanted to come together to unite with their fellow Jews. A memorial ceremony was organized and attended by Jews from all walks of life. Rabbi Zvi Pinsky read the Kaddish prayer and participants lit candles in memory of the victims.
Many of those who gathered at the ceremony expressed the feeling that the brutal murder of these four Jews affected them as if they had suffered their own personal tragedy.
Yitzchak and Talya Imes left behind six orphaned children, the youngest of whom is only five years old. Mrs. Imes was nine months pregnant with her seventh child when she was murdered. The Imes’ had moved to Israel from Moscow in 1991. They were remembered by those who knew them as special people who never asked from others and always maintained a positive attitude. At the memorial ceremony funds were raised to help support the Imes orphans.
After arriving in Israel, Mr. Imes studied at the Iinstitute of Advanced Studies of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem. He became an accomplished Torah scholar and an expert on the Holy Temple. Mr. Imes was involved in the publication of a book this past year, a new edition of a classic scholarly work entitled Shiltei Giborim, authored by Rabbi Avraham Harofeh, a 16th century sage. The book deals in its entirety with the subject of the Holy Temple. Yitzchak and Talya Imes were active in educating Jews about the Holy Temple and its rebuilding. The Great Choral Synagogue in S.Petersburg is in the process of organizing a showing of a film about the Holy Temple that Mr. Imes helped produce.
The Jewish community of S. Petersburg – a member of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia – extends its condolences to the families and friends of the victims. May they be comforted amongst the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.