Toulouse Shooting Victims’ Mother Eva Sandler Sends Out Message

Eva Sandler, the widow of rabbi Jonathan Sandler and mother of Gabriel Sandler (3) and Arieh Sandler (5), who were killed by the gunman in the French city of Toulouse, has sent out a message to the Jewish community in memory of her family.

My heart is broken. I am unable to speak, Sandler wrote in the message published on a Jewish website Friday.

Sandler urged Jewish parents in France and around the world to increase the study of Torah in honor of her husband whose life was dedicated to teaching Torah.

Parents, please kiss your children. Tell them how much you love them, and how dear it is to your heart that they be living examples of our Torah, imbued with the fear of Heaven and with love of their fellow man, Sandler wrote.

Along with our tearful remembrance of our trials in Egypt so many years ago, we still tell over how 'in each and every generation, they have stood against us to destroy us.' We all will announce in a loud and clear voice: 'G-d saves us from their hands,' the message read.

The spirit of the Jewish people can never be extinguished; its connection with Torah and its commandments can never be destroyed, she wrote.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the families of the victims of the Jewish school shooting in the French city of Toulouse Thursday, said that the nation was founded as a haven for Jews whose lives were under threat.

The three Jewish children and a teacher killed by the gunman Monday were buried in Jerusalem at a ceremony attended by thousands of mourners Wednesday.

In a condolence call to Sandler, Netanyahu said Israel was set up for safeguarding Jews from such threats.

I saw the depth of the grief and pain of a young mother who is feeding a baby, who lost her husband and two of her little children, the agony of life cut short and hope which was crushed, and I think to myself: what cruelty, what barbarity can cause a man to do an act which is so inhumane, Agence France Presse quoted Netanyahu as saying.

For these murderers, wherever a Jews walks, every centimeter of land he walks on, is occupied territory. From their perspective, Jews have no place in the world. They want to murder Jews wherever they are, and for that reason the state of Israel was established, he added.

He also met the principal of the school whose 7-year-old daughter Myriam Monsenego was killed in the shooting.