Eva Sandler at the Shiva: “I Hope to Wake Up from this Nightmare”

Eva Sandler at the Shiva: “I Hope to Wake Up from this Nightmare”

This post is an edited translation of this article that appeared on Ynet.

What do you say to a woman whose two children and husband were slaughtered in a single minute?

Eva Sandler was surrounded yesterday, the day of the funeral, with supportive family members and friends at the Beit HaLevi Yeshiva in Jerusalem. They are sitting shiva for the family’s father Yonatan Sandler and two children, Aryeh (6) and Gavriel (3) who were murdered in the terror attack in Toulouse. “I hope to wake up from this nightmare,” she said with a broken heart.

Eva Sandler at the funeral.


“I feel like I am in a horror movie, it’s hard for me to even talk, it’s so hard, I don’t know how I will go on from here,” the distressed widow said.

The Sandler Family Eulogizes Yonatan, Aryeh, and Gavriel

“The pain is great, it’s hard to describe and it’s hard to cope, but we are coping with our faith,” said Victor Elul, Eva’s father. “Hashem gave, Hashem took. If Hashem gave and He took back, He knows what He’s doing. We are believers and the children of believers, and we do not challenge Hashem. If they catch the murderer that will provide some comfort, because then he won’t be able to massacre more Jews, but we don’t request revenge.”

About his murdered son-in-law, Yonatan, Elul said, “he invested his all in helping and doing Jewish outreach with Jews in the Diaspora, that was his work, which he did for his soul and not for money.”

Samuel, Yonatan Sandler’s father, added, “Yonatan was a man of Torah who was constantly occupied with Jewish outreach and bringing Jews closer to Judaism. He brought young people and students and, in general, every man and woman he met closer to Torah. He truly loved other people.”

Yonatan Sandler’s father continued: “For a long time I’ve been thinking about my young cousin who was sent in 1943 from northern France to Auschwitz, where he was murdered,” recalls Samuel through tears, “I thought that today things like that wouldn’t happen anymore, that children wouldn’t be murdered, and that it was I told Sarkozy. I hope that all of the Jewish people will keep Shabbat and return to the Torah.”

The 4th Victim: Myriam Monsonego

The 3rd child murdered in Toulouse was 8-year-old Myriam Monsonego, the daughter of Otsar Hatorah’s principal. Myriam was the precious baby of the Monsonego family, born 10 years after her next oldest sibling.

Rafael Maman, Myriam’s uncle, spoke in the name of the family following the funeral, “It’s difficult to cope with such a terrible tragedy. Faith in Hashem is the only power that can hold us up.”

Maman recalled that when he met Myriam’s parents at the airport, he saw what terrible condition they are in. “They are completely broken,” he said. “We are strengthening them and embracing them and helping them to find strength.”

Myriam Monsonego HY"D

About Myriam z”l, he recalled, “She was an intelligent girl, full of life, gifted, and beautiful. A flower was uprooted. Truly an angel. I cannot fathom that something like this has happened.”

A suggestion from Chana Jenny. In light of this tragedy please do an extra mitzvah this week, say extra Tehillim, give charity, visit a sick person, learn some Torah l’ilui nishmat these holy Toulouse martyrs.

One comment

  1. The pain is unbearable. My heart cries for these families. May Hashem comfort their aching souls. Baruch Dayan Ha’emet.

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