Sassoon Children’s Shloshim Marked with New Book

Yael

Mon, Apr 20 2015, 8:21 pm

The entire Jewish world was plunged into shock and grief this past Rosh Chodesh Nissan as the terrible news spread: A horrific house fire in Brooklyn took the lives of seven children of Rabbi Gabriel and Gayle Sassoon, and left Gayle and their fifteen-year-old daughter Siporah critically injured. For the shloshim of these pure korbanos, a new book about the fire and the deeper message of this tragedy has just been released.

Seven Eternal Lights: Messages and Memories from the Sassoon Family Fire was compiled by Rabbi Daniel Yaakov Travis, Rosh Kollel, who put out the book Living On: Messages, Memories and Miracles from the Har Nof Massacre. “In some ways this book is a continuation of the first one,” says Rabbi Travis. “The tzaros are still continuing, showing us that there’s more to be done….
“Unfortunately, since the Har Nof Massacre we’ve been jolted by other wake-up calls,” Rabbi Travis continues. “Four Jews in France were murdered Erev Shabbos in a kosher food store; seven Sassoon children were taken…. Hashem is calling out to us, and we must rouse ourselves and respond.”

Prominent rabbanim whose invaluable perspectives are included in the book include: Rav Moshe Shapira; Rav Shlomo Diamond; Hacham Yosef Harari-Raful; Rav Yitzchak Meir Morgenstern; Rav David Ozeri; Rav Yisroel Reisman; and many others.

The book has four main sections: Focus on Faith, which describes the tragedy of the fire as it unfolded; Memories, about the seven children who perished: Eliane – 16, Rivkah – 13, David – 12, Yehoshua – 10, Moshe – 8, Sarah – 7, and Yaakov – 5; Messages, conveying the incredible faith of the father, and the words of Rabbanim and family members, in a powerful presentation of the Torah outlook on this tragedy; and Kabbalot, detailing specific commitments ordinary people have made to change their lives in meaningful ways in the aftermath of this tragedy.

This book is a tribute to the beautiful, untainted lives of the Sassoon children, and to the mesirus nefesh of their mother and surviving sister, who risked their lives trying to save the others. We marvel at the faith of the father and the extended family, and the meaningful messages they express.

It is clear that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is sending us a strong message, that this tragedy belongs not only to one family or one community, but to all of Klal Yisrael. Together, we learn the true Jewish perspective as we seek to incorporate the lessons of this tragedy into our daily lives.

Seven Eternal Lights helps readers process this traumatic event in positive ways, while giving tzedakah to the only fund that has been approved by the victims’ family. This book was fully sponsored by generous donors, so one hundred percent of the proceeds from its sale will go directly to the Sassoon Children Memorial Education Fund, dedicated to helping families, struggling under the extreme financial burden, to pay for private-school tuition.

Seven Eternal Lights: Messages and Memories from the Sassoon Family Fire is available at Jewish bookstores, or online at Feldheim.com. In Israel, books may be ordered through Kulmus Book Distributors: (072) 244-1670.

Please continue to pray for the injured family members: Gila bas Frances Siporah and Siporah bas Gila.

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