7-Year-Old French Rabbi’s Son Killed by Crane on Way Home From Synagogue
Image by google earth
— The 7-year-old son of a rabbi from the Paris area was hit by a truck-mounted crane and killed while walking home from his synagogue.
Shmuel Sarfati was declared dead approximately 20 minutes after he was hit in the head by the crane Monday in the northeastern Paris suburb of Poissy, the news site 78actu reported. The accident occurred while the truck was turning at a speed of 24 to 31 miles per hour, police sources said.
According to the sources, the boy was hit by a part of the crane that protruded from the vehicle – possibly the crane’s stabilizing arm. Police are investigating whether the mechanical part in question was properly secured by the operator and driver, a 44-year-old employee of a construction firm.
Sarfati’s body was slammed against the facade of a building, where a passer-by tried to resuscitate him without success.
The boy was on his way home from the local synagogue on Laurence-Caroline Street.
The tragedy shocked members of the municipality’s small Jewish community, where Menachem Sarfati, a Chabad rabbi and the boy’s father, is a central figure.
“He was clearly deeply sad, distraught as any father would be after watching his son die in his arms,” one of the sources told 78actu.
Poissy Mayor Karl Olive visited the Sarfati home. He declined to comment on the incident except to say that it was “terrible.”
Shmuel will be buried in Jerusalem in accordance with the family’s wish, Actualite Juive reported Wednesday.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
