Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Anguished Jewish Parents Wait For News After Florida School Massacre

Anguished Jewish parents reportedly gathered at a south Florida hotel awaiting word about teens missing after a deadly school shooting killed 17 people.

Rabbi Avraham Friedman of Chabad Coral Springs told the Sun-Sentinel that he was tending to parents who “are in agony” after not hearing word from missing children a day after the massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, a Fort Lauderdale suburb.

“There is really nothing you can say. It’s so horrible and senseless,” the rabbi told the paper.

“This is a tragedy that will change the face of our community, it will definitely change the face of the community,” Friedman. “Something so horrific, so tragic, you got to be made of stone not to be changed by this forever.”

Among the parents enduring a wrenching wait to identify victims was Andrew Pollack whose daughter, Meadow Pollack, had not answered her cell phone since the deadly shooting.

“We’re all sick over this and just praying,” the dad said.

The first confirmed victim was identified as Jamie Guttenberg and her father took to Facebook to mourn her loss.

“I am broken as I write this trying to figure out how my family get’s through this,” he wrote.

Vicky Alhadeff said the family was hoping against hope they would find Alyssa Alhadeff. Those hopes were dashed when she was identified as one of the victims.

A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren

We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.

With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.

—  Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief 

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.