Anguished Jewish Parents Wait For News After Florida School Massacre

By Dave Goldiner February 15, 2018

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.

Dave Goldiner is the Forward’s director of digital media. Dave is a veteran journalist who has spent two decades working at newspapers in the United States and Africa. A native New Yorker, Goldiner wrote for the New York Daily News, where he covered some of the biggest stories of our time, including the attacks of September 11, along with thousands of stories of hope and heartbreak. He also studied and worked in Southern Africa and has written for publications in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He holds masters degrees in journalism and public administration from Columbia University. Dave can be reached at goldiner@forward.com, or follow him on Twitter @davegoldiner

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