Sara Mayer, Hasid Who Committed Suicide, Was Forced To Marry First Cousin
Faigy Mayer, sister of Sara Mayer. Both women killed themselves. Image by Faigy Mayer/Facebook
By John A. Oswald November 24, 2015
Sara Mayer, the 31-year-old Brooklyn Hasidic woman who hanged herself Sunday four months after her sister Faigy’s suicide, reportedly went into a tailspin after she was forced to marry her first cousin.
Mayer never recovered mentally from the arranged marriage five years ago, . She was also the victim of years of both psychological and physical abuse.
The depression that set in never lifted — even after the union was annulled.
“Ever since [her marriage], she has been in and out of mental hospitals. She had been coerced by her mother’s side of the family. She married the son of the mother’s sister,” the source told The Post.
“[Her suicide] was a family mental-health and abuse issue on top of being forced into marriage with her first cousin.”
Mayer’s kid sister Faigy, 30 — who left the Hasidic community — jumped off a rooftop in July.
RELATED: Faigy Mayer leaps from building
“To have lost two girls in less than a year shows that something is up with this family. It’s very sad,” the Post’s source said.
At Sara Mayer’s funeral Monday, her father, speaking in Yiddish, eulogized both daughters inside Shomrei Hadas Chapels in Borough Park.
“I’m asking forgiveness from you if I didn’t do enough for you,” he said of Sara. “I saw you suffering and I tried my best.”
“Both my eyes are crying, one for each child,” he said.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
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.
