Night of Murder and Mercy

On a winter Motzaei Shabbos in 2002, the fate of Reb Oren Levy, a counselor at a yeshivah that was hosting families for a bar mitzvah, became forever linked to a begrudging guest whom Oren convinced to stay for Shabbos, despite the “too chareidi” look of the neighborhood. Twenty-six hours later, their lives joined in pain and devastation as a terrorist detonated a bomb and blew himself up, causing death and destruction as celebrants were taking leave of the holy day. Today, close to two decades later, Oren is still on site at the Machaneh Yisrael yeshivah in Jerusalem’s Beis Yisrael neighborhood, a place that witnessed unimaginable pain together with heart-stopping miracles, and which has become a magnet for Selichos during these days of mercy.

Friday, March 1/17 Adar, 2002.

Oren Levy, a young married man and father of a six-month-old son, was a kiruv activist, counselor for at-risk youth, and an avreich at the Machaneh Yisrael yeshivah on the outskirts of Meah Shearim. The primarily baal teshuvah yeshivah also operated a guesthouse, hosting families who wanted to experience a genuine Shabbos in the heart of the chareidi neighborhood, and Reb Oren was in charge of organizing these weekends. He was on hand to give each guest family the keys to their room, took care of providing abundant meals, and even took them on tours of the neighborhood.

That Shabbos was a packed double affair, as two families — the Chazans and the Habajis — would be celebrating bar mitzvahs for their children. Both families were becoming more observant, and they wanted their relatives to be introduced to the type of Judaism they’d discovered.

The guests arrived one after the other, some not observant, some more traditional, but they came with a willingness to respect their relatives and participate in their celebration. For some, it was the first Shabbos they would be fully observing.