During the morning hours on Sunday, 11 Tishrei, Rav Moshe Gefen zt”l, 60, was killed, struck by a train. The rav zt”l was among the prominent talmidei chachamim in Hadera, working as one of the Roshei Yeshiva in Yeshivas Knesset Yitzchak in the city.

Zaka volunteers reported they arrived on the scene to find “a chareidi male under the wheels of the train”, adding tefillin were sprawled at his side along with pages of handwritten chidushei Torah.

Zaka’s Dovid Birnbaum stated “Rabbi Gefen was on the way back from mikva, as he usually went during the early morning hours, and it appears he was taking a short cut, traveling via the freight train port. He had to navigate a meter (yard) high obstacle, and it appears that he couldn’t climb over it so he opted to walk around it, on the tracks. Tragically, a train came, and the motorman was unable to stop, running him over. Birnbaum vehemently denied unfounded reports and evil reports that circulated in chareidi area surrounding the tragic fatal incident.

Rav Gefen was a Talmid Muvhak of Hagon Rav Shmuel Rozofsky ZATZAL of Ponavez, and was an exceptional Talmid Chacham and Baki B’Shas.

Boruch Dayan Emmes…

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)