Ten Years Later: Remembering the Sassoon Family Tragedy

By Y.M. Lowy

Ten years ago, Klal Yisroel was shaken by an unspeakable tragedy. A fire broke out in the Sassoon home on Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh Nissan, taking the lives of seven precious neshamos.

The mother, Gayle, and one daughter, Tziporah, survived but suffered serious injuries, while the father, R’ Gavriel, was away for Shabbos. The levayos were held in Eretz Yisroel, where the children were brought to their final rest, and Yidden everywhere mourned alongside the shattered family. The father's Emunah he spread to all he met was something that gave strength to the entire Klal Yisroel.

Now, a decade later, heartbreak has struck the same community once again, with the Ocean Parkway accident that occurred on Shabbos, Erev Rosh Chodesh Nissan, when Sara Saada was walking home with her children after davening when a car struck them, taking her and her two daughters, Diana and Debra, from this world. Her young son, Pinchos Rafael ben Sara, remains in critical condition.

.ויהי החודש הזה סוף וקץ לכל צרותינו, תחלה וראש לפדיון נפשינו