Crowdfunding effort for family of slain rabbi races toward NIS 2 million target
3 days after Achiad Ettinger killed in West Bank terror attack, over 4,000 donors raise NIS 1.2m for his wife and 12 children; organizers says funds intended for future weddings
An online crowdfunding effort for the family of Rabbi Achiad Ettinger, who was killed in a West Bank terror attack at the beginning of the week, reached over 60 percent of its NIS 2 million ($555,000) target by Wednesday evening.
Nearly 5,000 donors, giving amounts from tens to thousands of shekels, quickly raised NIS 1,211,720 ($335,652) for his wife Tamar and their 12 children.
An IDF soldier was also killed in the stabbing and shooting attack, and another was injured.
The charity drive, hosted on the jgive.com website, was organized by the Eli Charity and Grace non-profit group, an organization which provides welfare services for needy families in the Eli settlement where Ettinger, 47, lived.
While noting that state welfare services were caring for the family “at present,” the organizers wrote on the fundraising web page: “We want to take care of the future.”
Referring to the family’s children, organizers said: “When Tamar wants to marry them, she won’t ask herself ‘How?'”
The Palestinian suspected of carrying out the attack, Omar Abu Laila, 18, was shot dead in a firefight with Israeli forces near Ramallah Tuesday night following a two-day manhunt.
According to Israeli authorities, Abu Laila fatally stabbed IDF Sgt. Gal Keidan at the Ariel Junction, grabbed the soldier’s gun and opened fire at passing vehicles, hitting Rabbi Ettinger, before stealing a vehicle and fleeing the scene. The terrorist then drove to the nearby Gitai Junction, where he opened fire again, wounding soldier Alexander Dvorsky. He then fled on foot into the nearby village of Burqin.
Ettinger succumbed to his injuries Monday morning.
