Parents of 3 slain teens join Netanyahu for Bible study

Continuing tradition started by Ben-Gurion, PM hosts session at his Jerusalem residence

By JTA 7 October 2014, 5:30 am 2

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$Families of the three kidnapped and murdered teens, Gilad Shaar, Naftali Fraenkel, and Eyal Yifrach, attend the annual Bible Study Club hosted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Shai Piron, at the Prime Minister's Jerusalem residence on October 5, 2014. (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/POOL)$

Families of the three kidnapped and murdered teens, Gilad Shaar, Naftali Fraenkel, and Eyal Yifrach, attend the annual Bible Study Club hosted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Shai Piron, at the Prime Minister's Jerusalem residence on October 5, 2014. (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/POOL)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a Bible study session attended by the parents of three Israeli teens killed in June.

Iris and Uri Yifrach, Rachel and Avi Fraenkel, and Ophir and Bat-Galim Shaar joined the Tanach Study Circle at the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem on Sunday evening.

Netanyahu renewed the circle two years ago. Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, had started the tradition.

Education Minister Rabbi Shai Piron also joined the study group, which focused on the upcoming weekly Torah portion of Bereishit, the opening chapters of the Bible.

Netanyahu said at the beginning of the meeting, “We are preparing to celebrate Simchat Torah, when we will conclude reading the Torah and begin it again. The cyclical nature of reading the Torah and starting it again from Genesis also symbolizes the renewal of our people in our land. Despite all attempts to destroy us, each time we build ourselves up again, deeply linked to also growing the tree called the Jewish People, with our deep roots and branches that reach ever higher.”