A rabbi who studied in Los Angeles was one of those killed in the Jerusalem synagogue terrorist attack on Tuesday.
Rabbi Cary William Levine, 50, died along with three other worshipers and a policemen when two Palestinian cousins wielding a gun and butcher knives attacked during morning prayers.
His teacher Rabbi Zvi Block said Rabbi Levine, who was his first student, was on the road to great things when his life was cut short.
“Had he lived, in another 20 years from now he would have heard of his name as perhaps one of the most prominent rabbis in Jerusalem.”
Rabbi Block said Rabbi Levine was his greatest student, and thanked him for “changing my life.”
While he grew up in Kansas City, one of his most important life experiences was studying at the University Of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Rabbi Shimon Kraft, who was Rabbi Levine’s best friend since they were 7-years-old, described his murder as an act of “brutal evil.”
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“To have a person who is so devoted to goodness, to end his life on such a note of brutal evil, it's shocking,” Rabbi Kraft said, “It makes us civilized people wonder, you know, why don't they see it? Don't they realize they're killing innocent wonderful people?”
He is sure that his friend’s spirit lives on despite his shocking death.
“He was my little pal, I was always protecting him. He's protecting me now,” Rabbi Kraft said.
