Gas tragedy in Jerusalem: Rabbi Yaniv Yehuda Peretz and his wife Rachel a"h

A horrible gas tragedy occurred this morning (Tuesday) in Kiryat Mattersdorf, Jerusalem: Rabbi Yaniv Yehuda and his wife, Rachel Peretz a"h, perished as a result of gas inhalation, while in their 30s.

Yaniv Yehuda z"l, a new immigrant from France, and his wife Rachel, a resident of the United States, moved to Israel and married two years ago. The couple were ba'alei tshuva. Rachel, aged 25, attended the EYAT seminary of Aish Hatorah. After their marriage, they lived in an apartment unit on 14 Panim Meirot Street in Kiryat Mattersdorf Jerusalem - where they died.

Neighbors from the building we spoke with, say the couple were quiet and not particularly striking, and mourn their lack of attention, as they did not notice their absence for several days.

Tchiya, a friend of Rachel Peretz a"h, said: "Everyone who knew her is in shock. She was an amazing and unusual woman, who did good to many people. She said Peretz, who grew up in the United States, lived for several years in Germany, where she met her husband, a citizen of France. In Israel she earned a living in marketing, and in her spare time she dealt with matchmaking between young men and women from the religious and Hareidi sector. She held a number of meetings in recent months for dating men and women and other advised other shadchanim in the field. "She was much younger than me, but she had a lot of life experience that I could learn from," she said.

Photo: MDA

"She was a revered figure for people who knew her in Israel, in matters of shidduchim she worked very methodically and in an organized manner, and therefore succeded in this area. Just last Thursday, so close to the disaster, we got back together from a wedding of a couple she had set up. I asked her how she got to shidduchim, and she said she works hard all day in Tel Aviv, and therefore looked for how to do a mitzvah in her spare time. She sought to do good, and dedicated much time to it. She and her husband, who was a good man, and full of humor, had been a short time in Israel, but in the short term they were here, in their small apartment, she did a lot of good."

The couple did not leave behind any children and the public is requested to learn for their iluy neshama.

The bodies were brought to the Shamgar funeral home this morning in Jerusalem by the Jerusalem ZAKA operations officer Benzi Auiring, who just had a tefillin laying for his son, in the Shomrei Emunim shull in Jerusalem.

The funeral will be held this morning in Jerusalem at 9 am at the Shamgar Funer Home, after which it will leave for Teveria, where they will be buried.

May their souls be cherished for eternal life.


The scene of the disaster. Photo: Yonathan Zindel, Flash 90

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!