Satmar stunned: real estate mogul and benefactor gone • Profile

Heavy mourning fell on the New York Haredi community in general and the Satmar community in particular, after learning of the tragic murder of real estate magnate Rabbi Menachem Meshulam Stark z"l.

Stark was a Satmar chossid of the Rebbe Satmar in Williamsburg and only 39 when he was murdered after being kidnapped at midnight on Thursday night outside his office.

Such a tragic event in New York cannot be remembered for half a century, when 25 years ago a Chasidic avrech was kidnapped by a criminal organization, and his body was found only after six months.

The deceased z"l was born to his father, Rabbi Yisroel shiblht"a Stark, a melamed at the Satmer Talmud Torah in Williamsburg and his mother Mrs. Shenya Etiya. In his youth he studied at the Satmar Yeshiva in Williamsburg.

Menahem was a combination of a good-hearted man of chessed and Chasidic avrech who fixed times for Torah study despite his business and pre-occupations.

His acts of kindness had become famous. The shuttle driver who took his son to the Talmud Torah every day, says: "Every Yomtov, Hanukkah, Purim and Erev Yom Tov he would give me a tip of $100 for a good feeling to accept without thinking."

He would come to Israel for the celebration of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in Meron. Over the past year he even came for Shabbos and stayed at the tomb.

Last Thursday he donated 18 thousand dollars to the Talmud Torah of Satmar, and a few weeks ago organized a party at his home for the Yitav Lev institutions of Satmar Jerusalem. At the party for the Bonei Olam organization, which was supposed to take place in about a month, Menachem was expected to receive a 'Nezer Atara' certificate.

He is urvived by his wife tichye, and eight orphaned children, who were left without a father and support.

The coffin was brought after Shabbos to the Yereim funeral home in Williamsburg were he was identified by his brother Yitzchok.

The funeral will leave tonight (Motzei Shabbos) at 20:00 (EST) from the Lodani Beis Midrash on Hopper Street, Williamsburg, to the old cemetery in Kiryat Yoel, Monroe, where he will be burried.

During the funeral the Satmer Rebbe is expected to eulogize, to arouse the public to tshuva and repentance.

May his soul be bound in the bond of life.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!