Sarah Leisha

Nov 13, 2000 - Sarah Leisha, 42, of Neveh Tzuf was killed by gunfire from a passing car while travelling near Ofra, north of Ramallah.

Leisha, a physical education teacher and mother of five, was killed riding in a car when terrorists opened fire on it at the Arameh junction near Neveh Tzuf.

"I was slowing down to turn right to Neveh Tzuf when a vehicle overtook me and the occupants opened fire," said the driver of the car. "Bullets entered the window, and I looked and saw blood spurting from the head of the teacher sitting next to me. I realized she was dead and there was nothing I could do."

Attempts were made to reach Leisha's 16-year-old daughter, who was in Poland at the time. Leisha was buried at Har Hamenuhot.

Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, who delivered one of the eulogies, said he came to Jerusalem "to cry out to heaven and earth for the sake of personal and national security." Leisha, he said, "is fulfilling her mission to the end: She will indeed shake the pillars of heaven and earth."

Pinhas Wallerstein, chairman of the Binyamin Regional Council, urged his fellow settlers to remain strong. "It is permissible to cry, but not to be broken," he said.