Youngest massacre victim remembered
NOAH Pozner, the youngest victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, was remembered at his funeral as a bright, loving child who liked to explore how things worked mechanically.
NOAH Pozner, the youngest victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, was remembered at his funeral as a bright, loving child who liked to explore how things worked mechanically.
Monday afternoon’s funeral for Noah, a Jewish boy who turned six in late November, was the first among the 26 victims of Friday’s massacre at the school in Newtown, Connecticut. He was shot 11 times.
Teddy bears and a bouquet of white flowers accented by a single red rose were placed at the base of a maple tree outside the Abraham L Green and Son Funeral Home in Fairfield, Connecticut, Fox News reported.
Ahead of the funeral, the family’s synagogue began collecting money for the Pozners.
Congregation Adath Israel of Newtown posted a notice on its website announcing that it was accepting money to help support the Pozners “during this terrible time”. It also recommended two charities for the other victims: United Way of Western Connecticut and Everribbon.com.
Rabbi Shaul Praver of Adath Israel said he had spent time with Veronika Pozner, the mother of little Noah. “She said that she didn’t know how she was going to go on, and we encouraged her to focus on her other four children that need her and not to try to plan out the rest of her life, just take a deep breath right now,” Rabbi Praver said.
The slain boy’s uncle, Arthur Pozner, of Brooklyn, told Newsday that the family moved from New York to idyllic Connecticut because they believed it was safer. They targeted the suburb of Newtown for its top-rated public schools.
“Extremely, extremely mature. When I was his age, I was not like him,” Arthur said of Noah. “Very well brought up. Extremely bright. Extremely bright.”
Noah’s twin sister and eight-year-old sister were also students at the school, but escaped unhurt.
Twenty children and six school employees were killed when Adam Lanza, 20, forced his way into the school building and opened fire. Lanza killed himself at the school.
Prior to the school shootings, Lanza, who had attended the Sandy Hook school, killed his mother, Nancy, in the home they shared.
Israeli leaders have offered their condolences to America, after the massacre. “On behalf of the people of Israel, as friends and as parents, we stand with you today in contemplation and grief over the atrocious, incomprehensible massacre of 20 children and six adults – educators – at Sandy Hook Elementary School,” Israeli President Shimon Peres wrote to his American counterpart, Barack Obama.
He continued: “No crime is more heinous than the killing of a child. Our hearts are with the bereaved families of the victims, the mourning community in Newtown, Connecticut, and the people of the United States of America. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote to Obama that he was “shocked and horrified” by the “massacre of innocent children and adults”.
He added: “We in Israel have experienced such cruel acts of slaughter and we know the shock and agony they bring. I want to express my profound grief, and that of all the people in Israel, to the families that lost their loved ones.” WITH AGENCIES
AJN STAFF
Noah Pozner was a bright, loving child.
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