Police and rescuer workers remove bodies from the apartment in Rishon LeZion, Israel. Photo: Isranet

JERUSALEM — The man arrested for the murder of three generations of an Israeli family had been fired from the family’s restaurant more than a year ago.

Damian Kirilik, 38, was arrested last week for the October 17 murder of six members of the Oshrenko family. Kirilik was fired as head waiter of the family’s restaurant in Rishon LeZion.

The victims were Revital, 3, and Netanel, 4 months; their parents, Tatiana, 28, and Dimitry, 32; and grandparents Edward and Ludmilla, both 56. Tatiana and Dimitry were Russian emigres who operated clubs and a restaurant for Russian Israelis.

Their bodies, all bearing stab wounds, were found in their burning apartment.

The investigation has been under a police gag order. Police had questioned employees as well as the relatives and friends of the family.
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Police and rescuer workers remove bodies from the apartment in Rishon LeZion, Israel. Photo: Isranet

JERUSALEM — The six members of an Israeli family murdered in their Rishon LeZion home on the weekend were likely stabbed to death by a professional killer, according to police.

Israelis reacted with horror to the murder of six members of the Oshrenko family.

Among the three generations of victims found stabbed to death on Saturday in their burning apartment were a three-year-old girl and four-month-old boy.

Police said the autopsy showed that the father of the children wrestled with the killer, Ha’aretz reported.

The family was buried on Sunday afternoon.
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Victor Smorgon’s family are deeply saddened by his passing away peacefully in the early hours of this morning at the age of 96. Victor adored his family, particularly his wife of 72 years, Loti, his children Ginny, Sandra (deceased), Vicki and Bindy and their husbands, his 15 grandchildren and their partners and his many great grandchildren.

He had an extraordinary life, emerging from humble beginnings in Tsarist Russia, emigrating to Australia with his family in 1927 and making his mark as a successful entrepreneur in a variety of business activities. He was always highly grateful to Australia for the opportunities this country afforded him and gave generously to hospitals, schools  and the arts, particularly in Victoria. A great Australian industrialist and a true family man, Victor is profoundly missed by his large family and we are all grateful for the kind words that have been conveyed to us today.

By RABBI JAMES KENNARD

THE most challenging question Jewish education needs to answer in 2009 does not relate to the nature of God or the esoteric mysteries of the world to come. It is not about balancing responsibilities to our own people with those towards the wider world.

The ultimate question is quite simply: “Why should I bother being Jewish?”, the subtext of which is “Why should I build a Jewish family?” Things used to be different. For the first millennium of our history, “being Jewish” was an automatic consequence of being a citizen of the Kingdom of Israel or the Commonwealth of Judea. Read the full story

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