JERUSALEM — Thirteen-year-old “Azi”, a “sweet” boy who loved learning, was one of at least 16 children and teens among the 45 killed in a stampede at a Jewish pilgrimage in Israel.
The tragedy on Friday on Mount Meron in northern Israel has been called one of the worst peacetime disasters since the Jewish state was founded in 1948.
It impacted scores of young people drawn to what has been described as a spiritual festival for mainly observant Jews.
Azi, whose full name was Elazar Yitzchak Koltai, was buried Saturday night in Jerusalem, according to the mother of a boy in his eighth grade class who requested anonymity while discussing the death.
“It was very sad…
Keep on reading: Children, teens account for a third of dead in Israel stampede