Couple Killed in Moroccan Bombing Buried in Israel

The sultry air of a “sharav” blew hot over the hills of Jerusalem Monday as two young victims of last week’s terrorist bombing in Morocco were laid to rest in the Har Hamenuchot cemetery at the western entrance to the city.

Rabbis Shalom Greenberg and Shlomo Aouizerat of the Shanghai Jewish Cente, who developed a deep bond with the deceased couple over the course of their four years in China, accompanied the parents of Messod Wizman on their difficult journey to bury their son and daughter-in-law, Michal Wizman.

In all, more than 100 mourners filed into the cemetery under the burning Middle Eastern sun.

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Hebrew placards gently placed on their shrouds identified the fallen: “Here laid to rest is Messod Asher Wizman, of blessed memory. May G-d avenge his blood. May his soul be a link in the chain of life.” A similar card accompanied his wife to her final resting place.

Michal Wizman, six months pregnant when the blast tore through Marrakech’s Argana café, was born in Israel. She joined her husband and their two-year-old son David Yosef in Morocco to visit his parents in Casablanca over the Passover holiday. They left the toddler with his grandparents to see the sites in Marrakech’s old city.

The blast in the city’s Djemma el-Fna Square was the country’s deadliest bombing since 2003. Five locals and 11 foreign nationals were killed, including tourists from France, Canada, the Netherlands and Britain. More than two dozen others were wounded as well.

Moroccan Interior Minister Taleb Cherqaoui told reporters it bore all the hallmarks of an Al-Qaeda attack.

Moroccan King Mohammed VI expressed his condolences to victims’ families, and according to NBC News, offered to pay all funeral and burial expenses.

Before he left for Israel, Greenberg said the Wizmans were visible members of Shanghai’s small, close-knit Jewish community.

“Messod and Michal were very special and beautiful people with the kindest of hearts and purest of souls,” said Greenberg. “They were a sincere young couple with an open home and a smile for everyone.”