The four Jewish men who were killed on Friday, victims of the terrorist attack on the Hyper Cacher grocery store in Paris before the start of Shabbat, are expected to be laid to rest on Tuesday in Israel.
The victims—who range in age from their 20s to their 60s—were killed by a terrorist wielding a gun inside the store. Authorities eventually stormed the market, saving 15 hostages who had been held captive for hours.
Yoav Hattab
The youngest of the victims, 21-year-old Yoav Hattab, was the son of Rabbi Binyamin Batu Hattab, rabbi of the Grande Synagogue in Tunis and director of the Yeshivah Oholei Yosef Yitzchak Lubavitch school there. Originally from La Goulette, Tunisia, and one of nine children, Hattab was in France pursuing his studies. He had just returned there following a Birthright Israel trip and was said to have dreamed of making aliyah. He was at the market often, buying food or gifts for others for Shabbat; it was his usual Friday-afternoon routine. During the crisis, he apparently tried to take a gun from the terrorist and was shot.
Yohan Cohen
Cohen, 22, may well be remembered as a hero—the supermarket employee who tried to stop the gunman early on in the attack, just after the supermarket's doors closed. The gunman had apparently threatened the life of a little boy, spurring Cohen into action. In a scuffle for control of the terrorist’s weapon, Cohen was killed; however, the 3-year-old boy survived. Cohen had been working at Hyper Cacher to save money for his upcoming wedding to his fiancee, Sharon Seb.
Philippe Braham
Philippe Braham, 40, and a father of four, had stopped at the store to pick up some groceries for his wife, Valerie. One of his sons studies at a Jewish day school run by Chabad of Montrouge, a community in the suburbs of southern Paris. Rabbi David and Hava Mimoun, co-directors of Chabad of Montrouge, spent Shabbat comforting the Braham family. Braham’s ex-wife and teenage son live in Israel, and father and son were reportedly very close. This was not the first tragedy for the family; another son passed away three years ago and is buried in Israel.
François-Michel Saada
François-Michel Saada, 64, was a pension-fund manager and the father of two grown children who live in Israel. Born in Tunisia, Saada had arrived at the kosher market just as the store gate was being lowered. Unaware of situation unfolding inside the store, he reportedly asked to be let inside so he could pick up challah for Shabbat. He was killed instantly.
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