Rabbi Yishai Por, 52, was fatally stabbed by a male assailant on Wednesday while studying Torah with his 13-year-old son at the Chazon Ish kollel in Bnei Brak, east of Tel Aviv.
According to police and eyewitness accounts, Por was sitting when the assailant approached him and stabbed him multiple times inside the study hall.
Magen David Adom paramedics provided emergency treatment at the scene and evacuated Por to Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan while performing resuscitation efforts. Doctors battled for more than an hour to save his life before pronouncing him dead.
Yechiel Goldman, operations officer for the ZAKA emergency response organization, described the scene inside the synagogue as “extremely difficult.”
“The holy books and study benches were stained with blood,” Goldman said.
Security camera footage reportedly showed the suspect fleeing from the scene immediately after the attack, triggering a large-scale manhunt. The suspect, a 52-year-old man with a reported history of mental illness, was located and arrested by police in Beit Shemesh several hours later.
Police said the incident appeared to be criminal in nature. Investigators said the victim and suspect knew each other and they are examining reports of a dispute that developed between the two in recent days.
Friends and fellow scholars described Por as a humble and devoted Torah scholar who had studied at the Chazon Ish kollel for more than two decades. Community members said he recently celebrated the bar mitzvah of his only son. Survived by his wife and son, he was buried in Bnei Brak on Wednesday night.
