Rabbi Moshe Twersky, 59: Rabbi Twersky was the son of Isadore Twersky, who founded Harvard University’s Center for Jewish Studies, and the grandson of renowned Rabbi Joseph Soloveichik. Rabbi Twersky was a leader of Yeshivas Toras Moshe, a religious seminary for English-speaking students.[WSJ; Joseph Berger in NYTimes; 5 Facts To Know; Rabbi Allan Nadler recalls his former Harvard roommate; DailyNews; Boston Globe]

Rabbi Kalman Ze’ev Levine, 55: “Born Cary Levine and raised by a devout Jewish family in Kansas City, Mo., Rabbi Levine graduated high school from the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy in Overland Park, Kan., and emigrated to Israel soon thereafter, according to a friend of the Levine family. [WSJ; 5 Facts To Know; NYTimes; Kansas City Star]

Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky, 43: “Rabbi Kupinsky was born in Rhode Island and raised in Oak Park, Mich. He worked with computers after moving to Israel from the U.S., according to a statement from the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” [WSJ; Detroit Free Press; USA Today]

Rabbi Abraham Shmuel Goldberg, 68: “Rabbi Goldberg. who was known in Israel as Avraham, was married with five daughters, one son and many grandchildren, according to his cousin, 63-year old Michelle Hirschfield in London. He grew up in Liverpool and then moved to London and worked in the pharmaceuticals industry before moving with his family to Israel in the 1990s, she said.” [WSJ; BBC;Jewish Chronicle]

ONLY IN ISRAEL: “Moving story from the neighborhood where the attack took place”: ”And so I found myself in the middle of Har Nof, in a small neighborhood grocery store. The store owner is talking to one of the workers. Both are discussing the names, just released, of those murdered whilst at this morning’s prayers in synagogue. “At that moment a beautiful little 7 year old boy comes in accompanied by his rabbi. The rabbi, in a choked-up voice announces the full name of the smiling bashful child. The grocer immediately realizes that this is the son of one of those killed in the attack. The rabbi signals that the child has not been told anything.”

“The grocer rushes up to the little one, ice cream in hand and says: “Here you are sweetie, you can have whatever you want – Do you like these?” “The kid smiles and says he does. Then the grocer whispers to him, “Any time you want something from my store, just come here and I’ll give it to you for free” “The boy whispers back “Thank you” and looks happy. His Rabbi thanks the grocer with a look in the eye and the two leave. “The grocer could not hold back his tears, and held his head in his hands…” [JewishStandard] 

“U.S. Jewish Leaders Denounce Jerusalem Synagogue Attack” — Miriam Jordan in the Wall Street Journal [WSJ] • “Lawmakers condemn deadly Jerusalem attack: Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle called on the Palestinian Authority president to do more to condemn the Tuesday attack of four rabbis, including three Israeli-Americans, in Jerusalem.” [TheHill; ToI]

President Obama’s Statement: ”I strongly condemn today’s terrorist attack on worshipers at a synagogue in Jerusalem, which killed four innocent people, including U.S. citizens Aryeh Kupinsky, Cary William Levine, and Mosheh Twersky, and injured several more.  There is and can be no justification for such attacks against innocent civilians.  The thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the victims and families of all those who were killed and injured in this horrific attack and in other recent violence.  At this sensitive moment in Jerusalem, it is all the more important for Israeli and Palestinian leaders and ordinary citizens to work cooperatively together to lower tensions, reject violence, and seek a path forward towards peace.” [WhiteHouse]

TOP TWEET: CNN’s Jake Tapper – “More people with American citizenship have been killed by Palestinian terrorists in the last year than have been killed by ISIS” [Twitter]

CNN APOLOGIZES: “As CNN updated its reporting on the terrorist attack on the synagogue in Jerusalem earlier today, our coverage did not immediately reflect the fact that the two Palestinians killed were the attackers. We erred and regret the mistake.”

OP-EDS – Yossi Klein Halevi in the Wall Street Journal — “The War on the Israeli Home Front”: Nothing Israel does or doesn’t do is responsible for provoking young Palestinians to hack to death Jews in prayer” [WSJ]

David Horovitz in Times of Israel – “Palestinian terrorists should know: It’s not going to work”: “Jerusalem is starting to burn. Religious fervor is intensifying,” I wrote here less than two weeks ago. On a day when Palestinian terrorists chose to target Jews at prayer in a synagogue, the centrality of religious dispute to this latest iteration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is now unmistakable. And at the core of this new iteration, Tuesday’s attack made murderously clear, is Muslim intolerance — of the very notion that Jews have a religious connection to the Temple Mount, and by extension to Jerusalem and to Israel.” [ToI]

Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic — “Hamas Endorses a Massacre”: “The most shocking aspect is the wholesale endorsement of this slaughter by Hamas, a group that, during this summer’s war in Gaza, half-succeeded in convincing the world that it wasn’t what it actually is: a group with actual genocidal intentions…This is how a Hamas spokesman reacted to the massacre of Jews at prayer: ‘The new operation is heroic and a natural reaction to Zionist criminality against our people and our holy places. We have the full right to revenge for the blood of our martyrs in all possible means.’” [TheAtlantic]

Yishai Schwartz in The New Republic — “Politics Can’t Explain the Israeli Synagogue Attack. Only Hatred Can”:  “Rarely has it been clearer: these men were killed simply because they were Jews living in the land of Israel. That they were rabbis killed at prayer is a potent symbol of the attack’s senselessess, but their orthodoxy also serves as evidence of how utterly self-defeating Palestinian terrorism is.” [NewRepublic]

Liel Leibovitz in Tablet Magazine — “Abbas’ Dangerous War”: “When it comes to Abbas’ culpability, current opinions in Israel seem mixed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alongside several other senior security officials, has clearly laid the blame on the Palestinian president, while the head of the Shin Bet, Yoram Cohen, has argued that Abbas is only culpable inasmuch as his followers choose to interpret his speeches as an invitation to violence, but he bears no direct responsibility for the murders. It’s a discussion worth having—healthy democracies foster precisely this sort of dissent among its top officials—but even as we observe events unfold in real time we ought to look to history for clues as to their meaning.” [TabletMag]

Barak Ravid in Haaretz — “After Jerusalem attack, Netanyahu hopes ‘PR porn’ will win support abroad”: ”Despite these explanations, it’s highly doubtful that such pornographic public diplomacy will win Israel any more supporters abroad. It’s more likely that they will merely inflame Israeli public opinion against the Palestinians, increase the hostility against Arabs and serve as weapons in the hands of those inciting toward revenge.” [Haaretz]