Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, considered one of the foremost rabbinical authority in the hareidi yeshiva world, said Monday night that despite the fact that kidnapped Israeli teens Eyal Yifrah (19), Naftali Frenkel (16), and Gilad Sha'ar (16) were found murdered, the hundreds of thousands of prayers that had been recited over the past several weeks for their return were not uttered in vain. In their deaths, he said, they brought many Jews closer to G-d.
“They had a great merit to spiritually strengthen thousands of Jews,” the rabbi said. “It is a great merit for their souls.”
While full details of the circumstances of the deaths of the three teens have yet to be released, analysts said that it was probable that they had been murdered soon after the kidnapping 18 days ago. The bodies of the youths were taken to the Israel Forensic Center in Tel Aviv in order to enable officials to learn about the circumstances of their deaths, and when they were murdered.
Parents of the three kidnapped teens had met with the rabbi days after they went missing, with one of the mothers arriving at his house on Friday, just one day after their abduction.