
A Jewish father from Northern California is dead and his two young children missing after a visit to the beach turned disastrous.
Michael Wyman, a 40-year-old Petaluma resident, was killed on Sunday, when he attempted to rescue his four-year-old son John and seven-year-old daughter Anna after they were dragged into the ocean by a sudden, massive wave.
The family had been visiting Blind Beach along the Sonoma coastline, north of San Francisco, J: The Jewish News of North California reported, when a sneaker wave hit the family, pulling the two children out to sea.
Wyman, who was accompanied by his wife, Sarah, jumped into the water to save his children, but was pulled out away from the shore by the undertow and drowned. His lifeless body was later pulled from the water.
Both children remain missing, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.
Rabbi Yehuda Ferris, who runs the Chabad of Berkeley, remembered Anna and John, and noted that Michael used to be a regular member of the Chabad house’s backyard minyan (prayer quorum).
“They had the sweetest, cherubic faces. They were doing well in Hebrew school. They were really good kids.”