Friends of Nicholas Berg, the American who was beheaded by Islamic terrorists in Iraq, say that during the past year he had increased his devotion to religious Jewish observance and study. So reports the New York weekly, The Forward. Berg, 26, was a contractor from Philadelphia who went to Iraq to develop cellular infrastructures for his company. He was captured in early April by Iraqi Muslims as he was preparing to return to the United States. Family members learned of his death only a few days ago, and a grisly videotape of his beheading was posted yesterday on an internet site linked to Al-Qaeda. Berg is seen saying on the video the names of his family members: "My name is Nick Berg, my father's name is Michael, my mother's name is Susan, I have a brother and sister, David and Sarah."



Aaron Spool, a good friend of Mr. Berg, said, "Nick was probably one of the most amazing men I've ever met... He was good man, a good Jew. It's tough. It's very hard." Spool also said that in the past year or so, Nick had started becoming more ritually observant, including wearing tzitzit (ritual fringes), and had begun intensively studying Bible.