Are You allowed to say "Yemach Shmo" on a Jew?

R' Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld

The guru of the anti-Zionists is the late Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld who was the leader of the Eida Hacharedis in Yerushalyim.

R' Sonnenfeld heard another rabbi speaking about a Jew that supposedly went off the derech and was Mechallel Hashem in public and so this rabbi cursed him ... calling him "Yemach Shmo" translated as "may his name be obliterated.

R' Sonnenfelf started screaming at the rabbi :

"Chas Ve'Sholom .... it is prohibited to say that about another  Jewish person and it is in fact against Halacha!

We see in Halacha that if a person who does not observe Jewish law and he dies without children, his living brother is required to either marry his dead brother's wife  .. Yeebum .... or give her Chalitzah. And the reason behind this Torah requirement is that his dead brother's name not be forever obliterated....and you curse him saying "May his name be obliterated?" Yemach Shmo??

Who appointed you as Hashem's advisor and to curse this fellow and say Yemach Shmo? 

Instead why don't you pray that he repent? 

If the names of Ahaz, Menasheh and Amnon would have been obliterated, G-D Forbid, how would Moshiach be born?"

Yet there are many people who comment on this blog and call Moreinu Harav Avraham Yitzchok Kook z"l, who was a Tzaddik Tamim, and a huge Talmud Chochum .... "Yemach Shmo"....

Readers don't usually see these comments because I delete them, but some pass through ...... 

 

דברי תורה

?האם מותר לומר על יהודי רחוק ימח שמו

הרב יוסף חיים זוננפלד, רבה של העדה החרדית בירושלים, שמע פעם את אחד הרבנים מדבר על פלוני שיצא לתרבות זרה וחילל שם שמיים ברבים, ומקלל אותו נמרצות באמרו: "ימח שמו!".

רבי יוסף חיים זוננפלד נזעק מיד, ואמר: "חס ושלום, אסור לומר כן על בן ישראל! זה אף נוגד את ההלכה, שהרי ההלכה היא שגם אם אדם המיר את דתו, ומת בלי בנים – אחיו חייב ביבום או בחליצה לאלמנתו... וכל העניין של יבום נעשה כדי "להקים על שם אחיו המת ולא ימחה שמו בישראל". ואתה אומר "ימח שמו"? מי שמך להיות יועץ לה' יתברך, ולומר ש"ימח שמו", חס ושלום? במקום זה, התפלל עליו שישוב בתשובה. הרי אם חס ושלום היה נמחה שמם של אחז ומנשה ואמנון, איך היה נולד משיח?"...

לצערנו הרב, אנו נתקלים רבות באנשים שמתירים לעצמם להשתמש בלשון של: "ימח שמו" על אדם כזה או אחר, ומצוה להודיע ולפרסם ברבים שזהו איסור גמור! אסור לומר על בן ישראל, ואף על הגרוע שבגרועים, "ימח שמו", מכיון שגם על אחד שכזה שם ישראל נקרא. וכמו שציין הרב יוסף חיים זוננפלד, אפילו יהודי שחלילה המיר את דתו, לא ימחה שמו בישראל.

New Book Authored By Rabbi A”Y Kook זצ''ל Published After 130 Years

130 years after it was written and 83 years after the death of its author, a new book by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hacohen Kook was published. Rabbi Kook was one of the great sages from the previous century who formed the spiritual backbone of the religious Zionist movement.

When he was only 22 years old, Rabbi Kook was appointed to be the Rabbi of Žeimelis, a town in Lithuania which Jews called Žeimel. At that time Rabbi Kook began writing his thoughts down in notebooks. Some of these notes were comprised of only one line, while other spanned pages of flowing text. In one of the notebooks were 430 separate sections spanning all matters in Judaism, from Halachik philosophy to thoughts on the Parsha.

Over the years, approximately one-third of the notebook was published in various works attributed to Rabbi Kook. However, for some reason, no one knew about the remainder of the notebook, and those who did not see fit to publish it. Then, 15 years ago a photocopied version of the notebook found its way to the hands of Rabbi Harel Cohen, who is in charge of the publishing house for Yeshivat Beit El.

“I received a copy of the notebook from Rabbi Boaz Ofan from Yeshivat Beit El. 11 years later, after we saw that no one is publishing the work, we gathered a staff of 15 avreichim and rabbanim and began the arduous task of publishing the work which took us four years to accomplish.

The book is called Metziut Kattan and spans 750 pages of thoughts by Rabbi Kook over the years. “Damage caused by time, poor copying and the special style of handwriting which Rabbi Kook had caused it to take four years for us to understand each word in the high vocabulary that is a signature of Rabbi Kook’s work. This work puts into perspective parts of his other works that referenced the full notebook, which until now had been unavailable.”

Rabbi Cohen added: It was rare for Rabbi Kook to write books in a linear and ordered format. The majority of his works were written in letter or notebooks such as the one that came into our possession. He thought faster than he could write and was not able to put himself in a place where he could write according to specific linear subjects. This notebook is but the first of dozens that were written in this style.”

Blaze Bernstein Found Murdered

The body of a University of Pennsylvania student who went missing while home in Southern California on winter break has been found and his death is being investigated as a homicide, authorities said on Wednesday.

Authorities had been searching for 19-year-old Blaze Bernstein for days when his body was found Tuesday afternoon in brush surrounding a neighborhood park in the Foothill Ranch area of the city of Lake Forest, the Orange County sheriff's department said in a statement.

Bernstein, who was home visiting his family, was last seen around 11 p.m. on Jan. 2 while entering Borrego Park. Witnesses said Bernstein met up with a friend and the two drove there, and he got out of the vehicle and went into the park, authorities said.

Search and rescue crews looked for Bernstein for several days, with assistance from drone pilots.

Authorities declined to release information about the cause of death, saying their investigation was ongoing. An autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday.

Bernstein, a sophomore, was planning to major in psychology and later study medicine, The Orange County Register reported his father, Gideon, saying last week.

Bernstein was picked up by a high school friend on Jan. 2 and was heading to meet a third person in the park, said Annee Della Donna, an attorney and a friend of the family.

When Bernstein didn't return, his friend began sending him text messages but did not hear back, she said, adding the location device on his phone eventually stopped working.

"The only thing I can think of is that maybe he was abducted," the Register reported Bernstein's mother, Jeanne, saying on Sunday. "I can't figure out why anybody would want to hurt my son." 

Satmar Perfidy (Part 2)

Part 2

Finally the truth about the conduct of the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum and his followers during and after the Holocaust! 

This is the second of a two-part investigation into the life of the Satmar Rebbe. Read part one here.

***

During his stay in the Cluj ghetto, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum hid rather than position himself as a leader. 

On the rescue train, he avoided the other passengers, failed to encourage or to comfort them, and did not share the precious commodities provided by his followers with them. In Bergen-Belsen, too, despite the preferential treatment accorded him in the camp, he refrained from assuming a leadership role, even among the observant inmates. After his release, Rabbi Yoel elected to run a rescue campaign from the safety of Switzerland. His efforts to rescue Jewish children raised by gentiles were restricted to fundraising, and even in that task he failed abysmally. Once again, his conduct stands in stark contrast to that of other rabbis, who returned to their hometowns to lead their surviving flocks or worked relentlessly in the DP camps. All the sources describing the rescue activities of the Haredi community during the Holocaust, including archival sources, indicate that compared to other rabbis who survived the Holocaust, Rabbi Yoel’s contribution was negligible in both scope and significance.

After the Holocaust, Rabbi Yoel also turned his back on all those who had helped to rescue him. After settling in Palestine in 1946, he refrained from expressing any gratitude to the people and institutions that had been instrumental in his rescue and had endeavored to obtain certificates for him, among them Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Herzog, Agudath Israel leaders Rabbi Yitzhak Meir Levin and Rabbi Moshe Porush, and Ha-Mizrahi’s Rabbi Joseph Yitzhak Rotenberg. He scathingly attacked the institutions they headed and, unlike other Hasidic rebbes they helped rescue, refused to make even the slightest symbolic gesture of gratitude. Moreover, it seems he repudiated his benefactors on a personal level, too. As far as we know, Rabbi Yoel never sent any letters of gratitude or appreciation to any of the people or institutions involved in his rescue.

Satmar Perfidy (Part 1)

Finally the truth about the conduct of the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum and his followers during and after the Holocaust!

We have posted this before, but will re-post it to those who are new to this blog!

This article is adapted from an essay that appeared in Dapim 28:2 (2014), available here, and in Menachem Keren-Kratz’s  biography, The Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum.

In her book Be-Seter Ha-Madrega (In the Covert of the Cliff), Haredi Holocaust historian Esther Farbstein writes, “Rabbi Yoel (Yoelish) of Satmar was unquestionably chief among leaders [of Haredi Jews in Hungary].” If Farbstein is correct in her claim, Rabbi Yoel’s conduct before, during, and after the Holocaust may explain, albeit only partially, the extraordinary devastation suffered by the Hungarian Orthodox community, which had regarded him as “chief among leaders.”

The first section of this article describes Rabbi Yoel’s life and actions during the Holocaust, both on personal and public levels, as reflected in his writings, the contemporary press, memoirs written by his Hasidim, and archival sources. In many cases, researchers note that Rabbi Yoel’s position regarding the Holocaust was extreme and exceptional compared to views held by other rabbis and spokespeople of the Haredi community. Yet the worldview he cultivated, coupled with his theological explanations of the Holocaust and its mystical meaning, drew a growing number of followers, in whose eyes he was the last remnant of a dying ideology. His anti-Zionist worldview, representing as it did to them the Eastern European “Old Home,” expunged his failures during the Holocaust. As his public stature grew, criticism from within diminished, while criticism from without was disregarded and dismissed as Zionist defamation.

Rabbi Raziel Shevach a father of 6 Murdered by Arabs

Rabbi Shevach arriving at hospital

Rabbi Raziel Shevach, a 35 year-old Jewish father of six, has died of his wounds following a shooting attack near Havat Gilad in Samaria this evening.

Rabbi Shevch with family in above photo and as a Mohel in lower photo

Rabbi Shevach was a mohel and volunteered with Magen David Adom. About a year ago, he finished studies for the rabbinate, and was currently at the peak of studies to be a rabbinical arbiter.

Medics provided aid to the wounded man and evacuated him to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba.

Initial reports indicate that terrorists shot from a passing vehicle and escaped the scene.

Security forces are combing the area.

MDA medic Elyashiv Reichenberg described the scene.

 "I departed in an MDA ambulance from the nearby community of Kedumim, arriving at the scene within a very short time. On the side of the road near the security rail, I could see a private vehicle which bore signs of gunfire. Approaching the vehicle, I saw that the driver was partially conscious, with bullet wounds to his upper body."

"Residents who live in the community nearby heard the shooting and arrived to help. With the help of an IDF medical team that also arrived the scene, we provided emergency life-saving treatment, then evacuated him to the hospital in critical condition," the medic described.

Samaria Council head Yossi Dagan responded to the tragic incident, saying, "It's inconceivable that terrorists feel free to shoot at innocent civilians. Nevertheless, I want to send a clear message to our enemies: We will not give in to terror. We have chosen the path of life."

Skeverer Rents Home to Illegals in New Hempstead without even owning it!!

 We reported on Dec 2, how Skver is dumping hundreds of illegal latinos in New Hempstead, a town bordering New Square, to prevent young Jewish families from moving close to New Square. 

They buy homes and then rent them out to illegals, many of them violent criminals to discourage frum Jews from buying reasonable homes in the neighborhood. 

The motive behind these bizarre Skverer actions is that they don't want the Skverer children to know that there are other Jews in the world that are not Skver who are Shomrei Torah Umitzvois ....

Now they are renting homes to illegal criminals with homes they don't even own!!!

Rockland County Executive Ed Day announced the county is suing two men who they allege illegally occupied and rented property that had been foreclosed.

The county is suing Joseph Greenbaum and Elazer Dancziger for renting foreclosed apartments in New Hempstead that the county owned.

"Their actions were not only illegal, they were outrageous," said Day. "It's a scam – like renting the Brooklyn Bridge. They represented that they owned a property that they did not own."

In a complaint filed in Rockland County Supreme Court, the county is seeking to recover damages for the unlawful occupation of the property.

Greenbaum, the property owner, had failed to pay taxes on the property since 2012, the county said.

After the county took possession of the property, all tenants were told they had to move though the two men continued to rent the property. Tenants told investigators that they had paid $2,000 in rent per unit, the county said.

The case has been referred to the Rockland County Sheriff's Department for criminal investigation.

Matzeivah of Rav Shteinmen vs Matzeivah of Satmar Rebbe

Yeshivah Bochur stone-thrower arrested for attack on IDF soldier

Police arrested an anti-draft extremist in Beit Shemesh Monday evening, hours after an IDF soldier was injured in a stone-throwing attack that caused him to lose control of his vehicle and crash.

The attack occurred Monday morning, when a 21-year-old soldier driving in a predominantly-Charedi neighborhood of Ramat Beit Shemesh.

Anti-draft radicals spotted the driver’s IDF uniform, the soldier later said, and began hurling rocks at the vehicle.

During the attack, the soldier lost control of his vehicle and crashed into an electric pole.

MDA emergency first responders were called to the scene, and treated the soldier before evacuating him to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. MDA officials say the soldier suffered light injuries in the crash.

“When we arrived at the scene, we saw the driver walking around a car that had crashed into an electric pole,” an MDA medic who treated the soldier reported.

“He told us that he hit the pole after a rock was thrown at him. He was lightly injured. We gave him medical treatment and evacuated him to the hospital in light condition.

Police units were also dispatched to the scene of the attack, and opened an investigation into the incident.

On Monday night, police arrested one suspect in connection with the savage attack, Behadrei Haredim reported.

Beit Shemesh Mayor Moshe Abutbol condemned the attack.

“It is sad that we have these kinds of extremists living here. I once again call on the extremists, as I called on them at [last year’s] Memorial Day honoring fallen IDF soldiers: 

get out of our city.”

Chareidim Go to Har Habayis Every Day Now!

Chareidim now go up to the Har Habayit every day relying on Rishonim such as the Me'erie, that allowed it ...

I don't have enough knowledge on this topic to have an opinion, but if those Chareidim have their "Dass Torah" that allow it ... then Kol Ha'kovod! 

It's important to have a Jewish presence there so the world sees that we haven't abandoned it and that we hope to return in mass to the Har Habyis very soon!

Yeshivah Boys Throw Rocks At IDF Soldier’s Vehicle Leading To Accident

An IDF soldier was driving his vehicle in Ramat Beit Shemesh today,  during the morning hours. He was attacked with rocks and trash thrown by Yeshivishe thugs . As a result, he lost control of the vehicle and struck a pole.

United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Yitchak Levinger, who runs a store that was two streets away from the incident, was the first responder at the scene.

“When I arrived I found a young man, 18 or 19 years old who was highly agitated and pale after the car he was driving in had been attacked, according to his statement, by a group of charedim. 

The assailants had thrown rocks and bags of trash at his car and screamed at him. He lost control of his vehicle and his car slammed into a lamppost resulting in serious damage to his vehicle. Luckily, he sustained only light injuries in the form of lacerations to his face. 

After the accident, his car was surrounded by a bunch of Yeshivah Bochrim acting crazy. 

I approached the car and calmed the driver down, I treated his wound and stayed with him until the police and ambulance team arrived."

Satmar's Open Endorsement For Neturei Karta

See on the left side after the fold, a bulletin of Neturei Karta fund raising!

The article in Der Goy that advocates the Satmar position supporting the Neturei Karta !

So much for Satmar's official denial that "Neturei Karta has nothing to do with Satmar," and that Satmar SHIT'ah is against the Neturi Karta  Hashkafah!

Right there on the very front page of Der Goy, the official mouthpiece of the Zalonie faction of Satmar, you can clearly see the bulletin that directs the reader to turn to page 32.

See above photo of the actual article that openly supports the Neturei Karta!

The hateful article against other Jews starts with the words which millions of Jews utter on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the holiest days of the year 

     'ובכן יתקדש שמך ה

What utter chutzpah .....!!!

The Neturei Karta have met with Yasser Arafat and the Iranian murderers to support these Jewish Murderers with their plan to eradicate the Jewish people, G-D forbid!

The article quotes a guy by the name of "AH'mad" that supports the NK agenda.

How crazy and demented can Jewish people be?

I'm not going to translate the garbage in the article, suffice it to say that they cite Satmar philosophy in the article.

Neturei Karta officials have by in large been educated in Satmar Mosdois  and they quote almost exclusively from  their Quran the  Va'Yoel Moshe!

Enough said!

Geula In Jerusalem – Between Wealth And Poverty .. Video

Norman Rosenbaum Tears Into Ezra "the shoiteh" Friedlander For His Defence of "cryin" Schumer!

Der Shoteh, Der Naar Friedlander with a skunk on his head!

 Remember, when I Posted that the Shoiteh and tuches lekker, Friedlander, published an Op-Ed in various frum publications backing "cryin'" Schumer?

Well, Norman Rosenbaum, whose brother Yaakov was brutally murdered on the streets of Crown Heights, wrote a response in a column in the Five Towns Times 

Don’t Justify The Unjustifiable Senator Schumer

By Norman Rosenbaum and Isaac Abraham

The recent public condemnation of Senator Schumer for refusing to write a letter in support of efforts to have Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin released from jail has certainly drawn some weird responses from those blindly loyal to the senator.

Quick to quote the expression of “Those who know, don’t speak, and those who speak don’t know,” Mr. Friedlander unashamedly follows up with an open admission that he is not privy to inside information on this issue and that he is just surmising what must have occurred (between Senator Schumer and Congresswoman Pelosi) based on his understanding of the political process.

Mr. Friedlander accuses those critical of Senator Schumer of shooting themselves in the foot, political immaturity if not political suicide, and failing to recognize the real power and influence of the senator. Mr. Friedlander’s support of the senator borders on hysteria, with Schumer critics targeted for wanting to convince the senator that he is not a friend of the Jewish community.

Not true! 

Schumer’s conduct was truly and fundamentally inconsistent with that of many of his Senate and Congressional colleagues (Democrats and Republicans alike), former senior law-enforcement officials, former judges, and eminent practicing attorneys. Senator Schumer was wrong and he must be made aware—unambiguously and unequivocally, but respectfully—of how his conduct is viewed. 

Nobody is looking to turn him into an enemy, but a repeat performance is also unacceptable. To suggest, as Mr. Friedlander does, that Senator Schumer would have had prior notice and would have tacitly approved of Ms. Pelosi’s written support for Rubashkin’s release only exacerbates the enormity of Schumer’s failure to do likewise. What did the senator not appreciate—the injustice, the inhumanity, or the corruption that beset the justice system throughout?

The strength of any friendship (political included) is truly measured by the ability of friends to be open and honest with one another, particularly when they do not agree. Intellectual honesty must reign supreme; otherwise, the polluted swamp will only ever continue to deteriorate. Silence, appeasement, and condoning of the unacceptable conduct of politicians are antiquated and obsolete options when advancing the best interests of a community.

The most eerie aspect of the position of Senator Schumer in regard to Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin is that we have seen it all before. When the family of Yankel Rosenbaum, murdered in the 1991 Crown Heights pogrom, was pursuing U.S. Justice Department intervention, then-congressman Schumer was also conspicuously silent. At the forefront of the pursuit for justice were Senator Alphonse D’Amato and Mayor Rudy Giuliani, wholeheartedly supported in their initiatives by then Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, Senate Minority leader Bob Dole, and New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The support they garnered included all of the Senate (Democrats and Republicans) and many Congressmen.

One can only wonder why Senator Schumer has managed to amass a record of failing to support the pursuit of justice over a period of 25 years; could it possibly be because he does not consider such a principle politically expedient?

Mr. Friedlander will remind you of Senator Schumer’s opposition to President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. You remember that is the deal another friend of Friedlander’s, Congressman Jerry Nadler, supported. 

It would be most interesting to hear Friedlander’s justification of the opposing positions of his two good friends in that instance.

Viznitz Prohibits the Dead From Using Smartphones!!

It's crazier and crazier ....... out there!

There is a cemetery in Monsey that is called the "Viznitz Bais Ha'Chayim"

Buried there are the holy Ribnitzer Rebbe z"l, Skulener Rebbe z"l and others ...

They must have noticed somehow, that the dead sneak smartphones out at night when no one sees  ......

So the brilliant Askanim decided to put an  end to these shenanigans, and put up a sign with a "WARNING!" stating that no one can use a smartphone in the cemetery ...

It's interesting to note that they use the German word "Achtung" for "warning," the word the Nazis used against the Jews!!

It cannot possibly be that they are warning the live visitors, because after the huge Asifas in Manhattan and Monsey ... no living Chusid owns one ...

7-Eleven Monsey Serves Kosher Hot Dogs!

Where did all the $$$$$$$ go that Satmar Collected for French Schools to Save them from the Zionists ???????

On August 2016, I posted , a story that R' Zalman Leib, Williamsburg Satmar Rabbi, recruited the naive Litvishe Roshei Yeshiva, R' Malkiel Kotler and convinced the fool that the "Cursed Zionists" are kidnapping French children, cutting their peyes off making them irreligious Zionists!

Based on these lies, R' Zalman Leib raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from ignorant Litvishe Jews and told them that he was going to fund these Chinuch Atzmaie Yeshivois, to house these innocent French children, to save their souls!

The whole thing was based on a total lie, anyone who knows Satmar would tell you that Chinuch Atzmaie schools in Israel that were basically set up for this purpose, are by in large funded by the Zionist Medinah and  that the word Chinuch Atzmaei is "chazir treif" by the Satmars, whose founder R' Yoilish Teitelbaum, would have nothing to do with Chinuch Atzmaie because it was funded by Agudah and the Zionists!

I explained in that 2016 post that the French children that are being sent to Israel are secular to begin with ....
there are no Frum French Jews sending their children to France unsupervised ....and that there isn't ONE frum French family that is sending any of their children to Israel to a secular Zionist School...... not ONE!!!

There is also no way that the secular French Children are going to shave their heads, grow pieus, put on long chassididhe gotchkis and wear chassidishe clothing .... no way!

To date that there are only 3 Chinach Atzmaie Schools in Israel that received $10,000.00 that were "supposedly" enrolling French Children ......,

Where are the rest of the funds.....??????????

One of those naive rich people who funded this enterprise, now feels that he was suckered into this massive fraud, and is contacting the Attorney General's office. 

Good luck!

Dayan of Eida Hachreidis Calls Rav Shteinman z"l "Zerah Amaleik"

The Eida Hacreidis, a Satmar Organization in Israel is in the Kashrut business and gives the Hashgacha on thousands of products. 

A Dayan who goes by the name of Yehoshua Rosenberger ym"s called R' Shteinman z"l "Ameilik" in a statement that he gave and was posted in all shuls in the year 2011.
He wrote this when R' Shteinman was still alive!

Entire Steinberg Family from Scarsdale and 3 Weiss' Die in Plane Crash in Costa Rica UPDATED!

Bruce Steinberg, Irene Steinberg, Matthew Steinberg, William Steinberg and Zachary Steinberg (all pictured)

Mitchell, 52, and Leslie Levin Weiss, 50, their 19-year-old daughter Hannah Mae, were killed in the plane crash in Costa Rica. Ari Moses Weiss, 16, has also been reported as dead after the tragedy

R

Two Jewish American families were killed when a plane crashed in Costa Rica on New Year's Eve.

Mitchell, 52, and Leslie Levin Weiss, 50, both of St. Petersburg, Florida, died alongside their 19-year-old daughter Hannah Mae, when the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan went down, officials report.

The Philadelphia Inquirer also reports that their 16-year-old son Ari Moses Weiss, was killed in the crash.

There are conflicting reports about the death toll of the crash. Several outlets report ten Americans died along with the two Costa Rican pilots, although a total of 13 have been reported dead by various news sources.

Strong winds were seen as a factor in the crash of a small plane in Costa Rica that killed all passengers on board and two local crew members, according to officials and witnesses.

'It's a tragic loss,' said Rabbi Jacob Luski, of the Congregation B'Nai Israel, where the Weiss family attended. 

'I just saw the mom and the daughter last week after Friday evening services,' Luski said. 'They will be sorely missed. It's a real tragedy for their families and the community at large.'

Mitchell Weiss was a radiology specialist in Clearwater, Florida, after studying at medical school in Philadelphia while his wife was a pediatrician who practiced in Tampa. Their daughter Hannah was a student at Columbia University.

The family had relocated from Philadelphia to St. Petersburg, Florida, about 12 years ago.

It is not clear but it is presumed Ari Weiss was with them when the plane went down on New Year's Eve. 

Family and friends of the Steinbergs were still in shock about the loss of the family of five. 

'They were wonderful people. We need a whole world of people like them,' relative Dianne Steinberg, 76, told New York Daily News.

Bruce, who had just turned 50, and his wife Irene Steinberg, and their three sons; Matthew, William and Zachary were all killed, Diario Las Americos reported.

Tamara Jacobson, Bruce's sister, wrote on Facebook: 'We are in utter shock and disbelief right now.' 

The family were very active in their local Jewish community.

Scott Richman, Director of American Jewish Committee Westchester said: 'The entire AJC family mourns the loss of Irene Steinberg and her beautiful family.'

Irene, 51, served on the committee for more than a decade and was joined by her oldest son William who interned at the office last year. She was also involved with the United Jewish Appeal - Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York. 

'She was a devoted leader to Jewish causes,' Richman added. 'She was particularly concerned about passing on this love of the Jewish people to the next generation.  'We are deeply saddened by this immense tragedy.'

Irene and Bruce are also said to have donated thousands of dollars to Seeds of Peace, a U.S.-based organisation which focuses on peace-building between young Israelis and Palestinians.

William, a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, was also involved in Seeds of Peace, and his aunt revealed on Facebook he had been planning a career in politics.

The University of Pennsylvania's Class Board 2021 shared its condolences on Facebook. 

'We are very shocked and saddened to hear about the death of William Steinberg and his family,' the message read. 'We still cannot believe that they died so unexpectedly. Many of us knew Will very closely, he was such a wonderful person who blessed Penn with his amazing smile everyday. Together we mourn the death of a friend, a peer, and a promising scholar who would have went on to change the world.

At a news conference, Enio Cubillo, director of Costa Rica Civil Aviation, said the Nature Air charter flight took off just after noon Sunday from Punta Islita and was headed for the capital of San Jose when it crashed.

Strong winds were seen as a factor. The plane burst into flames on impact, according to rescue officials and locals.

Costa Rica's Civil Aviation agency said the pilots had tried to land at Punta Islita earlier Sunday to get the passengers but aborted because of 'the gusts of wind.'

The aircraft was up-to-date with its certifications and had been inspected a month earlier, the agency said.

'There had been a lot wind, really strong,' one resident in the area told AFP on Monday.

She said when she and other locals arrived at the crash site, up a steep hillside, 'we couldn't see, absolutely everything was black.'

She added: 'The front part of the plane was all on fire, and the tail part was the only bit intact.'