The Sultan Family was struck with tragedy after the mother of
the family, a woman of chesed and midos tovos,
was murdered two weeks ago in the bombing attack on bus line
14 in Jerusalem at the age of 67.
Born in Algeria to an assimilating family, the deceased,
Hy'd, brought herself back to Judaism. Living in
France she worked as a teacher and, after making aliyah
with her husband and three children, she drew closer to
Judaism and began to keep Torah and mitzvos meticulously.
Mrs. Sultan gave her children an education in chesed
and yiras Shomayim. Several years ago she joined the
staff of the French-language monthly Kountrass, where
she was dedicated to the task of producing Torah-based
material in clear French and taking part in the publication
of a high-quality newspaper for the francophone community in
Israel and France. "On numerous occasions she was known to
seek out gedolei Torah to ask them various questions,"
recounts HaRav Nosson Kahn, editor and publisher of
Kountrass.
The deceased was known in the Baka'a neighborhood as a woman
of strong faith who organized shiurim and Torah
activities for local women. ZAKA volunteers who removed her
body from the site of the explosion on Jaffa Street say they
found her with a sefer Tehillim in her hands.
Before the attack she had called all of her children asking
them to strengthen themselves in emunoh and
bitochon. None of them was able to explain what
impelled her to make the calls.
