7 siblings killed in Brooklyn fire laid to rest in Israel

Gabriel Sassoon is surrounded by friends and family as his children are laid to rest.Eli Mandelbaum

JERUSALEM — The anguished dad of seven children who died in a Brooklyn house fire cried out, “Why seven? One is not enough?” as the tragic siblings were being laid to rest at a Jerusalem cemetery Monday.

“Here before you are seven innocent lambs. They were such innocent children,” Gabriel Sassoon sobbed in a room packed with 300 mourners at Har HaMenuchot cemetery — the shrouded bodies of his dead children, ages 5 to 16, laid out on tables before him.

The smaller children’s bodies were wrapped in plain white shrouds while their older siblings were covered in cloth of maroon or dark blue with a gold Hebrew star and inscription on them. All of the bodies had hand-lettered white labels on them bearing their name in Hebrew.

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The seven Sassoon siblings are mourned in Israel while their bodies are carried to their graves.Reuters

Gabriel Sassoon delivers a eulogy before the burial of his children.Reuters

The seven Sassoon family coffins are laid to rest in Israel on Monday. — Eli Mandelbaum

The coffins of Sassoon family members are being brought to a plane en route to Israel. — The seven Sassoon family coffins are brought to a plane headed to Israel, where they will be buried in Jerusalem’s Har HaMenuchot Cemetery.Reuven Fenton

Gabriel Sassoon (center, riding in cart) arrives in Israel where he is surrounded by friends and family.Reuven Fenton

Gayle Sassoon (left) with her husband and family.

Gabriel Sassoon, left, is assisted during a eulogy for his seven children who died when a fire broke out in their home, on Sunday, March 22, in Brooklyn. — Gabriel Sassoon (left) is assisted during services for his seven children who died when a fire broke out in their home, on March 22 in Brooklyn.John Roca

Gabriel Sassoon, center, at a eulogy for his children. — John Roca

Gabriel Sassoon, center, is escorted away during the eulogy service for his children. — John Roca

People fill the streets near a Brooklyn chapel for a eulogy in remembrance of the seven siblings who perished in a fire on Saturday night, on Sunday, March 22. — People fill the streets near a Brooklyn chapel for a eulogy in remembrance of the seven siblings who perished in a fire, on March 22.Edmund J. Coppa

Mourners gather outside of Shomrei Hadas Chapels before a funeral service for the seven siblings killed in a house fire, Sunday, March 22, 2015, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. — Paul Martinka

People hold a candlelight vigil for the Sassoon family outside of their burned home. — People hold a vigil for the Sassoon family outside their burned home.Paul Martinka

A flower arrangement rests at the scene of the fire. Getty Images

Mayor Bill de Blasio embraces New York's Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro outside the house fire — Mayor Bill de Blasio embraces New York Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro outside the scene of the house fire.

Mayor Bill de Blasio gestures as he exits from the scene. — Getty Images

Mayor Bill de Blasio tours the home where a seven children perished in a fire. — Mayor Bill de Blasio tours the home where seven children perished in a fire.John M. Mantel

A police officer walks at the scene of the fire. — A police officer at the scene of the fire.Getty Images

Some mourners were inconsolable during the funeral.Reuters

Ultra-Orthodox Jews line a wall atop the Givat Shaul Cemetery in Jerusalem as the Sassoon siblings are brought to their graves.EPA

Mourners wept inconsolably as each body was brought into the room, one at a time.

When the children were buried, they were lowered into their graves from oldest to youngest.

“They were so pure, so very pure,” cried Sassoon, who was still in the same clothes he’d worn to their funeral service in Brooklyn a day earlier. “Why seven? Seven beautiful lillies. … Why seven? One is not enough?”

The dead children — Yaakob, 5, Sara, 6, Moshe, 8, Yehoshua, 10, Rivkah, 11, David, 12, and Eliane, 16 — were killed in a Saturday morning blaze at the family’s Midwood home. The fire is believed to have been caused by a malfunctioning hot plate, which the family kept on during the Sabbath to adhere to religious rules.

Their mother, Gayle Sassoon, 45, and sister Siporah, 15, escaped but remain hospitalized in critical condition.

The family had lived in Israel for more than a decade before recently moving back to New York City, where Gayle Sassoon was raised.

The children’s bodies were flown to Israel for burial after their funeral.

Alon Edri, who identified himself as a rabbi and relative of the family, told AP, “We believe that being buried in Israel is important because all of your sins are then absolved.”