Mar 6, 2008 - Segev Peniel Avihail, 15, of Neve Daniel was one of eight students killed when a Palestinian terrorists infiltrated the Mercaz Harav Kook yeshiva in Jerusalem and opened fire in the crowded library.
On Thursday evening, the yeshiva students - mostly teenagers - had returned from prayers. They were about to begin a party celebrating the beginning of the month of Adar - a month of joy marked by the Purim holiday. Many of the students had gathered in the yeshiva library before the party when the terrorist opened fire, killing eight and wounding 11.
Segev Pniel Avichail died alongside his friend Avraham David Moses. The oldest of four children, he was the son of Rabbi Elyashiv Avihail, rabbi of Telem and Ad-Olam, and the grandson of two well-known rabbis: Rabbi Eliahu Avichail, instrumental in locating and bringing to Israel "lost Jewish tribes" such as the Bnei Menashe from India; and Rabbi Yehoshua Zuckerman, the founder of the El Ami movement and teacher at Har Hamor Yeshiva. Segev Avihail also holds French citizenship.
A few years ago, Segev was wounded in a shooting attack on the Telem road while driving with his father. Segev Pniel was.
"Segev was a gift that was given to me and to the entire family for 15 years. He had a pure heart, was a good son and exceptionally diligent in his studies. He loved his brothers and was close to his father," Avihail's uncle Yair Tzukerman said, describing him as a "serious student, a pure soul with a good heart."
"Segev was a person who helped everybody constantly. He was always searching for a way to make things better. He loved to study Gemara and was very good at it. When he was informed that he had gotten into the yeshiva he was the happiest person, he proudly ran and told everyone he was accepted," said Ya'akov Tzukerman (no relation), Segev's friend.
Segev, 15, was already a poet, writing complex composition contemplating the soul. His father found a poem of Segev's on his desk the night of the murders. The esoteric composition speaks of a row of souls, crying out "There is justice and there is a judge!"
Segev Peniel Avihail was buried in the Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem. He is survived by his parents, Elyashiv and Moriah, and three siblings - twins Yifeh and Shahak, and younger sister Liat.