US Synagogue Attack: How Woman Was Killed Protecting Rabbi

Perhaps if not for her bravery and desire to protect the rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, 57, of the synagogue, she would have been living today. In an account of how she died, Lori Kaye, a 60-year-old jumped between the rabbi and the shooter when the congregation was attacked on Saturday in California.

When the gunman opened fire in the synagogue in California, killing one and injuring three others, Kaye jumped between the shooter and the rabbi, Kaye, 60, was shot at the synagogue and died at a nearby hospital.

CNN reports that in addition to Kaye, at least three others were wounded in the shooting on Saturday at Congregation Chabad in Poway, north of San Diego. By late Sunday morning, all three injured victims had been discharged from a hospital.

Rabbi Goldstein had been shot in the hand when Kaye stepped between him and the gunman. The rabbi suffered what looked like defensive wounds to both his index fingers, a doctor at the Palomar Medical Center said.

Speaking at Sunday’s vigil, Goldstein praised Kaye, saying she was “the example of kindness to the fullest extent” and would bring joy and happiness to members of the congregation.

“She was more about living than taking and she did it with such a smile,” the rabbi said. As an example, he said Kaye had made it a mission to accompany one woman diagnosed with breast cancer to every one of her oncology visits. “She went out of her way until the moment that that woman passed away.”

Kaye had been extraordinary, he said. “She had an amazing spirit to her — an amazing attitude to life.”

Roneet Lev, a member of the congregation and Kaye’s friend of 25 years, was not at the synagogue but told CNN she rushed to the hospital when she heard about the shooting. As Goldstein was being wheeled into surgery, he told her how her friend saved his life, she said.

Kaye had attended services Saturday to say a Kaddish prayer for her mother, who died in November, Lev said.