They could not bear to say goodbye.
Leiby Kletzky‘s stricken parents did not attend his burial after a massive funeral service because it was too painful, a visitor said Thursday.
Nachman and Esther Kletzky spent a sleepless night before sitting shiva in their Borough Park home, taking a phone call from Mayor Bloomberg and mourning with prominent rabbis from Israel.
Leiby’s father – who still does not know the gruesome details of his son’s death – told sweet stories about the innocent child and sobbed over his loss.
Rabbi Yisroel Hager, a leader of the Viznitz sect of Hasidim, had to wait for the tears to stop so he could pray with the family.
“[He] looked at the father’s face for a few minutes without being able to talk,” said Chayim Levy. “The father was crying. It was very, very sad.”
Nachman Kletzky told the rabbi a story about what a kind heart the 8-year-old had: When he was playing ball recently, he switched from the good team to the struggling one, because he felt bad for the underdogs.
His wife spoke with with neighborhood women, trying to keep tears at bay by chatting about school issues. Whenever anyone offered words of comfort, she began to weep again.
“I can’t even imagine,” one woman said of the mother’s grief for the second of her six children. “It’s like a nightmare you can’t wake up from.”
Toy store owner Jonathan Schwartz, whose son was friends with Leiby, said the Kletzkys have not expressed anger toward Levi Aron, who confessed to the murder.
“All they say is that this is something that God wanted and they have to accept it with love and peace,” Schwartz said.
Leiby’s grandmother said she couldn’t speak at all. “It’s not going to bring my grandson back,” she said.
Even in their hour of grief, the Kletzky family is thanking their community and their city for helping them through the tragedy of losing their 8-year-old son to a murderer.
A neighbor posted this statement from Nachman and Itta Kletzky outside their Borough Park building Friday morning:
“We are forever grateful and thankful to Hashem (G-d). We would also like to express to each and every individual – to our friends and neighbors and our fellow New Yorkers and to all the volunteers and to all the agencies from the local, city, state, and federal, who assisted us above and beyond physically, emotionally, and spiritually – and to all from around the world, who had us in their thoughts and prayers. From the depths of our mourning hearts, we thank you!”
Several people stopped to read the text – and were struck by its graciousness.
“It just goes to show you the true character of this family,” said neighbor Abe Aron, 35, who is not related to confessed killer Levi Aron. “Even in the midst of this unspeakable tragedy, the family takes the time to give thanks. It truly touches my heart.”
Levi Aron should get the death penalty. Why waste
taxpayers’ money keeping this piece of trash in jail or in a psych ward? He deserves to die a painful death. The death penalty is too good for this monster. He should be dismembered while he’s still alive.
Help your family, friends, and community B’Ruchnius and B’Gashmias. Learn more and better, deeper, to try to bring Moshiach
The parents obviously know the death was gruesome! Who knows what thoughts r going thru their minds. They dont even want to think about the details. BUT they might be thinking way worse. Maybe that he was tortured….. So sometimes the details r better than what they might be imagining..
I think the sign was a great idea. It should be used more in tragedies to stop wearing the family down with the details.
there is no question that the justice system and legal system has to take note of this case and make amendments to prevent these casualities, as does the rabbinic response.
The truth is coming from those who work in the Mental health field, that the time to deal with horror is while there is a huge support system available- inevitably they will somehow and some way find out the truth and then the shock will happen all over again so unfortunately, while they cannot cope right now, they have much surrounding them.My fear is the future, when so much wont be readily available and then they may accidentally learn the true nature of this tragedy.Yes we are all irritable but for me-my viewpoint- i cry for his poor little neshomo-as… Read more »
We should make a fund by putting up a blog and a few trustable people to b responsible for the donations to come, in the memory of lieby to support good ideas of people that wanna do sth in lieby’s memory
ENOUGH KORBANOS PLEASE WAKE UP AND CLEAN UP YOUR BLOCKS AND SHULS OF THOSE MESHUGAYIM IN OUR STREETS BEFORE 2 LATE G-D FORBID ENOUGH !!!
I am so worried for the family, for when they do find out about their son having been mutilated. This is already too painful, that information may send them over the top. Please God, may there be a grief counselor working with the family already
I am of the Christian faith not of our brothers and sisters of the Jewish. Myself and family are heartbroken for the Kltsky family. May the God of our fathers in heaven give peace and consolation to these fine people of faith. May our God in heaven richly bless them with love peace and belief that Lieby is in the arms of God right now and in full peace and is watching over his family still on this earth. I cried when I saw and heard what had happened. A father of 3 children though grown, feels your pain. Shalom… Read more »
If the man Levi Aron (and any accomplices)are found guilty beyond any shadow of a doubt the community needs to support the maximum penalty. Unfortunately often we are too lenient sometimes with these types of terrible crimes and this just encourages others to do the same . We can not afford to let our children be easy prey for such monsters! We need in all our communities to have programs to teach our children how not to be easy targets!
Levi Aron should get the death penalty , if not life in maximum security lockdown with out the possibility of parol
Don’t take the anger from those people. It was a good question and most times in such environment they hide the emotions of school friends or people and just move forward. So kudos to you for asking.
The children unfortunately are all discussing this in schools, and they have not been spared the details. While I understand that the parents do not want to know, we must also tell the children that are in contact with the Kletsky family not to divulge anything to the siblings. How do we control that? I fear for the eventualities that may be worse on the family. May Hashem give them the strength to endure.
Why do you think that out of 1,000’s of people, no one thought of that? They have professionals dealing with other children. So, no one is sleeping in the issue. As a parent I would certainly NOT want to know. And for as long as the word does not slip out, the better it is. The “tell all” mentality of these days is often horrifically wrong. This is just one case in point.
may his neshama have an aliyah and may we have Moshaich NOW
It’s hard enough having their son taken away from them. Knowing how is just added grief.
It’s not the community who is hiding information. It was the wish of the parents not to know. That’s why people whishing to visit them should avoid giving details about what happened and what they read in the papers, etc. We should respect that.
From what I gather, they don’t want to know. It’s their choice.
What an Emunah! We have a lot to learn.
The whole story is too sad. How many more crimes and Korbanos before the Geuloh? It’s too painful. But remember, the time is not to quetsion, but to action.
Are they sure that they are doing the right thing by hiding the details from the parents?
Won’t the parents find out anyway at some point?
When they do find out, won’t they have to relive this horror all over again?