Brooklyn, NY – From near and far, the family of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky is surrounded by a grieving community and some are coming from thousands of miles away to pay their respects.
A steady stream of mourners — men, women, a state senator, an NYPD inspector — all have come to the Kletzky home hoping to console the inconsolable.
“Nobody talking. Nobody talk,” said family friend Jacob Vizl, who described the scene upstairs behind closed doors, the family clearly silent, grieving, crushed.
“They’re taking it very, very bad,” said Vizl.
“It’s quiet, somber,” said retired NYPD Sgt Lawrence Bach.
The Kletzys have been in the Jewish custom of shiva, or seven days of intense mourning. A week ago, the dismembered body of their son was found in two different Brooklyn locations. Levi Aron, 35, was arrested and charged with the boy’s murder.
Those making shiva calls said the visits are brief, no more than three minutes long. It is all the family can bear. The small apartment can only hold about 15 people at one time.
Bach, who spent 12 years on the beat in Borough Park, said he is haunted by Leiby’s father’s anguish.
“You can see the pain on the gentleman’s face. It’s hard to describe,” said Bach. “Only he can feel the pain. You know, it’s tough.”
Binyomin Ginsberg came all the way from Minneapolis, Minn.
“Such a tragedy,” said Ginsberg. “How could I not show support?”
Ginsberg had never met the Kletzkys until now.
“We’re supposed to comfort the mourners, but in a sense, everybody coming is a mourner,” said Ginsberg. “We’re all mourning this child.”
A community of mourners, thousands of them, are coming from far and wide because they couldn’t stay away.
A friend of Leiby Kletzky’s father said he counseled him to concentrate on continuing to raise his family and try to have joy together.