Jewish 100, 2015: Rinal Seif – Community
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by Algemeiner Staff
Rinal Seif. Photo: YouTube Screenshot.
Rinal Seif
Widow of Druze policeman
As a result of a heinous terror attack, Rinal Seif has become the face of Druze-Jewish relations.
Her spouse, Master Sgt. Zidan Nahad Seif, an Israeli Druze police officer, was killed in November 2014 while trying to prevent a terrorist attack at a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood. Five of the worshipers were also slaughtered, and a later investigation revealed that Seif’s actions had prevented the deaths of other congregants.
A New York rabbi who knew one of the victims decided to pay a condolence visit to the Seif family. The result was a reinvigoration of Druze-Jewish ties in Israel, most tangibly through the mutual celebration of “Jethro’s Shabbat,” when the story of Moses’ father-in-law, and the founder of the Druze religion, is told.
“I don’t think it’s right that between the State of Israel and the Druze community there only be a ‘blood covenant.’ We need to make a covenant of life,” Rinal Seif has since said.
