Triplets born to Israeli couple who lost two children in fire last year

The Ginsberg family rejoices half a year after mourning the terrible loss of two young children.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Devorah and Reuven Ginzburg had three times the joy Wednesday when Devorah gave birth to two girls and a boy a mere seven months after two of their children died in a fire in their home in Beitar Illit near Jerusalem.

In announcing the glad tidings at Shaare Zedek Hospital, Rabbi Ginzburg said that the fact that they had received triplets from God showed that there’s no such thing as coincidence.

“Our world was destroyed,” he said, when two-year-old Zvi and five-year-old Efrat died in a blaze caused by a faulty lamp last October.

Now, the smiling father said, “God has made up the deficit and even added another child.”

News of the multiple arrivals gave rise to especially intense delight in the family’s ultra-Orthodox community.

Yossi Yonah, an ambulance driver who had found the two small bodies in the destroyed apartment and became friends with the Ginzburgs, told daily paper Israel Hayom that he was ecstatic over the news.

“The trauma was so great,” he said. “This is a happy closure…. I didn’t even feel like this when my twins were born.”

The excited grandfather, Rabbi Shlomo Ginzburg, told the religious news site Kikar Shabbat, “”We really feel that there was ‘judgment and mercy.’ There was judgment, and that judgment was completely wrapped in mercy. God always accompanies them.”

“During the shiva (week of mourning),” he added, “one yeshiva head promised that God would repay them double.”

In a video clip during the shiva, Devorah talked of how their extreme personal loss was also a national one, as “the Jewish people are all one family.” She added that she had promised their three surviving daughters that they would be raised with joy, and told them that hopefully God would send them more children – a prayer that has now been granted.

The family also asked for a more material kind of aid, to help them rebuild, and this request was also answered. Charitable donations ensured that by Passover the family could return to a refurbished home.