Nancy Morgenstern, newly-identified 9/11 victim buried in Beit Shemesh

A victim of the World Trade Center attack whose DNA was only recently identified was buried Wednesday in Beit Shemesh, after more than three years of waiting.

Nancy Morgenstern, 32, from New York, was working as a travel agent for the bond-trading company Cantor Fitzgerald on September 11. Though Morgenstern's family has long known her fate, they were unable to hold a funeral according to Jewish law or sit shiva because they were unable to locate and identify her remains. A recent positive DNA confirmation from officials in New York allowed the family to finally proceed with a proper burial service.

"We consulted with rabbinic and halakhic authorities and waited three years to be able do the burial," Morgenstern's brother-in-law, Avi Shapiro, said yesterday.

The funeral took place yesterday at a private ceremony at the Eitz HaChaim Cemetery in Beit Shemesh.

Morgenstern, an Orthodox Jew, was known as an avid cyclist who made sure to bring kosher pots along with her to dozens of competitive races across the East Coast. Her father, Harvey, is a systems director at the New York Times.

Morgenstern's sister, an immigrant from New York, lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh, where the family recently donated an ambulance in Nancy's memory.

Though most of the family lives in the U.S., they decided to bury her in Israel for religious reasons.

Nancy Morgenstern, newly-identified 9/11 victim buried in Beit Shemesh