In Memoriam
In Memoriam
“And the Living Shall Take to Heart”
“It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living shall take to heart.” Ecclesiastes (7:2)
When one goes to a place of mourning, anecdotes describing the fine qualities of the deceased are usually shared. The living can learn from these stories and improve themselves by emulating the characteristics of the person who has passed on.
Various projects have helped carry on Ari’s legacy and have spread Ari’s message of love and hope for the world to share.
ARI HALBERSTAM MEMORIAL FUND
ARI HALBERSTAM MEMORIAL RAMP
ARI HALBERSTAM SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD
JEWISH CHILDREN’S MUSEUM
ARI’S LAW
TORAH SCROLL
AMBULANCE
The Ari Halberstam Memorial Fund
This fund was established in 1994, following the brutal shooting of Ari Halberstam. The fund organizes fund raising campaigns to distribute funds to various causes. Ari’s fund helps give educational scholarships to underprivileged students and works closely with other community organizations in their fund raising efforts. Many of the following projects were funded by the Ari Halberstam Memorial Fund.
The Ari Halberstam Memorial Ramp
It’s a world famous landmark that New Yorkers are proud of. But for Jews, the Brooklyn Bridge is also a bitter reminder of the anti-Semitic violence that killed Ari Halberstam, and injured Nochum Sosonkin for life. Thousands of people ride the Ari Halberstam Memorial Ramp daily, and remember the young boy whose life was taken because he was a Jew.
The Ari Halberstam Sportsmanship Award
When Ari used to return home from a full day of learning at his Crown Heights yeshiva, he would rush to the basketball court across from his house and pound out his energy in a basketball game. He was a basketball hero. Ever since Ari’s life was taken, his teammates feel it’s not the same anymore. Ari’s life and ability in sports are honored annually by Barry Panzer, who coaches the basketball league at Kingsway Jewish Center by dedicating an award in memory of this teenager who was on equally strong footing in the basketball court as he was in the bais medrash (house of study). Panzer, who started the league for 5 to 12 year-old yeshiva day school students two years ago, noted that newspaper articles described Ari as a sports fan and basketball player, he therefore named an award in his memory for players who represent sportsmanship, team spirit, and positive values. Ari has become a role model for young players to emulate, because he was a boy who loved basketball as well as Torah.
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The multi-media Jewish Children’s Museum, the first of its kind in the world, is schedule to open in the year 2001. At a site on Brooklyn’s Museum Row, at the junction of Eastern Parkway and Kingston Avenue. It will be easily accessible by car and public transportation from all points of the New York Metropolitan area. The six-story, 50,000 square foot facility, a $19.5 million project of Tzivos Hashem: Jewish Children International, will accommodate up to 1000 visitors per day – over 200,000 per year. It will excite and educate children with the kinds of film, video and interactive presentations they respond to. They will visit the museum not just as observers, but also as participants. Through Virtual Reality presentations, they will touch and feel the varied textures of Jewish life in all parts of the world, and enter the worlds of their great-grandparents. Some exhibitions include:
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Groundbreaking ceremony for Museum
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The Jewish life cycle, Shabbat comes first, the Jewish holidays, Jewish biblical history, daily Jewish life, the land of Israel, arts and education resources, Jewish cooking, and much, much more! A prime site has been acquired and cleared. The architectural firm of Gwathmey Siegel and Associates, world-renowned for hundreds of projects including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Addition and the American Museum of The Moving Image, has created a design which will be contemporary yet timeless. The exhibits themselves are being created by the incomparable exhibit design firm of Douglas Gallagher, whose works includes many of Washington’s Smithsonian Institutional exhibits and hundreds of others. The Jewish Children’s Museum will be a place of both high excitement and deep thought. A place that will instruct, inform, inspire, and involved. A place that will give all Jewish Children a greater insight into who they are. In addition, the Museum also provides a setting for non-Jewish children to gain a positive perspective and awareness of the Jewish heritage, fostering tolerance and understanding. The Jewish Children’s Museum is being dedicated to Ari Halberstam. Ari’s mother Devorah, feels the Museum will perpetuate Ari’s zest for life and love for his heritage. Mrs. Halberstam is also the Director of Foundation and Government Services for the museum. If you have any questions or would like more information, please call (718)-467-0600.
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| Sample GUNKIT Advertisement |
The March 1 shooting on the Brooklyn Bridge was committed with an automatic weapon assembled from a mail-order gun kit. Ari’s Law would require a license in order to possess a Gun Kit from which a firearm could be produced. Recently (June 1, 2000) a Press Conference was held in front of the Brooklyn Bridge with Devorah Halberstam and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan). Nadler said he’d introduce a bill to extend the federal ban on the sale of firearms by mail to include key parts, such as a barrel, stock or any part of the action. He and other gun-control advocates said sales of gun kits are increasing through the Internet and gun magazines. The ad that is shown here is typical of gun magazines, and is actually one of the guns Baz used in the shooting. For $160, buyers can obtain most of the parts of an automatic weapon, which Nadler contends then can be easily turned into functioning firearms. He said he expects opposition to his bill from the National Rifle Association, “because the NRA is nuts.” Except for the Brooklyn Bridge attack, the gun kits have not been a problem in New York, according to police.
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| Ari’s grandfather dancing with the Torah |
To mark the first yartzeit (day of passing) of Ari, a Torah Scroll was completed and donated to the high school Ari attended. Using a quill, a Jewish scribe, Ari’s uncle, began the tedious and intense process of copying more than 300,000 letters of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, onto a parchment scroll. Each Hebrew character is written in the same style, and with the same tools, that Jews have used since the time of Moses, more than 3,500 years ago. The evening began with the mourner’s Kaddish. Then, hundreds of participants took their turn writing their very own letter in the Torah scroll. The Torah was then dressed in a coat of rich fabric on which the names of the donors were embroidered. It was also adorned with a silver crown. The Torah was then paraded under the chupah (canopy). The Chupah is used because spiritually the Torah is the bride of the Jewish people and, like a bride, has a cherished place in their hearts. Hundreds of people held torches as the Torah was escorted to the synagogue. There, everyone took turns dancing with the Torah, for the great joy of having a scroll written and completed in the memory of a boy who died sanctifying the name of G-d. Shown, is a picture of Ari’s grandfather dancing with the Torah.
A completely out fitted ambulance was dedicated and given to the Hatzolah Community Services Organization. It is in these ways that we are able to turn such tragedy and pain into light and positivity. Each time that ambulance goes out to save another life we are honoring Ari’s memory and keeping him alive in our hearts and minds.