Kids Raise $1650 for Fogels

The extremely joyous day of Purim threw the Jewish community into a day of festivities. The cheerful attitude stood in stark contrast to the previous week when we as a community were reeling from the heinous murders of the Fogel family members in Itamar: Udi and Ruth, the parents, Yoav, 11, Elad, 4, and Hadas, 3 months.

Motzei Shabbos of this week, parents dressed their kids in fantastic costumes and headed to Megilla readings. Last week, we came out of Shabbos to learn of the horrific ordeal that had happened in Israel. Parents thought of how to tell their children of the events that had occurred to our brothers and sisters in Israel. We tend to focus on the tragedy, not realizing that our children, perhaps, continue to focus on the living.

When Sarah Deitsch, Chabad Shlucha to The Schottenstein Chabad House at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, told her daughters, Margalit, 11, and Batya, 8, about the Itamar tragedies, she spent time crying with them over the loss. At one point, Batya had poignantly asked, “Mommy, can we say that the three month old’s mission was over?” How can one answer that? “What we can do,” Sarah Deitsch answered, “is to do good deeds to counteract the pain and darkness.” And so while they mourned the loss, Margalit began to think of how she was going to reach out to the living, in particular, Tamar Fogel-a girl her own age.

Returning home after school on Monday, Margalit began to speak again about the events that had transpired in Itamar. This time, however, her focus wasn’t about the heinous crime, as most adult conversations had been that week. Instead, she questioned what would happen to the remaining children. Margalit had long wanted to start a kosher-cookie business on the Ohio State campus and that night upon the suggestion of her mother, she thought of the idea of baking cookies and selling them with all proceeds going to the Fogel children. Margalit excitedly said that “we can sell the cookies to students, and I can even make cupcakes, and Batya can help me…and we can give the money to those kids.” After spending every free hour in the kitchen and with orders coming in from classmates, teachers, and students, cookies were being sold round-the-clock at the Schottenstein Chabad House. Within 48-hours, Margalit and Batya had raised $1,650 dollars, which was sent directly to the Fogel children.

“It is a small token of the generosity of sisters far away,” states Sarah Deitsch. It cannot erase their pain or ease their future, but it underlines this most important fact: the unity and ahavas yisroel that exists amongst the Jewish people.

Even on the Ohio State campus, college students have been moved by the work of these two young shluchas. One student remarked that “I wish these things didn’t have to happen in order to show Jewish unity.” Students who came by to pick up a cookie or two, often left having given an even greater donation. The Schottenstein Chabad House has a plethora of programs all year long hosted by Rabbi Zalman and Sarah Deitsch, but it was perhaps the work of their children that may have inspired students the most. Rabbi Zalman Deitsch had stated that “in the face of great tragedy, we often forget the resilience and the determination of children. They are quick to grasp a hold of and allow life to flourish where darkness once stood amongst the Jewish people.” With the help of children like Margalit, Batya and thousands of other Jewish children worldwide, it is our hope that the Fogel children will do just that.

The week of mourning has ended. Purim has cast its joyous stroke. And the rebuilding begins. We have a lot to learn from the children. We should emulate the love of the Deitsch kids to create programs worldwide to not only continue to focus attention on the Fogel family, but to actively help them rebuild. In a heartbreaking manner, those three young kids–Tamar, 12, Ro’i, 8, and Shai, 2–have become our kids.

To donate to the Fogel children, please visit the OU Victims of Terrorism Fund: www.ou.org/terrorfund. Think about a community fundraiser event, but most of all, do not forget. Write to the Fogel family and do a mitzvah in their honor at www.chabad.org/special/israel/letters_itamar.htm.