Once upon a time, a beautiful little Jewish girl was enrolled in a local synagogue nursery school. When it came time for kindergarten, most of her classmates were going to enroll in the local Orthodox day school. The little girl’s parents were very Jewishly oriented but were not Orthodox. The little girl was very sad. She wanted to be with her friends. Being good parents they wanted to see their daughter happy, so they made an appointment to see the school and meet with the principal. The school made a very positive impression on the parents as far as the education piece was concerned. However, not being Orthodox, they were very concerned about potential conflicts that might arise between what their daughter would learn in school and what the family did at home.
This issue was not at all new to the principal, so he essentially lied, and told them that their life would not change. The school would not force anything on them. The principal’s effective sales pitch, the quality education offered, and the happiness of their child convinced the parents to enroll their daughter. The principal knew that in fact their lives would change. As has happened many times before and since, this bright, inquisitive child, took to her studies with great alacrity. The Jewish component, presented free of compulsion with love, kindness, and patience by talented teachers, was embraced by the little girl. It made her so happy. Gradually, and over some time, her parents also embraced an Orthodox lifestyle. All of their other children attended the same day school, they joined an Orthodox synagogue, and eventually founded a new Orthodox synagogue closer to their home.
Fast forward about fifteen years. It is now 1995. The little girl is now a 20 year old young woman. Instead of spending her gap year in Israel she chose to spend a semester studying in Israel during her junior year in college. On April 9, the 10th of Nissan at 12:07 p.m. Israeli time, on her way to the beach in Gush Katif with two friends, a terrorist homicide bomber plowed his car into a public bus near the Israeli settlement of Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip. Seven Israeli soldiers, all under the age of 21, and this American student from New Jersey, were killed. When she succumbed to fatal head wounds at Soroka Medical Center, the family consulted rabbonim and donated her organs to save the lives of others. Her heart was successfully transplanted to a 56-year-old man who had been waiting more than a year for one; her liver was donated to a 23-year-old man, and her lungs, pancreas and kidneys to four different patients. Her corneas were donated to an eye bank.
This is the story of Alisa Flatow HY”D.
No parents should ever have to bury a child. The funeral attracted many thousands of people, many more than the shul could hold. Police had to do crowd control on the street where they live during the shiva period.
To be sure, many who came to console the family were outraged at the murder of an American citizen by an Iranian terrorist. But most came because Alisa, during her brief life, made an impact on her friends, teachers, and classmates at The Hebrew Youth Academy (now The Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy), The Frisch School, Bat Torah, Brandeis University, Nishmat, and the West Orange community. Alisa’s life was an inspiration to many. In death, her impact continues.
Aside from the impact of her organ donations, her death caused her normally gregarious father to become a polished and sought after speaker and writer, to get involved with his synagogue, and chair the Jewish Community Relations Council of The Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest. He commenced a series of lawsuits against the government of Iran. An amendment to the US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, which enabled him to successfully sue Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism is named after him (“The Flatow Amendment”). Beginning in 2006, he has helped the United States government identify parties illegally processing financial transactions for Iran, and a movie about him is in the works.
Alisa’s parents established The Alisa Flatow Memorial Scholarship Fund. During the past 21 years, over two hundred young men and women studying in Israeli yeshivot and seminaries l’zekher nishmat Chana Michal bat Shmuel Mordecai received support from this fund. Memorials to Alisa exist in many communities and schools in the U.S. and in Israel. Schools and programs are named after her.
The Alisa Flatow Memorial Scholarship Fund and website is administered by Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest NJ. It is a donor advised fund, and for most of the past 21 years contributions flowed in to the fund. Donors were moved by a speech or an article written by Steve Flatow, or simply wanted to support Torah learning in Israel in Alisa’s memory. Truth be told, the JCF never expected this fund to survive beyond a year or so. But survive it did, due to the indomitable and indefatigable schedule of Steve’s speaking engagements, and the many lives touched by Alisa in her short life. Alisa’s mother is not much of a public person. She would organize the scholarship applications, coordinate the schedule of volunteer readers and evaluators, and host the annual final dinner meeting where the siblings, their spouses, and a few close family friends would select each year’s winners.
It is unfortunate that more resources are not available for deserving young men and women to study in a yeshiva or seminary in Israel. It is a sad reality that since Alisa’s death there have been many more killings of innocent men, women, and children. Many more memorials and funds have been created. A horrific event that took place over two decades ago is constantly being eclipsed by new tragedies. On her yahrzeit, the 10th of Nissan, let us pause and reflect on all those lives cut short by hatred and violence.
By Wallace Greene
Rabbi Dr. Wallace Greene was Alisa’s principal at the Hebrew Youth Academy of Essex County.
