- Ari Halberstam
Ari Halberstam (
May 6 ,1977 -March 6 ,1994 ) was a yeshiva student from a distinguished family associated with theChabad-Lubavitch movement, who was killed in a terrorist shooting inNew York City .Raised under the personal supervision of the seventh
Lubavitcher Rebbe ,Menachem Mendel Schneerson , the Halberstam family's ties to the Rebbe include his father, who worked as a butler and personal manager to the Rebbe. The Halberstam family also includes a rabbinic dynasty of its own, the Bobovers, whose first Rebbe was Shlomo Halberstam.Murder
On
March 1 ,1994 , Ari Halberstam was visiting the ailing Rebbe at theManhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital , and was returning to his Brooklyn home via theBrooklyn Bridge . On the entrance ramp to the bridge, gunmanRashid Baz opened fire on the van, which also carried more than a dozen other Hasidic students. The attack critically wounded two of the young men and injured two others. The lone gunman, who was equipped with a submachine gun, two 9mm guns, and a "street sweeper" shotgun, pursued the van full of terrified students across the bridge. He fired in three separate bursts, spraying both sides of the van, before disappearing into traffic. During the shooting spree, the gunman reportedly shouted in Arabic "Kill the Jews," expressing revenge for the massacre of 29 Muslim worshipers at theCave of the Patriarchs inHebron by a radical Jewish settler.Halberstam was rushed to St. Vincent's Hospital and was the most severely wounded, having been shot in the head by Baz. As a result of the massive brain injuries, Halberstam was pronounced dead five days after the shooting.
Funeral
As the funeral procession took place on Eastern Parkway, outside the central Lubavitcher synagogue, some 10,000 mourners and more than 250 police officers took part in the event, to maintain safety. Halberstam was buried in the Montefiore Cemetery in
Queens . Later that year, the Rebbe died and was buried across the aisle from Halberstam.Baz' sentencing
Baz' defense team portrayed him as suffering from
post-traumatic stress disorder due to his childhood exposure to violence during theLebanese Civil War . They argued further that Baz' actions were triggered by the killing of 29 Muslims just four days earlier byBaruch Goldstein in Hebron. The jury rejected this argument, and onDecember 1 ,1994 , Baz was convicted on one count of murder, 14 counts of attempted murder, and one count of criminal use of a firearm. Despite the conviction of Baz, the Halberstam family and others wanted the case reclassified as aterrorist attack and wanted a further investigation to probe any terrorist links to Baz. OnAugust 26 ,1999 theUnited States Department of Justice andFBI agreed to open an investigation into Baz. The investigation did not yield any new leads connected to terrorist organizations but the Justice Department did formally reclassify the incident as an act ofterrorism . [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20D12F639580C758CDDAB0994D8404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fR%2fReligion%20and%20Belief]Legacy of Halberstam
Among the items named in memory of Halberstam include:
*Ari Halberstam Memorial Ramp on the
Brooklyn Bridge .
*Ari Halberstam Memorial Fund, 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.
*The Ari Halberstam Sportsmanship Award, Ari's life and ability in sports are honored annually by Barry Panzer, who coaches the basketball league atKingsway 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 thebeth midrash (house of study).
*TheJewish Children's Museum , dedicated in memory of Ari Halberstam.
*Ari's Law: requiring a license in order to possess a Gun Kit from which a firearm could be produced.
*Torah Scroll: Completed on the first anniversary of Ari's murder, written entirely by his uncle.ee also
*
Brooklyn Bridge Shooting References
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