After Stephanie and Rob left the synagogue that day, the ideas continued to flow as they knew they wanted to start a new charitable foundation that would honor the memory of a child who was killed during October 7th. They brainstormed different options as the pain of losing a child is something one could never imagine. When they sat down to share this new idea with their son, they asked if this was something he would want to do in addition to raising money for KIBBUTZ BE’ERI which was his first mitzvah project. They also explained that they had plans to launch this after his bar mitzvah, so it was ok to say no. With zero hesitation and in the true words of their son, he looked at them and said, “Let’s do it. I’m in.”
Through Rob’s fraternity brother Matan, they were introduced to his cousin in Israel. Merav has been volunteering her time at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv for almost two years now. When they shared this idea with Merav she was deeply moved. In her discussions with families, it was apparent that the timing was still too soon to process such a loss.
However, one of the nights she was in Hostage Square and discussing the idea with families, she met Yair Moses, the son of Gadi Moses. Gadi Moses had been taken hostage into Gaza, and because of that his grandson Haggai chose to postpone his own Bar Mitzvah until his grandfather could safely return home. For more than 400 days the family waited, and thankfully in February 2025, Gadi was released. Merav had a better idea and asked Stephanie and Rob if they would consider having the Moses family come to Chicago to share in their son’s bar mitzvah weekend all together and have Haggai become a bar mitzvah at the same time.
For Stephanie and Rob, this would be just as meaningful an option and they loved this idea as well. Merav then connected the families through Facetime calls over several months and it became clear that both families were in alignment and wanted the focus to be on the two boys and their bar mitzvahs- nothing else.
With the help of their Cantor, Rabbi and friends in Israel, they spent months planning for the arrival of the Moses family in Chicago. On a gorgeous Saturday morning in late August, the two bar mitzvah boys stood together along with both of their families on the bimah together reciting prayers and reading Torah. Joining them in the sanctuary were also Matan and Chelsea along with Merav and her daughter who flew in from Tel Aviv to witness this mitzvah. The service was also live streamed for Gadi and the rest of the Moses family to watch in Israel.
