Ari Fuld was an American Israeli who dedicated his life to the Jewish people and the Jewish state. On September 16, 2018 Ari was stabbed in the back and killed by a teenage terrorist.
The grandson of Holocaust survivors, Ari could not stand idly by while his brothers and sisters in the Jewish state were under attack. He made aliyah (moved to Israel) in 1994 and volunteered in the Israeli Defense Forces, serving as an officer in an elite paratroopers unit. “Ari” means lion, and Ari Fuld was truly a Lion of Zion.
Ari was outraged at the vilification of Israel by mainstream media around the world. He dedicated his life to Israel advocacy, and traveled the world to share the truth about the country he loved. He worked at Standing Together, an organization that provides support to Israeli soldiers, and was a fourth-level black belt, teaching karate to hundreds of children. He was a loving husband to wife Miriam, and a doting father of four children, ranging in age from 12 to 22.
On the last day of his life, Ari stopped by a grocery store near his home. He didn’t see the young terrorist lurking behind him until it was too late. Although fatally wounded and drenched in blood, Ari chased the attacker and shot him, inflicting a wound that prevented further casualties. Shop worker Hila Peretz reports that the terrorist was right behind her, and Ari’s brave actions saved her life.
Thousands of people attended Ari’s funeral, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Fuld family before the burial. “We are alive because of heroes like Ari,” Netanyahu said. Ari’s brother Moshe remembered, “He was a scholar like no other. His head was always in the Talmud. He went through those pages, like we normal folk read a novel. The thirst for that next page, he could not put it down for anything.”
Ari’s daughter shared a lesson her father taught her: “If life is easy, you are living it wrong.”
In his last Facebook post, two days before his death, Ari recalled Moses’ last words to the children of Israel before he died: “Moses tells them to be strong and brave because God will not abandon the people of Israel.”
For fighting the good fight on behalf of the Jewish nation, even as he was dying, we honor Ari Fuld as this week’s Thursday Hero.
Get the best of Accidental Talmudist in your inbox: sign up for our monthly newsletter.