Today, March 1, is the anniversary of the terror shooting on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1994, during which Ari Halberstam HYD was murdered.

By Dovid Zaklikovsky

It is hard to stop Devorah Halberstam. Literally. When she enters a room, it is in a storm. When she speaks, her words are quick and to the point. But when the prominent Jewish activist, referred to as a powerhouse by those who know her, arrives at the ramp from the FDR Drive to the Brooklyn Bridge, she always stops.

Over a stretch of 1300 feet, some 13 road signs announce The Ari Halberstam Memorial Ramp in commemoration of her 16-year-old son who was murdered by Lebanese-born terrorist Rashid Baz in 1994. “Every time I see the signs,” she says, “my heart stops. I think to myself, ‘Ari, your blood is on this bridge.’ They were targeting the Rebbe. Ari took his place.”

Despite her age, Halberstam, a spitting image of her son, is still adamant as she was back in 1995 when the signs were passed into law in a unanimous New York City Council vote, that the signs are important. Kenneth Fisher, who served as a council member, told the New York Times: “It was [a] real statement by the Council and by the mayor that this was not simply a case of road rage. [Halberstam] was a very effective advocate for the notion that her son’s murder should be recognized.”

Halberstam says that the signs are more relevant than ever in our age of instant information. “What happened on that day on the bridge is a symbol of antisemitism in the United States,” she explains. When people see the sign, “they Google it and they learn what our society is capable of. It promotes that this cannot happen again.”

After she concludes reciting a chapter of Tehillim on the bridge in memory of her son and turns off her hazard lights, she will encounter different kinds of signs. They direct people to her greatest accomplishment in memory of her son: The Jewish Children’s Museum in Crown Heights, created in partnership with city, state and federal agencies and supporters.

“While there is a need to remember the Jews who were murdered throughout our history,” she explained, “it is tragic to see how many monuments are built in their memories. Jewish education, Jewish identity, and Jewish pride are the antidotes to antisemitism.”

“When a child comes to the museum,” she says, “and they learn that the Jewish people have a history over thousands of years that we have practiced for generations, it is an eye-opener. They understand that our culture is made up of traditions that are our inheritance. By educating youngsters through hands-on workshops and interactive exhibits they finally begin to understand what ‘the other’ means. We teach them about our holidays, our dress, and our way of life.

Looking back over the nearly two decades the museum has been open, “I could never have envisioned the impact that it has made,” she says. To date, over 3 million visitors have come to the museum. “We have a great team working every day to create new and innovative programs to excite the children.”

It is why she is now embarking on building an additional floor in the museum that will be called Ari’s Exhibit, “Sharing our past, shaping our future.” This space will feature the mission of the museum and will have cutting-edge technology that she hopes will attract even more children and visitors.

The Foundations

When I arrived for this interview, Halberstam was still on a high from a month-long visit from her brother, Rabbi Yehoshua Hecht of Melbourne, Australia. “He lives, breathes Torah,” she tells me, “I loved every moment of the visit.”

For her, it was a throwback to her childhood, when her father would be up early in the morning learning from a Talmud at the table. “There was no such thing as a day going easy,” she recalled about life in her parent’s home. “We were in this world on a mission.”

Her father would come home at midnight from his typesetting business, laying college newspapers and magazines. “All of us were involved [in the work],” she says. “I learned how to proofread. It was a family affair.”

She says her mother was one of the hardest-working people she knew. “She was the kind of person who did not talk that much,” but she learned from her actions. The home was always sparkling and Shabbos was the important time of the week. “When I think of my mother, I think of the smell of the kitchen,” she says. Until this day, because of her, “I will never make appointments on Friday,” Halberstam says, dedicating the day to preparing for the holy day of rest.

From a young age, she would go to shul with her father. “He expected the same from the girls and the boys. There was no such thing as less than 100%,” she says.

“The Rebbe was very dear to me. He was my guiding light for everything in my life,” she says. “There was nothing that I would not tell the Rebbe. He looked out for me.” Halberstam chose to reveal little about her long exchanges; some of the Rebbe’s responses were said to be three pages long.

She said those responses gave her the strength to overcome the many challenges in her life. “Don’t ever say that something you want to do could never happen,” she paraphrases the Rebbe telling her, instilling in her that she could do anything she wanted to. “The Rebbe was right. I don’t let anything stand in my way.” Her faith in G-d, perseverance, and courage have made her rise up to some of her greatest challenges.

Halberstam likes to use a metaphor to explain the impact of her formative years. She recalls that East New York Savings Bank came to her school and encouraged every student to open a bank account. “Put a quarter, a dollar in the account,” they told the youngsters. “When you get older, the quarters, the dollars, will add up to a large sum.”

She says that life is like a savings account, what her parents, and grandparents gave her, and what she learned from the Rebbe, have accumulated and enriched her life. “That is how I keep going,” she says.

Treasured Time

Every time I mention her son Ari, it brings another flow of tears. “I want to be remembered as Ari’s mom,” Halberstam says, “but not just Ari’s, all my children, tzu lange yorin. My children are my life.”

The activist likes to say that she is a Yankee through and through. Her father taught her to study, daven and be serious in her service of Hashem. “But, you also have fun. You play baseball, keep up with the news and wake up in the morning to 1010 WINS News Radio.”

She says Ari “was the embodiment of ruchniyus and gashmiyus, of why G-d put us in this world.” He was a good learner and spent many extra hours davening. He never went to sleep unless he finished his Chitas and Rambam. On the other hand, “He was very spirited, he loved sports and wore a size 13.5 sneaker. He was humble to a fault, and was also very competitive; he was a great kid,” she says.

Being then married to someone who assisted in the home of the Rebbe and Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson, Halberstam’s life became intertwined with Beis Harav. Her children would regularly go after school to visit the Rebbetzin, whom they lovingly called “dodah” (aunt in Hebrew). “They cared a lot about my children,” Halberstam says. “They loved them dearly.”

Many times, when the Rebbe would see Ari, he would report to the Rebbetzin, “He was in a good mood,” or “he was serious.” Yet, Ari never took the relationship for granted. When he would go to the Rebbe to receive a dollar for tzedaka, the mother recalled, he would turn white like a sheet. “He was a real soldier.”

She could never bring those moments back, they are now memories, “You don’t get a second chance.” Because of that, she tries not to waste time, “I truly believe that I have to use every moment on this earth. If I am able to, I help [others], whether it is a big or small issue.”

Ari’s murder during the attack on the students in the van on the Brooklyn Bridge was one of the most egregious antisemitic terrorist attacks in the United States and New York City history. What happened that day was the beginning of more to come.

She has been a leading voice against terrorism in the United States, raising awareness before 9/11 and co-authoring the first New York State laws on terrorism with former Governor George Pataki. She is invited to train and lecture all branches of law enforcement in this country and internationally. “Devorah Halberstam is a true example of the strength of our nation,” the former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has said.

FBI assistant director Joseph Demarest said Halberstam is a true fighter against terrorism. “A woman who has demonstrated an endless pursuit of justice, everlasting love for her family, dedication for victim’s rights, and patriotism for her country,” he said during an award ceremony.

As Chair of the NYPD’s Civilian Hate Crimes Review Panel (and the Jewish representative) and NYPD Honorary Commissioner for Community Safety, she says her work to fight hate and antisemitism never ends. She has no plans of resting, “As long as G-d gives me strength and stamina, I will continue my mission,” she says.

Local Acceptance

While Devorah is a leading voice and authority in politics, she takes special care of her community in Crown Heights. Living in Crown Heights most of her life, she is always conscious and concerned about the safety of our neighborhood and bringing people together, working closely with the local 71 Precinct.

With that, she says, hate in the country is largely targeted against the Jewish community, and it breeds because antisemites are being given a platform, whether it is coming from celebrities, sports figures, or others. “We need to shout out against it at every opportunity and say that this is not okay,” she says.

People who speak up against Jews, she says, “or any other ethnicity should be ostracized, rather than being accepted by anybody. Words matter and can lead to bad things. We have to nip it in the bud before it gains momentum. Sadly, however, at this point, it seems to have a life of its own.”

At what was dubbed “the World’s Largest Summit on Antisemitism and Hate,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told the gathered, “I know somewhere out there is my good friend Devorah Halberstam, who has talked about this for so many years.”

Echoing Halberstam, the mayor said, “Antisemitism and extremism must not be ignored. It must be confronted, it must be called out. … Let’s rededicate ourselves to educating generations about the horrors of the past. Let’s dedicate ourselves to acting when we see injustices take place. Together, we can ensure that never is now.”

Enough Time

I try to fit Halberstam into a box, a file, and I cannot. There are too many accomplishments to enumerate, but I am not here for that. Over six hours, I try to understand what makes her tick. At one point, I wonder out loud, in contrast to how Chabad Houses are run, what it is like to be one of the lone women in the leadership of Chabad organizations in Crown Heights.

While she does not broach the topic, she does say that having more women involved in the decision-making would make a world of a difference to any organization.

While she herself is a trailblazer for women, she hopes more frum women will take the lead. Their life experience of running a home, making split-second decisions, scheduling how things are run, and on top of that many in our community running businesses, they have a broad grasp of what an institution needs. “It is also how women think, they are much more soulful people. They think things out on emotional, and pragmatic levels,” she notes.

But for her, it was never a question if she should take on CEO positions in other organizations, which she was offered by many. The Rebbe wrote to her (paraphrased), “you will have plenty of extra time to volunteer in your capacity outside of Chabad,” but her main focus should always be to “use her talents within Chabad mosdos.”

Ari’s death was the catalyst for the Jewish Children’s Museum to be built in his memory. “As a Jew, our response to tragedy is to build,” she says. It was here she could find her greatest potential. Today, she says that every time she walks through the halls of the JCM, she has “a huge sense of nachas.” She says it is a validation that if there is a will we could be invincible, and “nothing will stand in your way.”

But on top of that, “I feel like every visitor to the museum leaves with a piece of Ari. Ari lives on in this museum,” Halberstam says.

– Dovid Zaklikowski is an author, biographer and archivist, his books can be found at HasidicArchives.com. His latest book about Reb Mendel Futerfas is My Gulag Life: Stories of a Soviet Prisoner. He could be reached at [email protected]