When Ari Halberstam Screamed “Shema Yisroel”

By COLlive reporter

Wednesday, 19 Iyar, is the birthday of Ari Halberstam, the Chabad boy who was gunned down in a terrorist attack while traveling on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City on March 1, 1994.

During a farbrengen on Tuesday, Lag BaOmer, his relative Rabbi Mendel Kaplan, Shliach in Thornhill, Ontario, shared the following unknown story about Ari:

It was Lag BaOmer 5748 (1988). The Rebbe declared that year as Shnas Hayeled V’hayalda – the year of the boy and girl – that will be dedicated to education.

That year, Rabbi JJ Hecht, the organizer of the Lag BaOmer parades and interpreter of the Rebbe’s talks during them, asked whether they should plan a parade. Parades were usually held on Sunday to allow Public Schools children to attend, but this year it was on a Thursday. Nevertheless, the Rebbe responded in the affirmative.

The parade was held in front of 770 Eastern Parkway (which the Rebbe did not attend) and later the children went to a massive outdoor fair of rides and booths that was set up on Empire Boulevard in Crown Heights (this has been done since 5744/1984, instead of going to a park).

Everyone would join the fair, even those who did not make it to the parade. That year, despite not attending the parade, the Rebbe chose to drive through Empire Boulevard on his way to the Ohel, to see the Jewish children.

When the Rebbe arrived in his car, the entire carnival stopped, including all of the rides, the Ferris wheel, and booths. Women and girls stood on one side, whilst the men and boys stood on the other side of the road, and the Rebbe passed through the entire fair.

I remember quite vividly how Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky drove the Rebbe’s car very slowly with children surrounding the car. The entire time, the Rebbe warmly smiled and kept on lifting both of his holy hands, waving to the children as he looked to all sides.

That night, at dinner, my younger brother Baruch remarked that he was on top of the Ferris wheel when it stopped. He was sitting with a few friends, all young boys, and one of them was his second cousin, Ari Halberstam HY”D.

When the wheel stopped, Ari became very scared. He didn’t realize why the ride had stopped, and so he called out, frightened, “We’re going to die, we’re going to die!” and screamed out “Shema Yisroel!…”

A few days later, while I was studying in Oholei Torah, news came in that someone had written to the Rebbe, questioning the point of the parade and “why so much Yiddishe money was wasted.” At the time, $70,000 was considered an enormous amount of money. The person said that there were so many important Jewish causes that this money could have been used for.

The Rebbe answered a very interesting answer, which most people didn’t really understand. The Rebbe responded that “At the parade, there was a boy, whom I know personally, who screamed out ‘Shema Yisroel!’ with an Emes (truth/sincerity) and for this, it was worth the entire expense.”

Those hearing the answer didn’t understand what the Rebbe was referring to. Which boy screamed out Shema Yisroel? Who is this child that the Rebbe knows personally?

I was able to put the puzzle together. Reb Chesed Halberstam was a Meshames Bakodesh (helper) in the Rebbe’s home, and his family, particularly Ari, would visit the Rebbe’s home quite often. The Rebbe would even sit with him and test him on the Aleph Beis. He was the who the Rebbe personally knew.

The Rebbe knew that Ari Halberstam screamed out ‘Shema Yisroel’ with truth and sincerity, and the Rebbe responded to the Jew who wrote to him, “That a child screaming Shema Yisroel genuinely, made the entire expense and effort worth it.”