They don’t know it, but the first authentic New Jersey living room that I saw on TV belonged to Stephen and Rosalyn Flatow of West Orange. It was exactly 15 years ago, in the spring of 1995. I was just selected to become the next Shaliach for the Jewish community of MetroWest and I didn’t have a clue about what it meant and what it was supposed to look like. Surprisingly, only a few days later, on prime-time television news, I found an answer. I watched a report about a unique, special Shiva call, paid by the Israeli Prime Minister himself, Yitzchak Rabin, at the home of a family in New Jersey. Together with millions of people in Israel and around the world, the Flatow family was mourning the murder of their beloved daughter Alisa, who was killed by Palestinian terrorists just a few days earlier in Israel. Funny, sad, ironic and symbolic; it was the unusual scene from the Flatows living room in West Orange being broadcasted to my own living room in Maccabim that gave me the insight. Seeing my own prime minister visiting with this ordinary N.J family, in my future community, made me understand what it means to be a Shaliach, what MetroWest is all about, and how in fact we are one. I later found out that the Flatows are not just “an ordinary family”, that “getting to know MetroWest” is a life-long learning experience, and that the phrase “we are one” is not a given. And yet, we are a very unique community and we continued being special throughout the years. I would like to draw some memories and highlights from the last 15 years since this exposure:

• Alisa, a “gap year” student, was severely wounded on April 9th 1995 when Islamic Jihad terrorists blew up a car next to the bus that she was riding near Kfar Darom in the Gaza strip. She was hospitalized in Soroka Hospital and when it was clear that she would not survive, her parents, after consulting with distinguished Orthodox Rabbis, decided in a very courageous and noble act to donate her organs to save lives of others. It was an educational experience for many Israelis who felt uncomfortable about organ donations at that time. It is not an exaggeration to say that Alisa and her family, Diaspora Jews from New Jersey, led the way for acceptance of organ donations by Israelis. Even today, 15 years later, many Israelis still remember this heroic act made by the family. The current director-general of Soroka hospital, Dr. Micky Sherf, recently volunteered to become the Israeli chair of our Partnership 2000 connection between Ofakim, Merchavim and MetroWest. One of the first things he had asked me upon taking the job was whether the Flatow family is connected to MetroWest.
  
  
• Seven Israelis, all soldiers, were killed with Alisa in the same incident. Out of the seven, three were residents of MetroWest’s partnership community of Rishon Lezion — Itai Dineur, Zvi Narbat and Neta Sufrin. This surprising and tragic statistic was demonstrated many times over the years when groups from MetroWest visited Rishon Lezion and participated in various memorial ceremonies there. The feeling was that we are one. The municipality of Rishon Lezion decided to formally commemorate the memory of Alisa by building a beautiful rose garden in the neighborhood of Ramat Eliyahu. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary for the partnership, a group from MetroWest marched through the neighborhood and while passing Alisa’s rose garden, her brother Etan, an IDF soldier at the time, spoke of her.
  
  
• Another MetroWest partner community, Ra’anana, decided to commemorate Alisa by establishing a Jewish literature section in her memory at the MetroWest High School library. Every group from New Jersey that visited the school would stop by the library to hear about its graduate’s fallen soldiers and about Alisa. Stephen Flatow speaks with every group of students from MWHS that visits the MetroWest community on an annual basis during the last 15 years. This is one of the highlights of their visit to New Jersey. A few years ago, one of the Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) ceremonies in Ra’anana was dedicated to the memory of three local casualties: Uri Shachor, Yehonatan Boyden, and… Alisa Flatow.
  
  
• In 2001, when the second Intifada broke out, we developed new partnership relations with Kibbutz Erez and the regional council of Sha’ar Hanegev near Gaza. We helped them renovate bomb shelters and build security rooms. One of the shelters that we renovated is used by a local artist, Miri Levin. On one of the walls there is a large mural symbolizing stations in the life of the artist. One of the stations is a memorial for her student Tali Nir, a soldier who was killed in a terror attack in 1995. We figured out that Tali was riding the same bus with Alisa. They didn’t know each other but they were murdered together. Now the community of Erez and the community of MetroWest are connected through their memories as well.
  
  
• Life goes on. Stephen became a famous public figure when he sued and won a precedent compensation case against the Iranian government. He speaks in memory of Alisa all over the world but perhaps more important then anything, maintained his Zionist commitment, kept his family connected to Israel and together with Rosalyn, established a scholarship fund in Alisa’s memory to help students study here. Several years after the murder I asked a friend who is a senior officer in the security services to take Steve for the first time to see the site where the incident occurred near Kfar Darom. It was quite an emotional visit but helped close a circle. Reality changed over the years; Rabin was murdered by a Jew only a few months after his visit to the Flatows, and many more Israelis, as well as Americans, were murdered by Islamic terrorists since then. Kfar Darom was evacuated a decade later. And… Iran is Iran is Iran.

I saw Steve and Rosalyn Flatow recently in Jerusalem. It was a happy occasion and a very symbolic new beginning. A family Simcha. Their son, Alisa’s younger brother Etan, made Aliyah, served in the IDF, is living in Jerusalem and just got married to Shaina. The wedding was joyful, meaningful and beautiful. The Talmud says, and the band on the stage was singing loudly: “When (the Hebrew month of) Adar enters, we increase our joy.” We did.

Mazal Tov and Drishat Shalom,