Could you take what is, without a doubt, the worst tragedy imaginable – the intentional, violent murder of your sweet little girl – and turn your grief into the impetus to help others?
That is what Frimet and Arnold Roth did after their then-15 year old daughter, Malki, was murdered in the grotesque homicide bombing of the Sbarro Pizzaria in downtown Jerusalem. Malki Roth and 14 other innocent civilans died violent deaths on the 9th of August, 2001. Eight of the murdered were children. A woman pregnant with her first child also died in the bombing, and 130 were wounded.
The Roths created Keren Malki (Malki Foundation) within months of the bombing. What would so understandably have made most parents turn inwards with grief, instead, for the Roths, became a mission to create something positive that would reflect the goodness of the daughter whose future was stolen. Malki’s little sister is severely disabled and Keren Malki, formed 12 years ago, provides a myriad of services for the benefit of children with special needs and their families.
This week the Roths were honored for the work that Keren Malki (keren is the Hebrew word for ‘foundation’) has done over the past twelve years for the benefit of children with special needs and their families. Israel’s Minister of Welfare and Social Affairs, Meir Cohen, presented the Roths with the Minister’s Shield for Volunteerism – Lifetime Achievement Award.Read the whole thing.
One can only look with awe at all they have accomplished (and I know Arnold...). May Malki be a voice for good in Heaven for her family and for the entire Jewish people, and may her family's good deeds in her memory continue to place Malki on a higher and higher plane, closer and closer to God.
