Israel's IDF pays tribute to Malki's life

Over on the YouTube page of the Israel Defense Forces, there's a new video that was published this past week to coincide with the 21st anniversary of the awful events at a Jerusalem pizzeria in 2001.

Entitled "The Sbarro Massacre: The Value of Life over Violence", it comes with this summary prepared we imagine by the documentary film makers in the office of the IDF Spokesperson:

After losing his daughter Malki in the Sbarro Massacre 21 years ago, Arnold Roth and his family chose to take the example she showed in life and share it with others. For the terrorists who killed her—and thousands of others over the years—violence and murder is their end goal. For us, life is precious and we do everything to protect, preserve and sanctify it in every way possible. http://www.kerenmalki.org/

We identify with every word. And we're proud and pleased that the work of the Malki Foundation, and the very difficult circumstances that led to its establishment, have gotten this kind of recognition. 

It had already attracted several thousand views in its first couple of days of online presence,

Here's the English language version:

There are separate versions with French subtitles and Spanish subtitles. Please share them with your friends and help us reach wider audiences who need to know about Malki's life and the good work done in her name.

How the Malki Foundation got started

From Varda Meyers Epstein's interview on the Elder of Ziyon blog

A brief extract here from an interview published a week ago on the influential Elder of Ziyon blog site.

Varda Meyers Epstein, under the nom-de-web Judean Rose, conducted the interview which was published as "A Father Speaks Out: The Murder of Malki Roth and the Refusal of Jordan to Extradite the Beast Ahlam Tamimi".

In August 2001, partnered by Rachel, a school-friend, she [Malki] insisted her way into the annual summer camp held by Etgarim, a wonderful nonprofit that provides summer sports, camping and the best of outdoors activity for youngsters with special needs, both cognitive and physical. Malki told us that Etgarim wasn’t geared up to take volunteers but that somehow the girls broke through the resistance and became part of the team. The photos we later saw show Malki smiling from ear to ear as she poses with campers. Most of what we know about those few days we learned after the Sbarro bombing which happened just a couple of days after Malki came home from the north. The stories they shared with us are unbearably touching.

We named the new entity the Malki Foundation: in Hebrew, Keren Malki. Almost eighteen years on, it has a terrific record of quiet, modest achievement, empowering thousands of parents of children with extreme special needs—children from every part of Israeli society without regard for religion, political outlook, national identification or economic capability—who have made the decision to embrace the challenge of raising their child with special needs at home and withstanding the pressure to institutionalize the child.

We avoid intruding into the family’s life or second-guessing them on decisions about which non-medical therapies they feel will most benefit their child. We support physical therapy, speech therapy, hydrotherapy, therapeutic horse riding and occupational therapy. They choose the therapist and the times and the frequency; we pay. We want them to feel empowered. It’s a successful model. We also provide home-care and mobility equipment, and for families living in the periphery—Israel’s far north and far south—we send our own therapists right into the home. For many of them, we could provide an open check for therapy services and they would be unable to spend the money. Israel seriously lets such families down.

Associating tragedy, personal loss, grief and pain with good, constructive deeds is a respected and time-honored Jewish response. We call those deeds hesed. I don’t intend to wax poetical in explaining why the family created the Malki Foundation but want simply to say: it gives me the opportunity, often and before audiences I would not otherwise reach, of saying: There was a very special young woman called Malki and we are all poorer for her having been taken from us.

Malki will never be a statistic but an inspiration. And in remembering her, we also realize that she and the savage who engineered her death are not—as several dull journalists said to me at various points in the weeks after the massacre—two sides of the same coin. 

If you have the time to read the whole piece, it may cast the Malki Foundation's work in a different light for you.

Together forever

Today, August 1, 2018, is the 20th day of Av in the Hebrew Calendar.

It's the date that marks the 17th Yahrtzeit (anniversary of the date of death) of Malki Chana Roth z"l, who was tragically murdered at the age of 15 together with her friend Michal Raziel z"l, when they stopped to have pizza at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem. 

As they waited at the counter, a terrorist entered the pizzeria and blew himself up, murdering 15 people, many of them children, and injuring 130 others.

Malki is remembered as a sweet, bright, conscientious daughter, sister and friend who helped her parents with her much-loved special-needs sister, other families of children with disabilities, classmates, and pretty much everyone she saw who needed something.

The Malki Foundation was founded to perpetuate her memory and empowers families of children with disabilities who care for their children at home.

Please honor Malki and Michal's memories by doing a good deed, and help spread their essence in the world.

יהיה זכרן ברוך - may their memories be for a blessing.

#malkiroth #neverforget #actsofkindness #wemissmalki#childrenwithdisabilities

Voice of Israel: Remembering through caring and doing

Over at Voice of Israel, a popular on-line radio channel broadcasting from our nation's capital, Judy Lash Balint hosts a daily program called Jerusalem Diaries. 

Her guest in the August 4th edition of the program ("A Murder Victim Remembered Through Action and Caring") was Arnold Roth, speaking on the 14th anniversary - according to the Hebrew calendar - of his daughter's murder in a Hamas terror attack in the center of Jerusalem. Arnold is a co-founder of the Malki Foundation, and the father of Malki, ob"m.

Here's how the station promoted the audio interview.

VOI's Judy Lash Balint is joined by Arnold Roth, father of Malki,15, killed in the Sbarro pizzeria terror attack in Jerusalem exactly 14 years ago. Roth decries the fact that the female terrorist who planned the attack was released in 2011, in exchange for the freedom of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. He has spent the past 14 years speaking out against appeasing terrorism, while commemorating his daughter’s memory through the activities of Keren Malki, a non-profit organization that helps families to care for their special-needs kids at home. He says Malki was dedicated to bringing happiness and support to disabled kids, particularly her own younger sister... [Voice of Israel's Jerusalem Diaries page]

Click here to go to Voice of Israel's audio-on-demand page. The interview runs about 25 minutes.

Here's how Voice of Israel describes itself:

Voice of Israel is Israel’s premier English-language radio network. Delivering round-the-clock breaking news coverage and informed opinions from across Israel’s political, business and cultural spectrum via live streaming to members’ smartphones, tablets and PCs, Voice of Israel’s mission is to ‘bring Israel closer’ to millions around the world.
Featuring a show-host lineup of veteran Israeli radio show hosts, journalists and activists, and a daily roster of the nation’s highest caliber guests including politicians, academics, entrepreneurs, and spiritual leaders — in addition to average Israelis of all demographics and faith sets — Voice of Israel listeners participate in Israel’s robust political and cultural dialogue in real-time...

Changing the world was not an option

In the minutes after the explosion at the Sbarro pizzeria,
Jerusalem, August 9, 2001

The article below, authored by Penina Taylor and originally published on the "Love of the Land" website on February 3, 2015, is reprinted here with permission.

But there are things that passionate people outraged by an injustice can do   

Penina Taylor

"What can a man do when his child is a victim of terrorism?" asked veteran BBC presenter Roger Phillips in March 2014 [link] at the beginning of his interview with Arnold Roth on BBC’s program, "Daybreak with Helen Jones".

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Malka Chana Roth, or Malki, was just 15 years old when her life was barbarically and senselessly cut short. On a beautiful summer’s day in August 2001, Malki and her lifelong friend Michal had stopped in to get something to eat at the immensely popular Sbarro’s Pizza shop on Yaffo Street in the heart of Jerusalem.

While Malki and Michal were in the restaurant, filled with customers – many of whom were mothers with children – a young Palestinian Arab man carrying a guitar case entered the restaurant. He had been accompanied by a young woman with a camera and they spoke in English so as not to arouse any suspicion.

Inside the guitar case was a bomb. The resulting explosion killed 15 people and injured some 130 others, many severely. Most of the people who died were children, including Malki and Michal. The male terrorist died in the attack. The woman fled the scene before the explosion, according to plan, and survived.

Ahlam Tamimi, the mastermind of the massacre, was 21 years old at the time of the bombing . A Jordanian national living in Ramallah, she was apparently the first woman recruited by Hamas’ Izzadine el-Qassam group. She has never expressed remorse of any kind for the murders. Although she was arrested a month following the attack and then sentenced by an Israeli court two years later to fifteen life terms, Tamimi was released from prison as part of the Shalit prisoner exchange in October 2011. Apparently, today she lives as a celebrity and heroine in Jordan.

After a devastating event like the death of a child at the hands of a terrorist, it would be easy to let the grief just take over one’s life. But for Arnold and Frimet, that would just be allowing the terrorists to win. So they channeled the pain into a project that would not only help thousands of people, but give honor to the beautiful soul of the daughter they lost.

Malki was not only a caring, vivacious, talented and musical young woman, but she was deeply devoted to doing everything in her power to help children with disabilities. So, what better way to honor her life than to create a foundation that assists families with disabled children?

And so, Keren Malki was born. Keren Malki’s mission is based around the idea that there is no better place for a child with special needs than that child's own home. The programs it provides enables families of severely handicapped children in Israel to receive home care and keep the family intact.

Keren Malki’s work is channeled into three active programs: one focused on providing specialized equipment in the home, and the other two on home-based therapies. In all 3 tracks, the goal is to empower families who want to give their seriously disabled child the best possible care at home.

In addition to running Keren Malki, they also write a blog called "This Ongoing War" which seeks to educate the public on the ongoing war against the West and Western values by Jihadist terrorists. They believe that it is only after people understand the enormity and of the war which is being waged – what is happening and why, that we can begin to put an end to it.

Just this week, the Elder of Ziyon blog, announced that their yearly Hasby Award has been awarded to the Roths for “This Ongoing War.” The Hasby award recognizes the achievements of the pro-Israel advocacy community.

Says Mr. Roth: "We don't expect to change the world, we are constantly reinforced in our understanding of that. But there are things that passionate people outraged by this injustice can do. And that's what we do."

Here's why the Malki Foundation exists

Image: Nir Alon, Photographer, on a visit to a beneficiary family

The decision my wife and children and I made in August 2001 to establish a not-for-profit to do constructive and helpful things for families with a child suffering from serious disabilities stemmed from two extremely challenging realities in our lives.

The first was that our youngest child, born healthy and beautiful, became catastrophically disabled before her first birthday. This turned the life of our family on its head, changing almost everything.

The second was that the eldest of our daughters, Malki, was murdered in a human-bomb attack on a pizzeria in the center of Jerusalem. We were left devastated by unanswerable questions.

Malki was just fifteen. The beautiful life she had been living and the bright future that we were sure lay ahead came to an end without our having even a moment's notice to prepare ourselves.

We knew very little in those unspeakably black days except that we needed to remember Malki and ensure others did too. More than anything else you will read below or elsewhere, this is the reason we created the Malki Foundation: so that people would know what all of us lost.

The foundation that bears her name is now in its thirteenth year. The things it does, how it does them, who benefits, who supports - these are important matters, and described on the Malki Foundation's website, Facebook page, and the other on-line sites listed over there on the right side of this page. Also, via regular mailers sent to our supporters by the outstanding team of professionals that manage the Malki Foundation's day-to-day work.

It has always been important for my wife, Frimet, and me to emphasize that, as passionate as we are about the Malki Foundation's success, we have always endeavoured as founders and board members to stand back and support the management team so they can do their vital work in the best, most effective way. We are of course involved, even intensively involved at times. We take our roles seriously. But we are strictly unpaid volunteers. That fits our view of how respectable charities ought to be run.

With the background explained, allow me to share with you some insights into the extraordinary effectiveness of Keren Malki (the Malki Foundation's name in Hebrew).

It has always been important for us to ensure that our three programs meet the needs of the families we seek to help. Closely analyzing the data we collect has become, and will be even more so in the future, an essential part of tailoring the growing organization's work, budget and plans.

As part of that process, we have been reviewing initial results from a confidential questionnaire sent to a sample of the Malki Foundation's Therapies at Home program beneficiaries. Other than being families that have made decision to have their child with severe special-needs live with them at home, they are as varied as any other cluster of families living in Israel.

A handful of highlights. These comments, most of them translated from the Hebrew original, were received in the past few weeks:

• Do they feel the child achieved benefits from the therapies that are enabled via the Malki Foundation's program? So far, every response has answered "yes". (Responses are anonymous unless the families volunteer their names.)
• Comment: "Very happy with the quick and organized help we get from Keren Malki. The health fund, for reasons of their own, do not currently give us any help at all though our daughter has been officially assessed as 100% disabled. We hope we will continue to get your support next year." [Current support from the Malki Foundation is for physical and speech therapy.]
• Comment: "A lot, a lot of improvement. I said his name and he looked at me and waved. He has never done that before..."
• Comment: "[Our daughter] really wanted horse therapy and now that she gets it, she loves it, never misses a lesson... It strengthens her hips and her back and also provides emotional therapy. Though she 'hates' physiotherapy, she loves and enjoys the horse therapy so much. Even her therapist reported a distinct improvement..." [The health fund denied this family any horse-riding therapy coverage.] 
• Comment: "Thanks to you, our child can get physiotherapy. This helps and advances him a lot. Without your help, we would not be able to afford this... The amazing attitude towards us makes things easier on us and really encourages us  [Child attends a day-treatment center and is not institutionalized]
• Comment: "He is our only child so far after (x) years of marriage,.. We have seen a really big improvement. He is learning to walk and there is a huge improvement in the way he now relates to his surroundings. The way he has improved makes us very happy and your help is tremendously important to us."

There is a great amount of detail in the results, which makes for interesting and uplifting analysis. Keep in mind that every request for Malki Foundation support is given on the explicit basis that health fund or government-funded therapy entitlements must be used up in full by the family before our support kicks in. It's a carefully calibrated system that ensures no overlap and maximum utilization of the funds we raise from donors. And this: we see it as vital that the government and the health funds are not let off the hook. I am happy to expand on this important point for anyone interested to delve into these critical issues more deeply.

We are currently preparing to publish a solid analysis with the help of health and welfare professionals. If we can change the social agenda so that children with serious disabilities are given a chance at much better outcomes, then we will. Nothing would capture more faithfully the message of Malki's passion than that. 

Meanwhile the broad picture is clear to us: every incremental achievement, every tiny baby-step of success, happened to these families not because of what they received (or did not receive) from 'official government channels' but despite it.

That is not a statement that a proud citizen likes to make. But it is demonstrably true. More than anything else, the evidence reaffirms the central role of family support in achieving better outcomes for children facing challenges that most of us have never known ourselves.

For the support you provided during this past year, my sincere and deep thanks. I hope you will stay with us on the journey. We are doing honest, good and effective work to benefit families and children who deserve much more than they get today. Can you think of a finer mission?

Donations made before the end of the 2014 financial year (that's just two days from now for Israelis and US citizens) are especially welcome.

• To donate from Israel, please click here. 
• And from the United States and elsewhere, please click here.
• For Australians, though this is not the end of the financial year, and though donations are not tax-deductible under Australian law, your contributions are definitely welcome always: click here.
• From the UK, where we are registered with the Charities Commission, and where the financial year ends in February, please click here. 

Arnold Roth

Honorary Chair - The Malki Foundation

Students at Manchester UK's King David School adopt Malki Foundation as chosen charity

This picture of King David students accompanies
the Jewish Telegraph article

Some great news from the United Kingdom. This article appears in today's edition (September 19, 2014) of the Jewish Telegraph, UK:

KD Kids Back Terror Victim's Charity 

BY ZOE COHEN 

YEAR Nine pupils at King David High School are set to develop ideas to raise money for an Israeli charity. 

They gathered at a special assembly on Wednesday for the launch of the Keren Malki Project. 

The school has teamed-up with the project as its chosen charity for when the pupils head to Israel next year. 

Jewish studies teacher Rabbi Jonathan Goodman, who is heading the project, told them about the charity's background and how they will make an impact. 

The Malki Foundation was started by the Roth family, whose daughter Malki was killed in the Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing in Jerusalem in 2001. 

It supports families of children with disabilities. 

The KD pupils have set a £12,000 target, which will allow the charity to purchase equipment which helps special needs children with muscle development, skeletal growth, increased bone density and social development and integration. 

The students were shown a short film produced by the Roth family, which highlighted the key concepts of how the foundation has impacted on both parents and children. 

Rabbi Goodman said: "These pieces of equipment will help children up to 19-years-old and are able to be reused to help the lives of many for years to come." 

Each student will try to raise £100. Rabbi Goodman told the students: "We have to understand who Malki was. 

"Only after a person has died is when we start talking greatness of them. 

"We should appreciate the people around us when they are alive."

From the Keren Malki KDS pushke design

As part of the discussions with King David School's senior people, The Malki Foundation's management team here in Jerusalem and in Manchester came up with a design (see it above) for a charity (tzedaka) box to be given to the KDS students taking part in the new project.

Meanwhile on the King David School website, they posted this on Wednesday:

Launching the Year 9 Charity for 2014-15, Keren Malki 

September 17, 2014 

This morning Year 9 main school, Yavneh Boys and Yavneh Girls were introduced to this year's school charity, Keren Malki. The Keren Malki Foundation seeks to support families of disabled children in Israel with resources to help their children at home with chairs, seats and therapies in order to realise an active life. 

The foundation is named after Malka Chana Roth. She was born in Melbourne, Australia on November 27, 1985 (Kislev 14, 5746). She died at the age of fifteen in terror attack on the Sbarro restaurant, Jerusalem, on August 9, 2001 (Menachem Av 20, 5761). 

Over this next year KDHS hope to raise £12,000 to support the Keren Malki Foundation.

A great initiative - we wish well to all those involved.

Staying in touch - thanks for doing your part

Welcome!

The work of the Malki Foundation since its establishment in 2001 has been positive in ways that take some explaining. After all, no one is cured of an illness by the things we do here.

Our focus is on families who care - as we do in our own family - for a child challenged with serious special needs. We could do everything right, provide all the possible help and support, and still find that the family benefitting from what the Malki Foundation provides would have those same challenges, and the child would remain with those same special needs.

So how can it be said that the Malki Foundation's work is positive? Or that it has achieved anything?

Providing the answer to that is not so easy. It involves understanding why families do things for those in their immediate circle that call for an effort that might be quite large and difficult, and get or expect a small result or even none at all.

Our daughter Malka Chana Roth was one of the victims of the Hamas terror organization's attack on one of the most high profile Israeli sites they were able to identify at the time: a pizza shop located right on Jerusalem's busiest intersection. We know from the perpetrators who survived the attack and later were put on trial that impact was at the heart of their plan. That's why they sought out a place that attracted children.

No one can doubt they succeeded in their hideous plan. The foundation we set up in the immediate aftermath of the massacre at the Sbarro pizza shop was never going to bring back any of the lives lost that day or heal any of the bodies injured so cruelly there that day. But that was never part of the plan.

In one of our first mailers, back in February 2002, we described our hopes for the Malki Foundation this way:

Keren Malki was created to honor Malki’s life and achievements, and especially her love of children with special needs. It exists to help families raising children with severe disabilities by providing special-purpose equipment like wheelchairs, baths and lifting equipment, and at-home therapy services. Families who wish to keep a special child at home should be encouraged and supported. Keren Malki is working to create that environment in Israel. This will take time, and lots of support. 

In the dozen years since writing that, my colleagues and I have remained as true as we can to those original goals. We have a tight focus today on doing just a handful of well-chosen things that honor Malki's life and encourage and support families who wish to keep a special child at home.

Via this blog, we plan to share some of what we are learning, and show how well our programs achieve their goals. We value hugely your interest in knowing more about the Malki Foundation's work.

Arnold Roth, Honorary Chair
The Malki Foundation
Jerusalem