Save the date for the Chicago-Highland Park Annual Event
Date: Tuesday, Dec. 8th, 2009
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Swislow family: 2313 Sheridan Road, Highland Park, IL
Please RSVP: Nada Popovic
If you do not live in Chicago but know people who do, please forward the information to them. For more information contact Sara Wenger.
This year’s keynote speaker is Survivor of Terror, Miri Furstenberg.
Miri Furstenberg, 61, lives in Rishon Lezion and is the widowed mother of two and grandmother of four. She is a survivor of the Ma’ale Akrabim massacre, an attack on a bus that killed eleven passengers including her entire family.
On March 16, 1954, an Egged bus carrying 14 passengers made its way from Eilat to Tel Aviv. As the bus ascended a steep grade it was ambushed by Jordanian and Palestinian gunmen who killed the driver, Miri’s father, as well as passengers who tried to escape. The terrorists then boarded the bus, shot and raped the surviving passengers, including Miri’s mother. Among four survivors, two severely injured, was five-year-old Miri Furstenberg, spared by the heroic act of an Israeli soldier who defended her with his body. Miri’s 10 year old brother was mortally wounded and remained in a vegetative state until his death in 1986.
Miri grew up an orphan on a kibbutz, without rehabilitation, her experience typical of many terror survivors from Israel’s early years when the State was ill-equipped to address their needs. Despite Miri’s traumatic, emotionally disadvantaged childhood, she worked hard to rebuild her life, raised and supported two children. In addition to now working long hours as a taxi driver for some of Israel’s most prominent professionals, Miri volunteers helping poverty stricken families as well as mentally retarded adults.
Miri frequently contemplates why she survived. She believes she lived in order to help others in distress.
