Standing Together, a non-profit organization, whose goal is to support IDF soldiers with whatever they need and wherever they are, brought the Bentow family, who was hit by Islamic terror in Copenhagen, to meet IDF soldiers. Standing Together’s hope was to give the Bentow family strength and uproot the devastation they experienced in the terror attack that ruined Hannah Bentow’s (13) Bat Mitzvah birthday celebration.
Hannah Bentow, age 13, of Copenhagen, Denmark, was celebrating her Bat Mitzvah on February 15, 2015 at Copenhagen’s main synagogue. Nearing the end of the celebration, a terrorist approached the synagogue killing the volunteer Jewish guard Dan Uzan, aged 37, while the guests of the Bat Mitzvah was forced to hide in the basement of the synagogue. As a Jew, regardless of your level of observance, a Bat Mitzvah is a major milestone in a girl’s life and to have this major event destroyed by a terrorist attack is something that can cause tremendous amounts of pain to the family and especially to the Bat Mitzvah girl, Hannah Bentow. After the attack, Hannah turned to her mother and said, “I wish I didn’t have a Bat Mitzvah and Dan was still alive.”
Hannah’s story hit a nerve with Jews around the world, but one Jew named, Josh Salmon of Florida, decided he must do something about Hannah’s devastation. After hearing her story and confirming it with the former Chief Rabbi of Denmark, Rabbi Bent Lexner, Josh sent Hannah an iPhone as a bat mitzvah present and put a smile on Hannah’s face as she was surprised to learn that Jews around the world cared for her.
Josh Salmon was not done just yet and together with other donors he decided to send Hannah and her family to Israel for a week to give them a positive Bat Mitzvah experience that they will never forget.
When Assistant Director of Standing Together, Ari Fuld, heard about this effort, he immediately touched base with Josh and offered to bring Hannah and her entire family to an IDF base to meet the soldiers who are protecting Israel. “As an active IDF reserves soldier in an elite IDF paratroopers unit, I felt the pain of terror as my platoon mate, Yehoshua Friedberg was kidnapped and murdered in 1993 and I know, If there is one thing terror victims need, it is to meet those who are making sure we stay safe.” Fuld was just as excited about this trip as the Bentow’s were, “I wanted them to know that we are one nation and I knew meeting the men and women of the IDF would be an empowering experience for them.” As soon as Hannah heard of the opportunity to visit an IDF base, she made it a priority. Hannah and her siblings would not stop talking about their upcoming visit to an IDF base and constantly told her parents how important it is to show IDF soldiers that they support and think about them.
At first the Bentow children were a little nervous to be visiting soldiers, but as soon as the Standing Together jeep and trailer pulled up to an IDF base in Hebron, the smiles began to shine, both from the Bentow family as well as from the soldiers who were stationed there. Standing Together’s jeep has a trailer connected to it and inside it is equipped with a grill, a toaster, phone chargers and more, and it didn’t take long till Hannah’s entire family was taking charge grilling up a BBQ for tens of soldiers who were coming back from operations in the area.
Right in the middle of giving hot dogs to IDF soldiers who were returning from a patrol, Mette Bentow, Hannah’s mother turned to David Landau, Director of Standing Together and said, “You have no idea what you did for us to get this experience. It is so difficult to explain to these soldiers how much and how often we think about them”
Like so many other families from around the world who have come out with Standing Together to say THANK YOU to IDF soldiers, the Bentow family’s IDF experience was one they will never forget. Like every Bar / Bat Mitzvah kid who decides to share their special day with IDF soldiers, Hannah received a special certificate thanking her for coming out to show IDF soldiers how much she cares.
We originally brought the Bentow’s to an IDF base to show them we care and to give them strength but it was the soldiers who in the end, received an emotional boost from a Copenhagen family who just wanted to show their appreciation to IDF soldiers.
STANDING TOGETHER COPENHAGEN:
The Bentow family from Copenhagen was celebrating their daughter’s Bat Mitzvah when a Muslim terrorists attacked, shot and killed one of their dear friends who was standing guard at the synagogue in Copehagen. With the help of sponsors, the Bentow family recently took a trip to Israel and one of their stops was to visit an IDF base to meet he men and women of the IDF who are protecting Israel.