Most of us who woke up to the horrific news of the Har Nof terror attack spent the morning in shock. But a group of tenth graders, spurred on by a suggestion to raise money for the victims’ families at a school wide assembly, sprang into action, setting up what was undoubtedly the first fund to raise money for the Har Nof families.

The idea of setting up a crowdfunding site evolved quickly in discussions between Rabbi Aryeh Young and his students, tenth graders at the Rambam Mesivta in Lawrence.

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“We had been in our first-period class for less than three minutes, and the website was already in-motion,” Rabbi Young told The Jewish Press. “Kids were shouting out suggestions from all corners of the classroom and by the end of that period, 22 kids had worked together to come up with the final concept. It was truly a team effort and each and every one of the students knows that he personally made a difference in the lives of these families.”

The idea was quickly approved by school principal Rabbi Zev Friedman and by 12:30 that afternoon a site had already been established on CrowdRise.com with a goal of collecting $25,000 for the orphans of the Goldberg, Kupinsky, Levine and Twersky families before the shiva ended.

For Rabbi Young’s students, the campaign was a way of making sense of the tragedy and channeling their shock and horror in a positive direction. The results far exceeded anyone’s expectations, with $18,000 raised within the first 24 hours, and $24,000 raised by the end of day two.

The story could have ended there, but it didn’t.

After hearing about a parallel campaign that was collecting funds and had several benefactors who agreed to match all donations that week up to $1 million, Rabbi Young contacted the person running the campaign, New Jersey businessman Ira Zlotowitz. Accepting Rabbi Young’s invitation to visit Rambam, Zlotowitz traveled to Long Island where he met with students and the two campaigns were rolled together, with Zlotowitz announcing that he would match the $28,000 collected by the students.

Zlotowitz admitted to being impressed by the Rambam teens.

“They were the first ones to put up a campaign,” said Zlotowitz. “While everyone was sending pictures and saying, ‘Oh my gosh,’ these kids were doing this.”

Not content to help only the families of Jewish terror victims, sophomore Gabe Greenbaum created a second fund to help the family of slain Druze policeman Zidan Saif.

Greenbaum worked together with Zlotowitz to set up HarNofHero.com, which hopes to raise $100,000, the same amount raised for each of the other Har Nor orphans, for Saif’s wife and daughter.

The Rambam family has also undertaken a mishnayos campaign, with a goal of learning all of Shas Mishnayos before the Shloshim of the four men who died. Currently, only 12 mesechtas remain unclaimed in the effort, with Rambam students and faculty eagerly committing to the project.

According to Zlotowitz, Reb Nissim Kaplan, who is administering the Har Nof fund, was impressed by the Rambam students, whose efforts are attracting worldwide attention.

“It is reflective of the chinuch they are receiving,” said Zlotowitz. “Every yeshiva spoke about the attack but these kids did something above and beyond. They had no connection to the victims, didn’t know who they were or where they would get the money, but they got involved and they created something.”

Rabbi Friedman traveled to Israel where he visited with victims’ families, distributing money and candies.

“The funds distributed were no different than the candy we gave to some of the younger children,” said Rabbi Friedman. “It was a feeble attempt to provide these grieving families with some chizuk and the message that Jews around the world truly care about them.”

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Sandy Eller is a freelance writer who writes for numerous websites, newspapers, magazines and private clients. She can be contacted at [email protected].