“It’s the little things she did that changed people’s lives,” Tami Raviv, the mother of Niv Raviv, 27, murdered in Kibbutz Kfar Aza during the Oct. 7 Hamas onslaught on Israel, told JNS on Friday.
“It’s about perpetuating her legacy and teaching these little things to make others become better people. It keeps her and her values alive,” she added.
On Oct. 6, after spending parts of the Sukkot holiday with her family in the center of Israel, Niv and her boyfriend of eight years, Nirel Zini, 31, drove back to Kfar Aza on Friday night for Niv to study a key psychology exam she was planning to take on Oct. 10.
Niv and Nirel were murdered in cold blood by Hamas at 10:15 a.m. in their house in Kfar Aza’s “young generation” neighborhood. A week later, the army informed the families of the couple that Niv and Nirel’s bodies had been identified.
After Niv’s passing, Tami kept receiving messages from people Niv had helped in life, including from the mental-health hospital where she volunteered or in the neighborhood.
“Niv was always there for everyone—her family, her grandparents, her brothers, and everyone else, as well,”Tami said. “She left a positive impression that people remembered.”
As a student, Niv joined the Olami-Nefesh Yehudi program to learn about religion and study the philosophy of Judaism. Olami is a global organization committed to building Jewish identity and ensuring Jewish continuity. The Jerusalem-based Nefesh Yehudi organization is part of Olami.
After the 30-day mourning period, Tami was approached by members of Olami who told her they were initiating a program called Brothers for Life (Achim Lanetzach), a legacy initiative, and wanted to teach Niv’s values.
Olami operates in 30 countries and has 70,000 students enrolled in its programs, including some 5,000 in Israel.
Branches in Israel run a mentorship program that pairs students with community members, both religious and secular, who explore life together and connect over Jewish values.
The organization lost many students murdered at the Supernova music festival, in the border communities opposite the Gaza Strip and soldiers killed in action on and since Oct. 7, 2003.
“Five or six people came to our home and sat with me for a few hours to learn her values. Niv’s friends came, as well. When we all spoke, I understood she had something she could teach others,” Tami said.
“At first, when we had people over to study, I didn’t invite my friends. I thought it could be too religious. But her friends were so eager to tell about her legacy, that I understood that it was something way beyond me. People started asking to be part of it,” she continued.
“At the end of every lesson, they would leave the house wanting to be better people and be more like Niv. To me, it was so touching and powerful. If people take something even really small from her, she did something very meaningful here on earth,” she added.
After Olami launched its Achim LeNetzach legacies initiative, the
project expanded throughout the world including in North America,
France, England and Latin America.
“Tragic stories must be told. It’s important that the world learn the lessons of what has happened to our people, but we also need to tell the stories of the superpowers of these amazing young and old people who were killed on Oct. 7,” Rabbi David Markowitz, managing director at Olami, recently told JNS.
“It’s the way that the Jewish people respond to tragedy: with love, by caring and continuing the legacies. And, thankfully, it’s been comforting to all sides,” he added.
Markowitz’s team started to speak with the bereaved families of students who were murdered, to learn about their children.
“We went to meet the mother of Niv. Her father wasn’t able to speak. He was not able to look at a picture of Niv after she was killed. He was in too much pain. Niv’s mother started telling us stories about her daughter. Certain themes kept coming up,” Markowitz recounted.
“One of Niv’s character traits that resonated with her friends and family was persistence. We asked ourselves how we can all have a little more persistence in our lives while continuing the legacy of Niv. From there it started,” he continued.
The team compiled a booklet with stories, pictures, Jewish ideas about persistence and about Niv. They then asked the family whether it described Niv’s superpower and they agreed.
“We brought together 50 family members and friends of Niv not just to mourn but to learn about Niv’s superpower and think of how to go from there. They all shared stories and learned about persistence,” Markowitz told JNS.
“They studied Jewish sources and committed to be more persistent in their lives. They started a WhatsApp group and continued to turn memories into legacy. Then we asked our students whether they’d be interested to learn about Niv and they said they’d love to,” he explained.
“That’s what the mentors are doing with their students. At first, we had made six booklets and now we are up to 12. We keep going. Hopefully, we will come to the end of the students from Olami who were murdered and then move on to the rest of the 1,000+ murdered people,” he added.
Olami’s legacies project has now expanded throughout the world, including in North America, France, England and Latin America.
The legacies initiative includes the stories of Ben Shimoni, killed while trying to rescue a group of people at the Supernova music festival and Israel Defense Forces soldier Amit Tzur, who served near the Gaza border and saved countless lives before being murdered on that day.
In its mentorship program, Olami currently has about 2,000 matches, 4,000 people around the world. Slowly over the last few months, each program has started a series of legacy programs.
“Within the next few weeks, hopefully everybody will be doing this. We are also starting to reach out to new people. We had an event in Miami, Florida, attended by 200 young professionals, and 50 of them signed up on the spot,” Markowitz said.
“Everywhere we go, it’s well received. Everyone is so passionate about it and we encourage everybody to do it, so that we can continue the legacies of those murdered on that day,” he continued.
“Our vision is to switch the world of assimilation to affiliation, to make Judaism so alive, exciting and compelling that the young generation will be running towards it and will be excited about celebrating it in pride and continue on for the next generation,” Markowitz said.
In addition to the program, Niv’s family initiated the Niv Nirel Center in Beit Yanai, to treat those dealing with trauma from military service, in collaboration with the Lev Hasharon Mental Health Center. The initiative opened on Aug. 18 and is currently treating dozens of people.