‘Beautiful in and out’: Memorial trek for murdered Jewish teen

Ori Ansbacher’s friends call for Israelis to walk in the forests in memory of the nature-loving girl.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The family of Ori Ansbacher, who was raped and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist a year ago, has called for the public to memorialize the nature-loving teenager by going out on a nature hike on the anniversary of her death.

The 19-year old Ansbacher had been walking in a Jerusalem forest on a break from her National Service job when Arafat Irfaiya, a Hebron resident, sexually assaulted and then knifed her to death. She was eulogized by her family and friends as being “beautiful inside and out,” volunteering with youth at risk because she had “an infinite desire to correct the world with goodness.”

She loved the great outdoors, often going for long walks alone to write and think, and her friends thought that asking people to go on a trek in the woods would be the perfect way commemorate the sensitive, spiritual person they had grown up with.

“This last year has been full of pain for us,” Yonatan Zubari, one of her friends from her Tekoa village, told Ynet. “It was important for us as her childhood friends to initiate an activity in her memory that would also be in Ori’s spirit and also touch on two of her great loves: love of nature and love of her fellow man. We suggest going out for a trek with friends or family, without fear, this Friday, 28/2, the third of Adar, a day after the anniversary.”

They would also appreciate if those who go out could take a picture of themselves and put it up on Facebook under the hashtag “Lighting the light of Ori.”

As Zubari explained, “Our project is meant to help us remember Ori’s great personality and not the evil we experienced a year ago.”

Ansbacher’s vicious murder drove the Israeli government to enforce earlier legislation to deduct the amount the Palestinian Authority pays to terrorists jailed for terrorist attack and the families of those killed while attempting attacks, from tax money Israel transfers to the PA on a monthly basis.