Slain Journalist Remembered as a Sweet Gan Israel Camper

by Menachem Posner – chabad.org

Reporter Aviva Okeson-Haberman, 24, who had recently landed her dream job at KCUR, Kansas City’s NPR affiliate, was killed on April 25 by an apparently stray bullet shot through her apartment window. As the shocking news has made its way around the world, tributes, expressions of disbelief and accolades are pouring in from friends and colleagues.

“Though she was early in her journalism career, she was already making a name for herself,” said Frank Morris of KCUR, where she had recently been hired to cover inequity and had already begun to give voice to the voiceless, including the incarcerated and children in foster care. As reported on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Morris shared that “anybody who knew Aviva Okeson-Haberman admired her integrity, her drive and her intelligence.”

That love and admiration began way back when she was a smiling girl in Camp Gan Israel in Peoria, Ill., where her family lived at the time.

“I know I’m not alone feeling totally heartbroken at the senseless killing of Aviva Okeson-Haberman, our sweet camper from many years ago,” posted Sarah Langsam, who co-directs the Chabad Jewish Center in Peoria with her husband, Rabbi Eli Langsam. “Although Aviva and her family moved from Peoria many years ago, I remember what a gem of a girl she was.”

Langsam went on to explain that she was struck by the fact that Aviva proudly used her Jewish name, unusual in Peoria, where there are believed to be no more than 1,000 Jewish residents.

The Langsams have called for members of the tight-knit community to commit to performing additional mitzvahs in memory of Okeson-Haberman with the intention that the good deeds be recorded and shared with her family.

This article has been reported with permission from chabad.org