“If life is easy, you’re living it wrong” – Ari Fuld
During the Second Lebanon War, Ari Fuld, who served in an elite IDF reserves paratrooper unit was miraculously saved from death – only because he ran into the field of fire to rescue his fellow wounded soldiers and brought them to safety.
After that life-changing moment, Ari completely rededicated his life to defending Israel and the Jewish people, helping IDF soldiers, and teaching others about the beauty and depths of Judaism.
On September 16, 2018, 7 Tishrei 5779, Ari was murdered by an Arab terrorist.
The Ari Fuld Project was established to continue the mission that Ari began and that Ari never gave up trying to complete, even with his dying breath.
About Ari Fuld
Ari was born in New York to Rabbi Yona and Mary Fuld. He moved to Israel on his own in 1991, where he studied at Yeshivat HaKotel in the Old City of Jerusalem, under the leadership of HaRav Aharon Bina.
In 1992, Ari enlisted in the IDF’s Golani Brigades where he served as the unit’s “MAGist”.
After being discharged from the IDF, Ari went to learn at Bar Ilan University and Touro College.
During his studies, Ari married Miriam Loecher and soon after the happy couple moved from Jerusalem to Efrat, Gush Etzion , where they raised their four children, Tamar, Naomi, Yakir and Natan Shai.
Ari joined an elite Paratrooper unit for his Miluim (IDF reserve service) and served as a cornerstone in Efrat’s counter-terrorist unit.
Never one to waste time, Ari, who also had Semicha (rabbinic ordination), taught in numerous gap-year Yeshivas. Others remember Ari as their teacher and mentor in the Tora Dojo karate school, or his in-person and virtual midnight tours in the Old City of Jerusalem, Hebron and other locations around Israel.
Ari was committed to the truth, to the Torah, to the IDF, to Israel and to the people of Israel. He would never shy away from confrontation to defend those truths when they came under attack.
On September 16, 2018, while standing in the parking lot of the Ramy Levi supermarket in Gush Etzion, a cowardly terrorist snuck up behind Ari and fatally stabbed him in the back. Despite his fatal wounds, Ari managed to pull out his gun, chase down and shoot the terrorist before he could attack and kill anyone else.