The Story of OneFamily

Michal Belzberg was preparing for her Bat Mitzvah in Jerusalem when a suicide bombing struck the crowded Sbarro restaurant in the city’s downtown on the day of her 12th birthday.  Fifteen people were murdered and 130 men, women and children were wounded.  It was the most deadly attack in Jerusalem since the beginning of the Intifadah in September 2000.

In the wake of such sorrow and destruction, Michal felt that she could not hold a celebration, so she cancelled her Bat Mitzvah party in order to contribute the Bat Mitzvah’s expenses to victims of the attack.  In addition, she encouraged friends and family to give the victims everything they had planned on giving her.

Michal and the Belzberg family raised over $100,000, but quickly realized that was not nearly enough to address the suffering of the growing number of Israelis affected by terror.  In that moment, OneFamily was born.

Since its inception, OneFamily has grown into a large volunteer-based non-profit organization providing much needed assistance to thousands of terror victims throughout Israel on a daily basis.