Fundraising push launched to help Ethiopian Israeli terror victim's kids

Israeli businessman and social philanthropist Isaac Levy has launched a new crowdfunding campaign to take care of the orphaned children of Tadasa Tashume Ben Ma'ada, an Ethiopian oleh who was killed in the November Jerusalem bus bombing.

The campaign, which has the goal of raising NIS 5 million, will help the orphaned children with their expenses until they each turn 25 and can be donated to at https://givechak.co.il/tedesa?ref=rr. 

At the time of writing, the campaign has thus far managed to raise just under NIS 224,000.

Who was Tadasa Tashume Ben Ma'ada, the Ethiopian Israeli killed in the Jerusalem bus bombing?

Ben Ma'ada was one of two victims of the Jerusalem bus bombing terrorist attack, alongside 16-year-old Arye Schechopek. 

Having made aliyah from Ethiopia 21 years ago, the 50-something immigrant ultimately succumbed to his wounds while hospitalized at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, leaving behind a wife and six children, one of them just a year old.

Ben Ma'ada worked as a jeweler at Magemeria, a jewelry-making school started by the owners of Yvel jewelry company. All the students in the school are olim from Ethiopia. 

In addition, he was also a graduate of one of Levy's programs, which helped Ethiopian immigrants in Israel find work.

“Tedesa was a graduate of the first cohort and was very successful professionally and socially and helped push people forward and remained part of the project,” Levy said. 

“He dreamed to come to Jerusalem and he did and he dreamed to have children born here and he did and dreamed to make a living here and he did. We want to ensure that his children will continue to be a success in the Ethiopian community and in Israel in general.”