The singer told "The Jerusalem Post" that, when she heard of Ari Fuld’s murder, "a cry came out of my throat and I stopped breathing."
By AMY SPIROUpdated: SEPTEMBER 20, 2018 00:05 Israeli singer Achinoam Nini sings during a demonstration held by Israeli left-wing group Peace Now, entitled "Two States, One Hope, A demonstration against 50 years of occupation", in Tel Aviv, Israel May 27, 2017(photo credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS)
Achinoam Nini, a popular singer and left-wing activist, paid a visit on Monday to the shiva house of Ari Fuld, who was murdered in a terrorist attack this week.Nini told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that she knew Fuld’s father, Rabbi Yonah Fuld, because he was the principal of the SAR Academy in New York City when she attended.“Rabbi Fuld was and remains one of the most influential and beloved figures in my life,” Nini said Tuesday via email. “He is a man of values and full of love, who comes to my shows and praises, rejoices and takes pride in the success of his students.”Nini said when she heard of Ari Fuld’s murder, “a cry came out of my throat, and I stopped breathing.”The singer said she went early Monday morning to visit the Fuld family shiva, to arrive before the crowds “to comfort my beloved rabbi and his family.”“My friends said, ‘You’re crazy going there. You’re endangering your life,’” she said.But, Nini said, “my heart brought me straight to the place I knew I needed to be. To the side of my beloved teacher who would accept all his students every morning with a hug and words of wisdom.” She said that Rabbi Yonah Fuld always accepted her without criticism, from the age of six until now, when she is a mother of three.“It is now my turn to open my arms and my heart to him,” Nini said. She said when she arrived at the shiva house with her father, Rabbi Fuld “fell on my neck and whimpered. We cried together. Until now tears still remain in my eyes.”“When will this violence and sadness end?” Nini said. Nini, who is internationally known by her stage name, Noa, is a vocal critic of the Israeli government and the settlement movement. She has often criticized those artists who perform in the West Bank. Last month, she said it wasn’t right for Berry Sakharof to perform in Hebron: “It’s not a place to entertain,” she said. “I’m in favor of going to settlements in order to talk, but performing there is something else, and it’s wrong.”
Indeed, in January Nini took a tour of the Shomron region, and wrote on Facebook that the visit was informative and challenging.“Here were these sweet, generous, warm-hearted people… with a huge, seemingly impassable abyss between us,” Nini wrote in January. “We came out feeling it would take many more hours of conversation and exchange of ideas to scratch the tip of the formidable iceberg of misunderstanding, misinformation and disagreement, to try and melt it somehow and find common ground… But we saw great importance in the meeting, as the conversation, even when at times painful and difficult, was honest, respectful and deep.”
