One day in June 2003, Sarri Singer was sitting by the window on a bus in Jerusalem when a suicide bomber ended his life and changed hers.
She felt “two pieces of metal [that] hit ... hard against each other and vibrate back,” she told the audience of her lecture, titled “Healing the Wounds of Terror,” last night in Robertson Hall.
Singer suffered from extensive injuries, including ruptured eardrums, cut-up legs, a broken collarbone and burnt hair and was left with a burned and bruised face. She still does not have full range of motion in one of her arms despite two years of physical therapy, and two pieces of shrapnel in remain in her mouth and have caused her teeth to shift.
After a wave of terrorist attacks in Israel in August 2001, Singer, the daughter of New Jersey State Sen. Robert Singer (R), decided to resign from her job and move to Israel to work with various relief organizations. She did so because she could not go back to work as if nothing had happened, she said.
She added that being a Manhattan resident who lived through the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks further motivated her desire to make the move.
Upon moving to Israel, Singer worked as an administrator in a Jerusalem school and helped to plan a mission that brought Israelis affected by terrorist attacks to the United States to relate their experiences.
Singer noted that as a state senator’s daughter, she was in a unique position to relate her experiences to the media, who took increased interest in her plight after the 2003 attack. She gave a press conference with 30 international radio and television stations to discuss what happened aboard that bus.
Her decision to put aside her personal trauma and speak with the media led to her eventual development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Singer explained.
Surviving a terrorist attack and her experience with PTSD led Singer to start the One Heart Foundation, which helps families affected by terrorist attacks with “long-term psychological care.”
One Heart is “working with existing sectors in different countries that are already servicing survivors of terrorist attacks and their families,” Singer said.
Singer’s foundation has worked with the Jerusalem Center for Psychotrauma, Tuesday’s Children, an organization that helps families affected by Sept. 11, and various groups in Australia that aid children affected by attacks in Bali, Indonesia.
Singer said that her close encounter with death has not scared her from returning to Israel. She went to Israel five times for both work and vacation in 2005, she said.
“It is a great experience for students to hear [a] story and realize what people have to live through when exposed to terrorist attacks,” Tigers for Israel (TFI) president David Levit ’10 said.
TFI, the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies and the Zionist Organization of America sponsored the lecture.
Read More
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson reflects on path to the Supreme Court in campus lecture
Isaac Bernstein and Justus WilhoitAt Princeton’s Harlan Lecture, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson discussed her journey to the Supreme Court, the power of dissenting opinions, and the importance of inspiring future generations.
At Princeton’s Harlan Lecture, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson discussed her journey to the Supreme Court, the power of dissenting opinions, and the importance of inspiring future generations.
Student employment in flux as University navigates budget cuts
Kian PetlinThe future of student employment remains uncertain amid budget cuts, with impacts ranging from reduced hours to staffing shortages.
The future of student employment remains uncertain amid budget cuts, with impacts ranging from reduced hours to staffing shortages.
Five percent of Class of 2029 identify as Black or African-American, lowest since 1968
Sena ChangIn the Class of 2029, 5 percent of students identified as Black or African American — the lowest share in many years, compared to the roughly seven to nine percent range in the past two decades.
In the Class of 2029, 5 percent of students identified as Black or African American — the lowest share in many years, compared to the roughly seven to nine percent range in the past two decades.