Inspiring story about Oorah and Justin Zemser

Justin Zemser one of the victims of the Amtrak train crash had a chavrusah arranged through Oorah.

Justin Zemser Z'L

It was not even one year ago that Rabbi Beer sent out this email to the Oorah kiruv team. No one could have imagined what was in store for Justin, who tragically lost his life in the Amtrak derailing on Tuesday. What a zchus that in the final year of his young life, he finally found his way to learning.  May his memory be for a blessing.

From: Mordechai Beer
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2014 7:11 PM
Subject: You never know

I wanted to share a really exciting moment I had today.

One of my Torah mates has been learning since 2007. He’s been learning steadily, but I really wanted to get the rest of his family involved as well. For the past three years or so, I’ve been struggling with this, trying to get the rest of the family on board.


I was hoping that maybe his son, Justin, a very nice and bright boy, would ultimately want to learn. But although I asked his son if he wanted to learn, he never showed any interest.

Indeed, he enrolled this past year in the Naval Academy in Annapolis announcing that the military was his future. After this, I was seriously considering giving up on getting him to take a partner.

Moments ago, I got off the phone with Justin.
He’ll be starting to learn shortly Sunday nights from the Naval Academy.
You never know.

Rabbi Mordechai Beer
Torah Mates Coordinator