Photo: FIDF/Jon Marks Photography
On November 6, twenty-year-old Staff Sgt. Rose Lubin, a Border Police Officer in Jerusalem’s Old City precinct, was killed in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem.
Ten days later, thirty teens from throughout Israel gathered together at a cafe one mile away from where Lubin, Hy”d, was murdered to remember the lone soldier and the sacrifices she made. At the gathering—NCSY Israel’s first Latte and Learning event since the start of the war—participants learned about Rose’s incredible dedication to the Jewish State and the Jewish people.
Thirty teens gather in a cafe in Jerusalem for an NCSY Israel Latte and Learn event in memory of Rose Lubin.
A JSU alumna from Atlanta, Georgia, Rose participated in JSU’s GO trips to Israel in the summers of 2018 and 2019. In 2021, Lubin made aliyah and enlisted in the IDF’s Border Police. Tragically, in the aftermath of October 7, Rose was stabbed by a sixteen-year-old terrorist near the Old City.
“Rose was truly a wonderful person,” recalls Rabbi Chaim Neiditch, NCSY Regional Director for Atlanta and JSU Atlanta Executive Director who was close with her.
Rabbi Neiditch first encouraged Rose to join the Atlanta JSU club in high school and subsequently to attend JSU’s summer trips to Israel. “Rose had two sides to her,” says Rabbi Neiditch. “She was a kind, sweet and generous Southern girl—a gentle and deeply spiritual soul who always looked to help others. At the same time, she was determined, strong and competitive. She was on her high school wrestling team and on our trips to Israel and she was probably the only girl on our bus who helped load and unload the bags together with boys much bigger than her! She was fiercely determined to accomplish anything she set out to do and routinely volunteered for the toughest tasks, without complaint.”
Rose Lubin as a teen on a JSU trip in Israel.
Rabbi Neiditch recalled Rose’s devotion to growing as a Torah Jew. “When Rose did something, she did it fully. On her first summer trip to Israel, she made a strong connection with one of our advisors and together they began to pray Minchah together each day. The next summer when Rose returned for her second summer trip to Israel, she inspired another girl on our bus to daven Minchah with her each day.”
Protecting the Jewish people was Rose’s passion. On Oct. 7, she was visiting the family assigned to her as a lone soldier on Kibbutz Sa’ad near the Gaza border when terrorists began attacking. Rose joined other soldiers in saving the kibbutz and hundreds of Jewish lives.
Before she was murdered, Rose was stationed in the Damascus Gate area in Jerusalem’s Old City, which is heavily guarded as conflict often erupts in that area. Despite the danger, Rose took special pride in her role in protecting Jews as they came to pray at the Kotel.
Rose was truly a hero to her land, to her State and to her people.