Running against terror

Pia Levine, a student at Yeshiva University in New York, was riding with a friend on an Egged bus in Jerusalem, carefree after an excursion to the swanky new Mamilla shopping center, when she suddenly heard what sounded like a large clap of thunder. It was a few minutes after 3 p.m. at a bus stop near the Jerusalem International Convention Center and the boom came from a detonated pipe bomb. It killed one person and injured some 40 others that Wednesday, March 23, 2011. Of the bus passengers, only Levine and her friend were able to walk away from the scene.

Levine, although physically unhurt, was no longer carefree.

Set to leave Israel a few days later, Levine attempted to proceed with her plan: to run in the Jerusalem half-marathon that Friday and go home to the US.

All too soon, however, Levine realized that she was far from unscathed. The One Family Fund organization, which provides financial, legal, and emotional assistance to victims of terror in Israel, found Levine and aided in her medical care the day after the bombing in Jerusalem — essentially getting her back on her feet and running in time for the marathon — and then later after her return to New York.

Now, the 20-year-old is running for charity as a member of Team OneFamily. In that capacity she’s already participated in the New York Triathlon last summer (see NY television coverage here) and is currently back in Jerusalem to again run in the half-marathon, with a two-fold mission: to close an emotional circle and raise money for the organization that helped her so much.

“I decided to come back because yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the bombing and because of it I had a lot of post-traumatic stress,” the accounting major says matter-of-factly in a quick phone call. “And I never had a chance to deal with what happened, to be on a bus, to be here in Israel and not be scared. I had to come back to deal with it.”

One Family Fund organized and sponsored her trip.

“I went on a bus yesterday. I’m taking it slow, but I hope to go to Binyanei Ha’uma [the International Convention Center] in a few days, where the bombing happened.”

Levine, who says she’s always been outspoken, is determined to make her story known. “In the States people don’t know how to react. I’d hear a lot of awkward comments. My friends didn’t know if anything would trigger a weird response; there was a lot of whispering. But I ended up talking about it a lot.

‘I’m not happy I went through this, for sure not, but it is a positive experience, a second chance at life’

“I’m not happy I went through this, for sure not, but it is a positive experience, a second chance at life. I tell everyone about it: It could technically happen to anyone. I was just some American kid on a bus.”

In the past year, Levine has been to Washington, DC, twice to speak with senators and congressmen “about how important US funding is for Israel.” She’s been asked to speak on behalf of One Family Fund in May in Boston and has plans to speak in Philadelphia and Chicago in the future.

“I call a lot of reporters and try to get my story out there. I want everyone to know, because it’s not normal that you could be sitting on the bus and put your life at stake.”