“I’m a crazy guy with a crazy idea” is how Shmuel Greenbaum has described himself.

Some would argue that you would have to be a little bit crazy to take the path Greenbaum has taken, given what he has been through over the last quarter-century.

On August 9, 2001, Shmuel’s wife Shoshana was murdered.

She was 31 years old, pregnant with their first child. She was a teacher, her parents’ only child.

Shoshana and Shmuel had just moved into a new home, planning to start their life together.

“I had been the happiest man in the world married to the most wonderful woman in the world,” Greenbaum recalled shortly after his wife was killed. “Our heads were filled with wonderful dreams.”

The now infamous terrorist attack at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem killed 15 others and wounded 160.

It was just a month before 9/11 — a fact largely forgotten after the horrors of that September day in New York.

Even though terrorist attacks were part of the daily reality in Israel at the time, the Sbarro attack has remained seared into the national consciousness.

Shmuel could have responded in many different ways to the tragedy, as countless others in similar situations have.

Yet Greenbaum chose a distinctive path, dedicating much of his life over the last 25 years to........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)