Adam Krief, Jewish father of 3 whose bone marrow search inspired celebrities, dies
Adam Krief, a Jewish cancer patient whose search for a bone marrow donor captured the attention of social media and celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Mayim Bialik and Jason Biggs, has died.
Krief, a father of three from Los Angeles, died March 14, a family friend confirmed. He was 32.
Krief was diagnosed with primary myelofibrosis, a rare form of blood cancer that is likely fatal if a stem cell transplant match is not found. To find an HLA, or gene complex match for Krief — something more difficult to track down than a blood type match — drives were held around the world, including in North America, Israel, France and Mexico.
Kardashian posted about Krief on Facebook in September, saying he was a friend of a friend.
A bone-marrow donor was found last December — seven matches were found, in fact, through the donor drives organized for him.
“This is what cloud 9 looks like … I’m so grateful to let you all know that a donor has been found,” Krief wrote at the time, sharing a video with two of his children.
The Hope 4 Adam Facebook page on March 8 called for a Worldwide Unity Shabbat for March 11 and March 18 for the recovery of Krief, asking followers to “Help us bring about a miracle.”
On Monday, the Eretz Kabbalah Facebook page of the Los Angeles-based Eretz Cultural Center posted a call for followers to recite tehillim, or psalms, on behalf of Krief.
“After a long search for a bone-marrow match to save his life, he finally received one. However, after some complications, he is said to only have a few hours to live,” the post said.
Krief is survived by his wife, Lia, and his children.
—JTA News and Features
Historian Elliott Horowitz, expert on Jewish violence, dies at 64
Elliott Horowitz, the author of “Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence” — considered the most wide-ranging book on Jewish violence — has died.
Horowitz, who taught early modern Jewish history at two Israeli universities, died on March 18 of a heart attack. He was 64.
“Reckless Rites,” published by Princeton University Press, describes actual anti-Christian practices that became part of the playful, theatrical violence of the Jewish festival of Purim.
Horowitz, a cultural-social historian of early modern Europe, served as co-editor of the Jewish Quarterly Review, a peer-reviewed journal of the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, which he and co-editor David Myers are credited with revitalizing in the past decade.
“He embodied the scholarly ideals of wide-ranging curiosity, cutting observation, and generous friendship, and he wrote with grace, erudition, and, often, mischief,” the Katz Center said in a post on its Facebook page. “His absence from our halls and from the collegial networks of Judaic studies will be dearly felt.”
Horowitz was educated at Princeton and Yale universities before moving to Israel in 1982, where he taught early modern Jewish history at Ben-Gurion and Bar-Ilan universities.
He also is known for his article on “Coffee, Coffee Houses, and the Nocturnal Rituals of Early Modern Jewry.”
—JTA News and Features
