Help Gavi Return Home Safely

My name is Chana Blum, and I am the older sister of Gavi Blum (14). Gavi is currently being held against his will at the Blue Fire wilderness therapy program in Idaho. A program within an industry, notorious for abuse, sexual violence, and exploitation. In this moment of helplessness and fear, I turn to the community for support, spiritually, emotionally, and with your help, physically. I am creating this page to give Gavi a voice, and through his cries, to hopefully, along with our siblings, fight for his freedom in court.

In February 2024, during my parents' ongoing divorce trial, my fourteen-year-old brother Gavi was temporarily moved from my mothers care to live with our father ("Rabbi'' Yonah Blum) in New Milford, New Jersey. In August, while still in divorce court, my father married Dalia Shusterman, who has four sons now also living under our fathers care. Gavi's move caused significant conflict between the two of them, with multiple law enforcement interventions, and countless recordings shared by Gavi of fighting, abusive language, and violent actions taken by both Yonah, Dalia, and her sons towards each-other.

Since relocating to my father's house in New Jersey, Gavi has been isolated from our mother and his siblings. He spent his days locked in his room, afraid to leave, to use the bathroom, shower, eat, or go outside. On the first occasion of leaving the house after his relocation, he returned to find all his personal possessions taken and not returned to him for weeks. This captivity has prevented his growth, he is fourteen years old and has not been in school since the end of the 2022-2023 academic year.

In February, I attended a solidarity event for the ongoing war in Israel, to hear from two survivors of the Nova festival at the "Romer" shul in Teaneck. Gavi sent me a message saying that he had not eaten that day and that he did not feel safe leaving his room to prepare food, and asked me to bring him food. When I arrived at my father's house with pizza and challah for shabbat the next day, my father tried to forcibly throw me down the row of concrete stairs leading to his front door. I managed to catch myself and walked away with only some bruises on my neck and shoulder and a torn bra strap from the tension of him grabbing me. The police were called, and my father accused me of trespassing, leading to me being wrongly labeled as the aggressor of domestic violence in the situation. Months later, he admitted in a voice message to "getting physical" with me and apologized for forcibly "escorting" me down the stairs.

I share this point for context, that our father is no stranger to irrational, dangerous, and desperate tactics to achieve his goals. He has shown no remorse or recognition of his abuse.

At 3:13 AM on June 19, 2024, I woke up to a call from Gavi, frantically saying two men from a wilderness therapy program had come to take him from his bed to an unknown place. He called the police, who expressed every desire and intention to help prevent his abduction. They delayed the eventual abduction until around 5 AM, calling the Bergen County prosecutor and looking for any way out. My mother, siblings, and I rushed to New Jersey to try and protect him, to give him any sense of security we could. At some point between Shavuot and Shabbat, a court order had been filed giving our father the legal right to send Gavi to the Evoke wilderness therapy program, despite Gavi having no diagnoses. For anyone who knows him, Gavi is a kind, gentle, innocent, and friendly kid who loves playing video games and hanging out with his siblings and friends. He does not use drugs or self harm, he is not mentally unstable and has never known real anxiety or fear until being moved to an abusive household; his only crime was not getting along with our abusive father and stepmother, who were trying to force him into a religious lifestyle he did not want.

Just weeks before I am scheduled to make Aliyah and join the IDF, I watched him be forcibly taken away, terrified and hopeless, crippled by the fear that I will never see my pure, happy, and healthy Gavi ever again. I am heartbroken and scared for his neshama, spirit, and physical and mental well-being.

I am sharing this, because it is far too often that situations like this occur without recognition or retaliation. I have always been active in the Jewish communities I have belonged to and have believed in their lessons and values. This is not what the Chabad community stands for, not what the Rebbe stands for, not what the Jewish community of Bergen county stands for, and not what the Jewish faith stands for!

Over the last almost eighteen hours, so many people have reached out, desperate to help in bringing Gavi home and getting him the justice he deserves after suffering from the abuse of our father, step mother, and the justice system. This fund will go toward an attorney hired by Gavis' siblings, on his behalf for the purpose of advocating for his return home and the pursuit of justice for the abuse he has faced.

The last thing I ask is that you please, please daven for my brother, Gavriel Menachem Ben Michal Keren, and share his story so he may return home to us safely and unharmed.

May HaShem hear our prayers for all those who have been taken against their wills, and are being held away from their families and communities. It is a difficult and dark time for the Jewish people and unity within is what allows us to prevail!

Thank you!

PLEASE READ: This is a Reddit thread where Gavi published the abuse and fear he was facing.

GAVI'S CRY FOR HELP Pt 1

GAVI'S CRY FOR HELP Pt 2

This is the video I took as Gavi was taken in his pajamas and slippers, forcibly by two grown men, into a white vehicle to an unknown location.

Watch as Yonah Blum films, smiles, and waves as his son is being abducted.