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11/09/2001

Bar Ilan University

Terror Attack Place:

New York 911

Commemoration Site:

Ramat Gan

Area:

Central Israel

Type:

Garden/Park

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On September 11th 2001 two airplanes crashed into the world trade center buildings in New York city. The two building collapsed and buried under them nearly three thousand people. Amongst the dead were four Israelis, two of which were in the buildings and two who were aboard the airplanes that crashed into the towers.
The four are: Alona Avraham, Dani Levin, Shai Levinhar and Hagai Shefi.
Hagai Shefi 34 years old was the CEO of GoldTier High Tech Company. On that morning he was invited and supposed to lecture on the 106th floor of the north building that was hit first.
After the hit and before the tower crashed, Hagai called Sigal his wife, described the tower the flames and the smoke, he calmly said he doesn’t see how can come out alive from the situation. He departed from her and from his family.
Bar-Ilan University “Hagy Shefi Gate” was dedicated on September 1st, 2010 by the University in Memory of Hagay who received the university MBA Magna cumLaude, by the President of the University Prof. Moshe Kaveh and the Acting United States Ambassador to Israel, Mr. Thomas H. Goldberger.
Bar-Ilan University commemorates the ninth anniversary of 9/11 by naming a garden gate after Bar-Ilan graduate Hagay Shefi, who was killed in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.

Mr. Thomas Goldberger, Deputy to the US Ambassador to Israel was guest of honor at the commemoration and naming ceremony held on September 1st at the gate of the Dahan Park on the Bar-Ilan Campus in Ramat Gan, Israel.
Hagay Shefi, the son of Gen. Dov Shefi, a guest lecturer at the Bar-Ilan Faculty of Law, graduated with honors from Bar-Ilan with a B.A. in Economics and a diploma (from the School of Business Administration). At the time of the attack, the 34-year-old BIU alumnus was on the 106th floor of the Northern Tower of the World Trade Center, where he was to have lectured at a conference for finance executives and bank managers.
Hagay Shefi is survived by his parents, his brother and sister, his wife and two children.
Click here for the web site created in memory of hagai Shefi. 

for the 10th anniversary of the attack Hagai Parents wrote this letter that will be put into the National 911 Memorial site.

 

 

Hagay Shefi 24/10/66- 11/9/2001, WTC. 106th fl.

Our unforgettable and beloved son Hagay Shefi (34)
On 9/11/01, 15:55 Israel time (08:55 US time) your mother and myself were at home, in a suburb of Tel-Aviv, Israel. We intended to go out for arrangements, however when I looked at my watch, I decided as usually I do, to wait for the news by the Radio at 16:00.
The news broadcast was opened with description that “a small airplane crashed into one of the WTC Towers”. After 2 seconds our TV was opened on CNN channel. We watched that suddenly a big passenger’s airplane crashed into the south Tower of WTC. Your mother started to worry and suggested that we shall call you immediately. I tried to convince her that there is nothing to worry about, since your business as the Co-Founder and President of GoldTier Technologies Inc., was in New Jersey.
Mother refused to agree (Mother is always a mother), so I tried to get you by phone. There was only a taped answer with your voice.
Your mother insisted that we call, without delay, your wife. Sigal’s phone was occupied 10 minutes but finally she answered and said: “Yes, Hagay is there, at WTC, north tower, 106th floor. He was invited to speak as a keynote speaker at a Conference of Directors of Banks at “Windows on the World”. Sigal told us that “just now he called me and said that “a bomb has exploded and there is a lot of smoke in the building. He added that he does not believe that the people at this floor will survive and used words of farewell.”
We shall never forget the moment that we heard this shocking news. We felt that the heaven fell on us. Mother and I were shocked and started to cry. We canceled immediately all our meetings in order to continue to follow CNN breaking news that described the crash into the south Tower. Then we saw how the south and the north towers crashed down one after the other.
We cannot believe that 10 years passed since we were informed by your dear wife- Sigal, that you have been on 9/11/01 at WTC. You were brutally killed with 3000 other fellows Americans by the Al-Qaeda Mega-Terror attack on USA. We cannot believe that you will continue not to be with us physically. However, your memory has been and will be preserved by every one of our greater family. You have been a most loyal son, a loyal husband to Sigal and father to Roy, 5, and Naomi, 3. You were loved and appreciated by your brother Yishai and your sister Pazit and their families. All of the greater Shefi family admired you for your distinguished achievements: You were born in Tel-Aviv, Israel. You started to show interest in business at the
age of five (5) !! by “negotiating” terms and conditions with a grocery’s owner (without disclosing us), offering him that you would be ready to guard that every customer that will take ice-cream from the box will not “forget” to pay. You demanded and so was agreed that in consideration you will receive one ice-cream every day. You didn’t ask us for our permission weather to do it and just reported us only after you summed up the T&C. You requested from mother that as from that conclusion of the “transaction” you will have to finish your lunches when arriving from your kindergarten in a speed, “to be free for your work”.
When you reached the age of 12 you started a business of selling, early in the morning, fresh rolls to over 1000 families in our residential area.Maoz Aviv.
Later, when in high school, you started to import rock- records from U.K., after receiving requests and money in advance from your class- mates. You sold your business for a high price and bought a car at the age of 17.
You were an excellent soccer player as a boy, a distinguished Cadet & officer of the I.D.F., a distinguished student who completed Bar-Ilan University with an MBA (magna cum laude). Four years after your arrival to U.S.A., at the age of 29, you were appointed as president and C.E.O. of a company. The president of the mother company, Sungard Data Systems (SDS)–Mr. Chris Conde. - most appreciated you and used to call you "Hagay what a guy." All your many friends in the U.S. and in Israel are missing your wisdom, loyal friendship and your sense of humor. It has been always said that you were the heart and the dynamo-buster-turbo of every company you were running. All of us in the family will remember you forever and you will continue to be in our hearts and our source of pride. We shall provide Sigal and your kids -- our beloved grandchildren Roy and Naomi -- the best of our love and care. Your kids are excellent pupils. Roy was awarded in a ceremony on February 24, 2011 the title of “the best pupil of high school.” Your compulsory service in the Israeli army was postponed because you were admitted to the “Academic Unit” to enable you to study at Bar-Ian University Economics and Business Administration. You concluded your studies in 1992 and were awarded BA in Economy and Master in Business Administration (MBA) (Magna cum Laude).Parallel, you ended school of officers as a distinguished Cadet. Upon concluding your military service as a Captain you were awarded in 1992 by the then Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Ehud Barak a “Distinguish Officer Certificate.”
You were awarded annually “student prizes” (stipends) from the University of $500.00. Due to your integrity, you attempted to give your parents who paid for your tuition, these awards; however we kindly rejected these attempts. We told you to keep the money for yourself, since they were awarded due to y o u r o w n achievements. Your father persuaded 10 Mayors in Israel to construct and inaugurate 10 memorials in 10 cities to commemorate the 2980 victims of 9/11. Recently your father managed to persuade Bar-Ian University to initiate the construction and the inauguration of the “Hagay Shefi Gate” at the Bar-Ilan University’s Amphitheatre. This ceremony took place, on September 1st, 2010, with the presence of the President of Bar-Ian, the acting US Ambassador. the Dean of School of Business, our friends and many guests. All the Memorials can be seen at www.hagayshefi.info . The site was created by your loving brother Yishai.
( one has to click on “Memorials in Israel”). See also p.4 &5 below.
Our beloved and admired Hagay, Rest in peace.
Esther and Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Dov Shefi, , mother and father of Hagay


Commemorized:

Hagai Shefi

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  1. Father of Hagay
    26/11/2011  Dov Shefi  dovshefi@netvision.net.il