Moving Tribute to Slain Student

The Bernstein family chose to commemorate their son, Blaze Bernstein, in a free-to-the-public tribute at the Segerstrom Center in Orange County on Sunday night.

A touching slideshow featuring photos of Blaze from pre-school to high school graduation preceded speeches from his parents and community leaders. The entire event was organized in under three weeks, according to PR manager David Thalberg. The tribute’s underlying message was one of unity and goodwill as a way to maintain Blaze’s memory alive.

The 19-year-old was discovered dead from multiple stab wounds at a park near his home in Lake Forest in January. He was visiting his family while on winter break from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was studying in his second year of pre-medicine. More than 2,500 people joined the family in mourning and celebration of his life.

The Bernsteins partnered with Second Harvest, a charity organization in Orange County that feeds the homeless, to collect canned goods from the attendees. Community members also organized the Blaze Memorial fund to support charities that “protect children from violence and that foster emotional health.”

Blaze was an openly gay and Jewish student, and the murder suspect, 20-year-old Samuel Woodward, has pleaded not guilty. There are calls for Woodward to be charged with a hate crime, considering that he belongs to a neo-Nazi hate group called “Atomwaffen,” which has praised the killing.

The Jewish community has been vocal in supporting the Bernsteins. Wendy Arenson, executive director for the Jewish Community Foundation of Orange County, said that “Blaze’s Jewish heritage was deeply engrained in his home life.”

“The placing of rocks on a gravesite has been a Jewish custom throughout generations … because they are lasting. We seek permanence in our connection to and in our memories of our loved ones even when they are no longer with us physically,” continued Arenson.

Community members have fully adopted this custom and have placed hundreds of decorated rocks on places of significance in Blaze’s life, such as the elementary school he attended and a park he played in as a child.

The Bernstein family also developed the hashtag, #BlazeItForward, as a spin off of “pay it forward” to encourage others to commit acts of kindness. Dozens of posts on social media use the hashtag to highlight how anyone can help out the community. Some examples include donating money to local charities, feeding homeless people and writing letters of comfort to the victims of the Parkland school shooting.

Blaze’s peers described him as a “renaissance man” and praised his talents such as cooking and writing. His mother, Jeanne Bernstein, mused that “I would complain that he wasn’t studying enough … and he would prove me wrong by getting excellent grades anyway.”

Students from the Orange County School of the Arts, the high school where Blaze graduated, made special performances all throughout the night. They illustrated Blaze’s talent by reciting some the poems he completed while at the school. The event concluded with a rendition of the song “Most People are Good” by the students, emphasizing the call for communal kindness and love.

vanessa@beachcomber.news