A Trust has been set up in memory of Zohar Dean Collins, the LJY-Netzer youth leader who died in a sudden tragic event in June 2022.

The Zohar Dean Trust will support meaningful causes that were close to the award-winning physics student’s heart and seek to enable young people to have new enriching experiences and be able to enjoy them as much as Zohar did.

The chosen 2023 beneficiaries are Our Second Home, a youth movement for refugees; Youth First, a charity running youth clubs and services for young people in Lewisham, South London; In2Science, an organisation encouraging social mobility within the STEM sector; and LJY-Netzer, the youth movement of Liberal Judaism.

Rosa Slater, Adam Aradi and Martha Slater

The Trust has been created by Zohar’s family and friends, including trustees Rosa Slater, Adam Aradi and Martha Slater.

Rosa said: “Zohar was a friend who always felt like family. Everyone who met him was impacted by his immense charisma, pure nature and energetic presence. He was a beautiful person who said yes to all of the experiences that life had to offer.

“The Trust has one primary aim: to ensure that Zohar’s impact does not stop just because he left us before his time.”

The Trust launched with an open mic night filled with a showcase of original songs and poems, and then concluding with a raffle run by Zohar’s siblings. The Trust’s logo – designed by Sophie Leapman and drawn by Nadir Collins, Zohar’s younger brother – was also revealed. A star replaces the A in his name to represent the continued light he shines on so many lives, as well as being an acknowledgement for his love of astronomy and physics.

Rosa added: “Although the world feels dimmer without Zohar, whenever I go to places where we spent time together, the sunlight has an extra shimmer to it. It feels like he left magic behind everywhere he went. I know that we are hurting so much because we loved so much. It is his energy that lives within all of us and that I feel so grateful for.”

Read a full article about the Trust, written by Rosa Slater, in the latest edition of LJ Today here. The Trust was also featured in the Jewish Chronicle, you can read their piece here.

To support The Zohar Dean Trust, please visit www.tinyurl.com/zohardeantrust. You can also follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.