Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Noah Pozner’s Twin Sister Draws Smile Amid Grief

Frown to Smile: President Obama arrives at vigil for Newtown victims. Little Arielle Pozner later gave him a drawing of her mother smiling. Image by getty images

Amid the crushing grief of the Newtown school rampage, little Arielle Pozner provided a smile for the entire nation.

Twin Left Behind: Arielle Pozner lost her twin brother, Noah, in the Newtown school rampage. Image by facebook

The twin sister of Noah Pozner, the Jewish boy slain in the massacre, drew a picture of their heartbroken mother with a smile on her face, the Algemeiner reported.

The 6-year-old girl, who lost her “best friend” in the senseless violence, handed the picture to President Obama after he spoke at the vigil for the victims on Sunday night.

“Obama was very kind. He thanked her and put the picture in his pocket,” Rabbi Sholom Deitsch of Chabad of Ridgefield, Conn. told The Algemeiner. “The President coming to share in their sorrow and share in their grief was really important to the family.”

Noah was the youngest victim of the rampage that left 28 people dead, including 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Arielle and an older sister also attended the school, but were in different classrooms and escaped unharmed.

Noah Pozner was the first to be buried after the attack.

The family, which moved to Connecticut from Brooklyn in search of safety and good schools, is now sitting shiva at home, the rabbi said.

Deitsch told Algemeiner he plans to spend time with the family as they mourn the loss of Noah.

“I want to just be there on a personal level, not just to be there to answer their questions, but to be there as a friend, as a person, as a human being,” he said. “That’s what’s needed the most right now, to feel that they’re not alone.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.