A viral prayer request circulating on Facebook and Twitter asks for prayers on behalf of a 12-year-old boy named Avi Ben Stella, who is allegedly in a coma after a serious car crash.
Description: Prayer request / Possible hoax
Circulating since: Aug. 2009
Status: False
Variant #1:
Facebook example contributed by Teresa D., Aug. 24, 2009:
Prayers are needed for 12yr old Avi Ben Stella who, after a serious car crash, is now lying in a critical coma. Please change your status for 1 hour so more people can become aware and add to the prayers. We would do it for your son so please do this for somebody else's son as well. Thank you
Variant #2:
Twitter example dated Aug. 26, 2009:
Please RT: Prayers needed for 12yr old Avi Ben Stella who, after a serious car crash, is now in a critical coma.
Analysis: On August 12, 2009 two cars illegally drag racing in Queens, New York crashed, critically injuring a 12-year-old passenger named Avi Amenov, who died several days later.
About a week after Amenov died, messages began circulating via social networking services like Facebook and Twitter requesting prayers for "12yr old Avi Ben Stella, who, after a serious car crash, is now lying in a critical coma."
Given the way small details can become corrupted as rumors circulate, it's possible, even likely, that these prayer requests originally referred to Avi Amenov.
Then again, they may not.
What I can tell you for sure is that an online search for the name "Avi Ben Stella" turns up nothing but references to the prayer request itself. No online news sources or websites mention the name in any other context.
If "Avi Ben Stella" is a corruption of the name "Avi Amenov," it's too late for our prayers to do any good. Circulating the message is pointless.
If "Avi Ben Stella" isn't a corruption of "Avi Amenov," then the prayer request is almost certainly a hoax. Circulating the message is pointless.
Update: A message from Michael A. Poretsky —
In Jewish tradition, prayers for a sick or injured person are phrased with the name of the person and his or her mother. Therefore, Avi (his first name) ben (Hebrew for "son of") Stella (his mother's name).My guess is that this originally went out right after the accident when, presumably, prayers would have been of some help and comfort. Unfortunately, like so many messages, it took on a life of its own.
May the family of Avi Amenov be comforted in their time of grief.
Michael A. Poretsky, Chair
Greater New York Councils
Jewish Committee on Scouting
Brooklyn, NY
Email This Article
Sources and further reading:
Two Teens Arrested in Queens for Drag Racing
New York Post, 13 August 200912-Year-Old Boy, Avi Amenov, Dies After Suffering Injuries in Queens Drag Race
New York Post, 17 August 2009
Last updated 08/28/09
