Before he fell on Israel’s northern border on November 6, 2024, Sgt. Ariel Sosnov of the 188th Armored Brigade brought his partner, Atara Sinton, flowers for Shabbat every week. Without fail.

“When he was in Gaza, he would send them through a delivery service; and when he was in Lebanon, he made sure my little brother delivered them to me, just so there was no chance I would be without flowers for Shabbat. It was his way of bringing light and joy into my life every single week,” the 19-year-old bereaved Jerusalem resident related.

On Erev Rosh Hashanah in 2024, Sosnov was on a mission in Lebanon and didn’t have his phone. Without a way to contact him before the holiday, Sinton was disappointed because she had hoped he would have been released from duty for the Jewish New Year.

“It was Friday, just before Shabbat. My brother called me into the living room and surprised me with a huge bouquet of flowers and a basket of chocolate as big as I am. Ariel was deep in Lebanon, but three weeks before, he had given my brother 300 shekels [for flowers] in case he was not around. My mom was also moved by it,” she said.

Krembo Wings

Less than two months later, Sosnov fell in battle. The young couple met while working as counselors for Krembo Wings, an inclusive Israeli youth group for children with special needs. Working together, they became close friends before they started dating. Sinton’s family treated the 20-year-old Sosnov like a son and a sibling. “One time, he and my father sat for two and a half hours and discussed life,” Sinton recalled.
A soldier with a Flower Man bouquet. (credit: MORIAH BERNSTEIN)
A soldier with a Flower Man bouquet. (credit: MORIAH BERNSTEIN)
She said that Sosnov knew how to reach people in a distinctive way. “He knew how to touch people’s hearts, knew how to say the right thing at the right time. Ariel was really good at showing people how much he appreciated them.

The flowers represented knowing he was thinking of me and fighting for me, for our future and for our world.”Deeply affected by his outstanding character, she declared, “After Ariel fell, I made a promise to myself – and to him – that I would carry out everything he didn’t get the chance to do.”

The idea first came to her at his funeral. Since giving her flowers every Shabbat was such an important way of showing his devotion, Sinton established the Flower Man project in his memory.

“Every Friday, we stand at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, at Tel Aviv’s Savidor Central Railway Station, and once a month in Haifa, handing out bouquets of flowers to soldiers for free. We ask them to give the flowers to someone they love – to continue spreading Ariel’s light and kindness in the world.”

Flower Man

Today, the project has more than 200 volunteers, which includes a manager for each station. Sinton oversees the project primarily by phone and WhatsApp. Every Tuesday, she and her managers send out a form to see who can volunteer that week

The core group of volunteers consists of Israeli high school-aged kids. Some weeks, the volunteer ranks are expanded with groups and individuals visiting from abroad.

Sinton would also like to see families volunteering together on Friday mornings, where there is a task suitable for everyone. For volunteers who aren’t comfortable or don’t have the language skills to approach soldiers, they can make bouquets or wrap them.

The flowers are purchased directly from suppliers who grow them, and the volunteers distribute 100 bouquets a week in each location. Twice so far, volunteers have visited bases in the Gaza border region and distributed 500 bouquets to soldiers returning home after their third round of reserve duty.

Sinton said that the returning reservists tell the volunteers, “Because of you, I’m able to thank my wife and my kids by making it possible for me to come home with something in my hands.”

The volunteers, who wear branded Flower Man shirts, have also distributed flowers at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center. She would like to see the project have a presence in every central bus station in the country and continue as long as the war does. She is also happy to distribute bouquets of flowers directly on any IDF base that invites her.

Sinton estimates that they have distributed more than 4,000 bouquets since the project began.

All funding for the Flower Man project comes from donations. As the project grows, Sinton is working on establishing a formal nonprofit organization called HaKol Tov, which means “Everything is good.” For now, she has established a GoFundMe campaign and takes donations over PayBox and bit.

The project spends NIS 700 per station each week. Larger distribution projects can cost up to NIS 6,000 each time.

Sinton recalled that an IDF commander contacted her and requested 500 bouquets for his base. Within four days, she had raised NIS 7,000 to cover the cost of fulfilling his request. She called that success “the power of Am Yisrael [the nation of Israel].”

Individuals can sponsor a Friday event or a larger. And families can go to a station and hand out the flowers they sponsored.

The Flower Man project is now seeking regular partnerships, including Jewish communities outside of Israel, to send notes to soldiers, as well as sponsoring a month of flower distribution.

Until a few weeks ago, the Flower Man project was Sinton’s main focus. Today, she has expanded her efforts to spread Sosnov’s light.

“Volunteering really helped Ariel. He was also in a Bnei Akiva leadership program. The world of volunteering really saved him. One of his dreams was to establish a youth group for kids with special needs, to connect them to volunteering opportunities and help them be part of the larger world. One of the notes we found in his phone was this dream of having this youth organization for special-needs kids and kids at risk,” she said.

Atara Sinton hugs a reserve soldier during flower distribution at the Kissufim outpost. (credit: Ayellet NirPaz)
Atara Sinton hugs a reserve soldier during flower distribution at the Kissufim outpost. (credit: Ayellet NirPaz)

Volunteer network

Although still in its early stages, the Flower Man project is working smoothly through its network of volunteers, so Sinton has turned her attention to establishing a youth group aligned with Sosnov’s vision.

“Ariel was a person of action. Everything he said he’d do, he did. He really lived his life and his values.”

Eerily, among the notes found on his phone was this prescient message: “I want my students to come to the funeral – all of them, without exception. I want them to know how proud I am of each and every one of them, and how much I miss the time I spent guiding them. Whether they’re from [the] Krembo [Wings youth group] or Bnei Akiva, each and every one of them holds a deep place in my heart.”

“He didn’t make it, but I will do it for him,” Sinton asserted.

“Ariel is a hero. What makes him special is that he was a hero in his life,” she said proudly.Even at 15, he started to influence his young charges, teaching them life lessons. After his death, his bereaved partner found a note on his phone that included a list of the lessons he had both modeled and taught:

Do good.

Take care of your environment.

Protect this wonderful country.

Pick up trash from the ground.

Don’t litter the streets.

Don’t succumb to peer pressure.

Be kind to people, that’s the most important thing there is.

Leave things in better condition than you found them.

Take care of yourselves and your health.

“He really made an impact on people,” Sinton concluded: “He wanted to make the world a better place.”

For more information and links to donate to the Flower Man, follow the project @the_flowers_man on Instagram, @flower.man_ on TikTok or hakoltov.amuta@gmail.com.

The writer is a freelance journalist and expert on the non-Jewish awakening to Torah happening in our day. She is the editor of Ten From The Nations, Lighting Up The Nations and Adrift Among The Nations.