Tragedy – the awful death of a friend and brother – often brings a fraternity chapter closer. Sometimes dealing with the heartbreak can bring a chapter to a difficult place, harder to recover from.

And, sometimes, tragedy brings the chapter to Philadelphia for a cheesesteak.

“I joined AEPi with Avi (Feinstein) in the spring of 2022,” said Brother Jacob Rosenbloom (Towson, 2025). “Neither of us was really familiar with Towson so we were just getting used to the area. We started going to this restaurant uptown almost every night for a cheesesteak. We just really liked the food, and Avi definitely liked the routine. It became our spot.”

In January of 2023, their whole new member class went on Birthright Israel together along with some other brothers and the group became even closer. “AEPi brought our new member class together. None of us knew each other before AEPi and we just kept growing closer after going to Israel and returning home.”

They also continued frequenting their cheesesteak spot.

“In the fall of 2023, I knew that I wanted to run to be chapter president, and I asked Avi if he would be my new member educator so that we could really improve the chapter and elevate it to what we wanted it to be.”

While the spring class was disappointing in numbers, the chapter retained all of the new members and initiated 100%.

“But, last June, as president, I got the chapter’s academic report and I saw that there was a problem with Avi,” said Jacob. The Tau Mu chapter has an academic initiative where brothers are divided into teams and keep track of each other’s GPAs. It became apparent that Avi was not being forthright about his academic standing.

“I was leaving town for the summer, but I spoke to Avi before I left and told him I was worried about him, and he continued to not be truthful. I told him that he needed to reach out to his brothers, to his roommate (also a brother) to talk. I told Avi that he was supported, that we were here for him.”

“For the next few months, I spoke with our Regional Director and Chapter Advisor at AEPi. I talked to the other guys in my new member class. We knew Avi well, but we didn’t know what to do about this. I knew that academics were important to Avi, so this was surprising.”

Jacob reached out to Avi towards the end of the summer, but he wasn’t able to reach him. “I wanted to talk to him about the coming semester (Fall, 2024) and have him focus on his grades and himself and to consider stepping off of the e-board. I wanted to tell him that we were worried and wanted him to know that he needed to do what was best for himself.”

A few days later, his phone message still unanswered, Jacob and others received the awful news that Avi had taken his own life.

“We found out later that he had attempted suicide in high school and that he was battling issues for years. Some of us got a note from him and he said that the relationships he made at college helped keep him alive while in college.”

Obviously, many brothers in the chapter struggled to comprehend what happened. “We didn’t really know what to do. We had another brother – Joey Russell — who passed away two years ago due to a cardiac issue. Since then, we’ve done these large philanthropy events for Save a Child’s Heart. Joey was our philanthropy chair and doing that event keeps his memory alive for us.

In Avi’s final note he specifically said that he didn’t want us to do anything like that. I wanted to respect his wish, but I also felt like we should do something.”

And, this is where cheese steaks come back into the story.

“I wanted to do something internal with our brothers to find a way to deal with this and to try to recover our morale. There was a big suicide prevention walk in Baltimore in October but before that we all went down to Philadelphia to get cheesesteaks together. It was nice to go with the chapter, eating the food and just being with each other. Almost the whole chapter went together.”

“I think Avi would have really enjoyed that.”

“Having the support of each other has gotten us through this. Our Regional Director and Chapter Adviser have been great. They both stayed up with us on a Zoom call until midnight on the night that this happened. It was amazing to have that kind of support.”

Several years ago, Jacob started his own non-profit – Mindful Movements – dedicated to sharing life-changing outdoor experiences and get communities to be more engaged and less distant. The lessons from building that organization have been important in coming to grips with Avi’s death.

“With our new members this semester, we wanted them to know Avi’s story. We took them on a hike – like a mindfulness hike – and talked to them about Avi. We wanted them to hear about our conversations with Avi. It was great for the new members and maybe even better for the brothers,” said Jacob.

#ProudtobeaPi

(Note: Being a student in college – especially a Jewish student during these times – can be difficult. AEPi urges Brothers to reach out to each other regularly. Remember: we are our Brothers’ Keepers. Check-in, talk, and make sure everyone is doing ok. If you’re worried about a Brother, seek help immediately. Your college or university has mental health resources available to students.)