New York rabbi tries to save daughters in Lauderdale watercraft crash. One dies
To celebrate her eighth-grade graduation, Rachel Aliza Nisanov’s parents surprised her with a family vacation to South Florida. But the trip turned deadly when Rachel and her sister crashed into a concrete dock while riding a personal watercraft in Fort Lauderdale’s Intracoastal Waterway Tuesday afternoon.
Their father, who was on another watercraft with the girls’ mother, leapt into the water to try to save them, risking his own life, according to the girls’ brother, 30-year-old Yonah Nisanov, who spoke to the Miami Herald’s news partner CBS Miami.
“My father doesn’t even know how to swim,” Yonah said. “My sisters were unconscious.”
Yonah described how the girls were floating unconscious in the water, their life jackets keeping them afloat, as their father scraped up his hands, feet and back trying to save them.
“He did what he could,” Yonah said.
Rachel, just shy of her 14th birthday, and Aviva, 16, are the daughters of Rabbi Shlomo Nisanov and Rebbitzin Ora Nisanov, who are prominent in Queens, New York’s Bukharian Jewish community, according to the Instagram account bukhariancommunity.
Rachel’s funeral will be 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Bukharian Jewish Community Center, 106-16 70th Ave. in the Forest Hills section of Queens. Following the service, her body will be flown to Israel for Thursday burial in Jerusalem, the Instagram post said.
Surprise South Florida vacation
Both girls attended Bnos Malka Academy, an all-girls yeshiva in Forest Hills that goes from preschool through eighth grade, about two and a half miles from the family’s Kew Gardens Hill home. Rachel recently graduated from the eighth grade, and her parents chose South Florida as a surprise vacation trip for her and her sister.
“We never, very rarely as kids, went to [Florida],” said Yonah, describing how excited the girls were to go and escape the routine family trip to Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Aviva took a course to ride the personal watercraft, he said. Florida law requires anyone who operates a vessel with a motor of more than 10 horsepower, which the average personal watercraft falls under, to take a course or have a temporary certificate.
“My sister was talking a lot about it, and really wanted to go jet skiing,” he said. “She was all very excited about it.”
Rachel and Aviva were riding tandem on a personal watercraft on the Intracoastal Waterway near the 2800 block of Northeast 24th Court in Fort Lauderdale when they smashed into a dock around 3:30 p.m., according to Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue’s Frank Guzman.
Paramedics rushed the sisters to Broward Medical Center, where Rachel died Tuesday evening, said Arielle Callender, spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is leading the crash investigation.
Aviva was in critical condition in the ICU at the medical center, a hospital spokesperson said Wednesday. As of Wednesday morning, Yonah said she was sedated and medical staff were going to try to wake her up soon.
“She needs our prayers,” he said.
On a guided tour: FWC
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the FWC said three personal watercraft were operating in the Intracoastal Waterway on Tuesday afternoon in Fort Lauderdale “as part of a guided tour. “ One of the watercraft, occupied by the two sisters, “jumped the wake of a passing vessel, lost control, and collided with a concrete dock.”
READ MORE: Sisters in Fort Lauderdale personal watercraft crash were on a guided tour: FWC
The agency did not release the name of the watercraft tour operator.
Renee Beninate, 33, lives just a few houses down from where the crash happened. She was hanging out around her home when she heard fire engines and police sirens blaring. She saw one of the girls placed on a stretcher and into the ambulance.
Beninate, a boat owner who lives off the Intracoastal, said boat and watercraft crashes have made her vigilant when she’s out on the water. She sees personal watercrafts riding up and down the waterway all the time.
“I have known of friends that have gotten in crashes before, and that has made me honestly very hyper-aware of being on the water,” Beninate said. “Unfortunately, you can be very experienced and know what you’re doing, but then there’s a lot of other people out there that may just be down here from vacation or may not have as much experience.”
“You kind of have to be a defensive driver even on the water.”
The crash comes just two weeks and a day after a barge struck a sailboat with Miami Yacht Club summer campers off Hibiscus Island in Miami Beach. Two girls died within hours, and a third girl died two days later at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
READ MORE: A third child in the Biscayne Bay barge-sailboat crash has died, yacht club says
Beloved New York family
Rabbi Shlomo Nisanov heads the Bukharian Jewish synagogue Kehliat Sephardim of Ahavat Achim, which runs a popular food pantry that distributes kosher food to all communities. Ora Nisanov’s biography on the website for Bat Melech community center, where she works, says Rachel and Aviva are two of the Nisanovs’ eight children.
“He is a very big commmunity person...he’s very networked all over the place,” Yonah said. “People are really stepping up. They are trying hard to be there for us...and we feel the love.”
Bnos Malka Academy honored the parents in 2023 at the school’s annual dinner.
“It is indeed a privilege to recognize Rabbi and Rebbetzin Nisanov as our Guests of Honor,” Michael Salzbank, Bnos Malka’s executive director, told Queens Jewish Link in announcing the dinner. “There is hardly an area of communal life that has not directly benefited from their guidance, effort and hard work.”
Yonah described Rachel as a kind and spiritual person. Though they have a large age gap, she was a role model when she would babysit his children.
“She was able to accomplish a lot in her very short life,” he said. “She had a very bright future ahead of her.”
This story was originally published August 13, 2025 at 11:45 AM.
