NEWSZAK A Rosh Hashanah Annual Summary

FOR OUR ENEMIES, NOWHERE IN IS BEYOND REACH FOR ZAKA, NOWHERE IN ISRAEL IS BEYOND COVER Dear Friends of ZAKA, Welcome to this Rosh Hashanah Summary edition of NewsZAKA, bringing you up to date with the latest ZAKA activity. We are proud to highlight in this newsletter both the domestic and international aspects of ZAKA's work. In August, ZAKA was honoured at a tribute evening for the volunteers who served throughout Operation Protective Edge. The President of Israel, Mr Reuven Rivlin, thanked the ZAKA volunteers for their dedication and selfless work throughout the long, hard days & weeks of the operation. The President said: "As always, ZAKA volunteers are pioneers, leading the pack. We see you at every incident, helping others, saving lives, honouring the dead. Your dedication has become world-renowned. ZAKA and its volunteers are the best example of sharing the burden in Israeli society." Please read on for an in-depth feature of ZAKA’s work during the Gaza conflict as well as a selection of stories – some happy, others sad or serious – all with one common thread: the 1,650 selfless ZAKA Volunteers who give up everything, at a moment’s notice, to help others in their ultimate time of need. Wherever in the world they may be. They happened at different times over the last year and highlight a small section of our activity at ZAKA. ZAKA relies solely on donations from the general public both in Israel and throughout the Diaspora. If you are able to make a donation at this time please visit one of our websites. Secure donations can be made via: www.zaka.org.uk (£), www.zaka.us ($), or www.zaka-fr.org (€). All that remains is for me to wish you a year of happiness. Shana Tova! Yehuda Meshi-Zahav ZAKA Founder & Chairman

www.zaka.org.il Main Office: 234 Jaffo St. P.O. Box 36060 91360 ISRAEL | Tel. 972-2-5015120 | Fax. 972-2-5015121 Email: [email protected] USA: ZAKA NORTH 1232 38ST. BROOKLYN N.Y. 11219 www.zaka.us / [email protected] / Tel: 718-304-5322 France: 20 bis rue Louis Philippe 92200 Neuilly sur Seine | Tel. 01-74-900-600 | Fax. 01-73-049-207 Email: [email protected] England: 233a Golders Green Road London NW11 9ES Registered Charity No. 1099639 | Tel: 020 8458 5391 Email: [email protected] Canada: 99 Burncrest Drive, Toronto, Ontario M5M 2Z6 Email: [email protected] HK, Macao & China c/o The Jewish Community Centre One Robinson Place 70 Robinson Road Mid Levels Hong Kong E-mail [email protected]

NEWSZAK A 2 ZAKA IN OPERATION PROTECTIVE EDGE

and beyond Israel's Gaza periphery - but it also took place on the home front throughout Israel. There was virtually no area of Israel where sirens were not heard, and where families had to change their daily routine in order to be within range of a protected space within anything from 15-90 seconds, depending on where they were situated in the country.

As in times of emergency and routine, the ZAKA volunteers were on full alert, 24/7, responding to every emergency incident and working in full cooperation with the emergency forces on the home front. Recognized by the Defense Ministry as an 'aid organisation in times of emergency', ZAKA volunteers were involved in everything from emergency medical assistance and saving lives to honoring the dead and

The 1,650 volunteers in the ZAKA Rescue and Recovery organisation are used to being on call 24/7. But the demands of Operation Protective Edge, as this summer's Gaza operation was dubbed in English, stretched them to their limits.

Not only was the operation nationwide - albeit with most of the action happening in

NEWSZAK A 3 even distributing thousands of emergency and head down south to distribution points supplies and care packages to soldiers and around Gaza. reservists stationed in the Gaza periphery, donated by Israelis and Jewish friends and The donated goods came from workers in hi- supporters overseas. tech and hospitals, from supermarkets and grocery stores, and - most of all - from regular Here are some stories from the hotspots of Israelis and Diaspora anxious to express Summer 2014 in Israel... their gratitude and support for the men and women soldiers down south protecting the rest of the country. Enter ZAKA, with their network of volunteers, to distribute and deliver, to sing and raise the spirits of the soldiers.

As one ZAKA volunteer put it: "Every time there is a siren, we just stop at the side of the road, follow Home Front Command instructions and then carry on to the next distribution point." ZAKA Chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav added: ZAKA VOLUNTEERS BRING "It is so heart-warming to see the gratitude and excitement on the faces of the soldiers PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL when they receive the parcels. It is our NOURISHMENT privilege at ZAKA to be the ones to connect TO THE FRONT LINES between the generous spirit of the people of Israel and the Diaspora and our brave soldiers ZAKA volunteers and ambulances were often on the front line." called into duty for a very different type of war effort than the emergency and routine

work they typically carry out. From the time that the massive reservist call-up began in Spiritual nourishment early July, dozens of ZAKA volunteers would ZAKA also assisted in bringing spiritual collect parcels of donated goodies for the nourishment to the soldiers and reservists IDF soldiers from points around the country, on the front lines and in the staging camps. pack the ZAKA ambulances to overflowing ZAKA volunteers, led by ZAKA Chairman

NEWSZAK A 4 Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, distributed tens of ZAKA volunteer Berele Ya'acobovitz (27) and prayer books. The 128-page pocket-size a marriage proposal, complete with banner, .which ring, music and joyful IDF soldiers צידה לדרך books, aptly called entitled translates loosely to "For the journey", "I wanted to bring some joy and good news into the stressful situation down south" explains Berele, who had only recently been introduced to his future wife and was forced to put their meetings on hold due to Operation Protective Edge.

Margalit was overwhelmed and overjoyed at the timing and location of the public proposal. "I saw the joy and smiles on the faces of the soldiers - it was worth it just for that! I never expected a public proposal - this included morning, afternoon and evening is not normally the way in Haredi circles - but prayers, Torah readings, grace after meals, it seemed to me to be the most natural thing prayer for a journey and much more. The for Berele." prayer books were warmly received by the soldiers, and many soldiers who are not religious asked for explanations on which ZAKA VOLUNTEERS prayers were suitable for which situation. RECEIVE PROTECTIVE GEAR

ZAKA VOLUNTEER PROPOSES Thanks to the generosity of ZAKA supporters MARRIAGE UNDER FIRE around the world, life-saving protective sets of helmets and vests were distributed during When ZAKA Chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav the height of Operation Protective Edge to invited Margalit Shmulevitz to travel south volunteers in the ZAKA Bedouin unit in the with him to deliver packages to soldiers, little south. did she realize what was really waiting for her. These volunteers offer assistance to the Undeterred by the two "Code Red" sirens that Bedouin communities in the south, who are caught them mid-journey, they continued continually exposed to rocket and missile fire. south. As she stepped out of the ZAKA One Bedouin was killed and several others ambulance, waiting for her was veteran seriously injured from rocket and missile fire

NEWSZAK A 5 almost exactly 13 years ago to the day when Bus no. 2 was blown up at that very same spot and 24 people were killed and 130 wounded." Weingarten was one of the first on the scene of the terror incident, in which Mohammad Jabbis, a resident of the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood, used his heavy construction vehicle to run down and kill an Israeli and then overturn a bus. Several people in and into the Bedouin villages, where illegally- near the bus, including the driver, were erected dwellings offer little if any protection lightly injured in the attack. The terrorist was against incoming rockets. shot and killed.

"These life-saving protective sets are our "When I arrived at the scene, followed almost protective edge", explains ZAKA Chairman immediately by fellow ZAKA volunteers, we Yehuda Meshi-Zahav. "Thanks to these vests began tending to the wounded from the overturned bus, " continues Weingarten, his voice still fraught with emotion. "Suddenly, someone screamed out that there was another, more severely wounded victim in the side street from which the excavator had exited. We ran over to him, worked on trying to save his life but, tragically, it was too late and he died of his injuries."

Weingarten and the ZAKA volunteers scanned the site for human remains to ensure and helmets, so generously donated by ZAKA a full Jewish burial and transported the victim supporters around the world, our volunteers to the Abu Kabir facility. The terror attack no longer have to risk their own lives to save was reminiscent of two incidents in July others." 2008, when construction vehicles driven by hit Israeli buses and pedestrians, killing a total of three people. TRACTOR TERROR IN JERUSALEM

While the ground operation in Gaza continued, terror returned to the streets of Jerusalem on August 4th- and once again, ZAKA volunteers were among the first on the scene to assist and offer emergency medical aid to the injured.

"When I first heard on my ZAKA walkie-talkie the report about a suspected terror attack at Zvil Square on Shmuel Hanavi Street, " explains ZAKA Commander of Operations Chaim Weingarten, "my blood ran cold as I had immediate flash-backs to the horror

NEWSZAK A 6 leading the pack. We see you at every incident, helping others, saving lives, honoring the dead. Your dedication has become world- renowned. ZAKA and its volunteers are the best example of sharing the burden in Israeli society."

Joining the President at the ZAKA tribute evening in Sgula near were the mayors of the local regional councils and cities in the south.

A TRIBUTE FROM PRESIDENT ZAKA Chairman and founder Yehuda Meshi- REUVEN RIVLIN Zahav: "ZAKA volunteers certainly deserve the praise and esteem expressed by President At a tribute evening held in the south for the Rivlin on their work in emergency as well as ZAKA volunteers working through Operation routine. ZAKA volunteers find themselves Protective Edge, the recently-elected running to the very places that others, President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, thanked the naturally, run away from - and that must not ZAKA teams for their dedication and selfless be taken for granted. And there is no more work throughout the weeks of the operation. important gratitude than that expressed by the President of Israel who came in person to "As always, ZAKA volunteers are pioneers, thank the ZAKA volunteers on behalf of the State of Israel."

NEWSZAK A 7 ZAKA IN THE WIDER COMMUNITY

in their communities - be they , Bedouin, Christian etc - can learn how to offer assistance in times of emergency As part of its that deals with respecting the deceased humanitarian work to include all Israeli in accordance with their communities’ citizens in its outreach and assistance in the sensitivities and needs. belief that man is made in the divine image, ZAKA offers specialist training courses 25 volunteers from various minority groups for volunteers from minority groups. in the Upper completed a three This training ensures that the people month ZAKA specialist training course

NEWSZAK A 8 communities, and thus accordingly formed the training procedure. I commend the noble choice of the volunteers to contribute to the larger community." earlier this year, forming a new Disaster Response unit under the command of ZAKA Chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav noted Rabbi Anshel Friedman. This training and that "ZAKA was established in the belief education was made possible that man is made in the divine image, in a joint cooperation between regardless of the Ministry for Development of the and the Galilee, with the direct assistance of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Development of the Negev and the Galilee Silvan Shalom. At a ceremony marking the end of the course, the volunteers were presented with their graduation certificates, as well as their ZAKA identification cards and ZAKA uniforms Participating in the ceremony were the Chairman of ZAKA, Yehuda Meshi Zahav, Shemi Cohen the religion, Director of the Galilee Development race, nationality or gender. At ZAKA, Authority, and the ZAKA Northern district we work with all sectors of the community, commander Rabbi Anshel Friedman. in Israel and overseas, honouring the dead Silvan Shalom stated, “It is important for according to each community's beliefs and us to invest in a project of this nature for sensitivities. The more volunteering we see the simple reason that every human being in the community the more cooperation deserves the respect that is becoming for and understanding there will be among them, and accordingly it is vital to establish the minority sectors." suitable training. We place an emphasis on the different sensitivities in the minority

NEWSZAK A 9 DEPUTY MINISTER ELI BEN DAHAN OFFERS THANKS TO THE ANGELS IN WHITE

On the 10th Tevet (corresponding to December ferrying people to hospital, delivering essential 2013), Jerusalem was under another kind of medication and supplies to people trapped siege. A siege of snowfall, with record levels that in their homes, offering first aid, and rescuing closed all access roads to the capital. hundreds of stranded people. Using specialist Hundreds of people were trapped in their cars vehicles (ATVs and Off-Roaders) the ZAKA Teams overnight on major roads without adequate worked nonstop for 48 hours. This moved him warmth, food or drink. This may be routine to be one of the many private jeep owners who in certain parts of the world, but it is an volunteered to be seconded to ZAKA at the time. extraordinary event in Israel. These ZAKA volunteers were dubbed the ‘Angels After an urgent call was put out for organizations in White’ for their dedication and perseverance to augment the assistance being supplied in offering assistance. by the emergency services, the only agency The Deputy Minister therefore decided to that came back immediately with a task force present the ZAKA volunteers with certificates was ZAKA. Deputy Minister Eli Ben Dahan, of of recognition and gratitude - only to receive the Religious Affairs Ministry, saw for himself in return from ZAKA Chairman Yehuda Meshi- how ZAKA volunteers work in times of crisis - Zahav a coveted yellow ZAKA vest and an invitation to become a regular member of the ZAKA Jeep Unit!

NEWSZAK A 10 Philippine Ambassador to Israel visited the ZAKA headquarters in Jerusalem

As a member of the GDACS ZAKA International members also distributed (Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System), sweets and snacks to the children in the combining efforts of the U.N., European Philippines to help lift their spirits. Commission and other global disaster managers, By way of recognition of ZAKA’s remarkable ZAKA International deployed a Task Force during response during the Typhoon, the His Excellency the Philippines typhoon which affected over 11 Mr. Generoso D. G. Calonge, Philippine million people, displaced over 650,000 and killed Ambassador to Israel, visited the ZAKA more than 10,000. headquarters in Jerusalem and participated in Working alongside the International Red Cross the lighting of the candles. He was joined by and the Israel Defence Forces relief unit, ZAKA members of the ZAKA International delegation Commander Mati Goldstein commented that "the devastation we have seen and the amount that had served in the aftermath of Typhoon of individuals and families displaced from their Haiyan. homes is difficult to bear. We are doing all that we After receiving a briefing from the delegation can to assess the country's needs and ease the about the scope of their work in the islands, the burden. Within a day after we got here, we went Ambassador said: “we thank the State of Israel to three islands where no rescue operations had and ZAKA International for their fast response been initiated and assisted masses of injured to help people affected by the typhoon. Without locals." In addition to bringing in food supplies, doubt, your activities helped save many lives.”

NEWSZAK A 11 ZAKA INTERNATIONAL RESCUE UNIT VOLUNTEERS PARTICIPATE IN MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE DRILL

Eight members of the ZAKA International Rescue Unit, under the direction of ZAKA USA director Zvi Gluck, participated in a national drill at the end of 2013. The drill, dubbed "Ends of the Earth" simulated an international air rescue effort bringing emergency supplies into Israel following a catastrophic "earthquake" in which thousands of civilians were killed or trapped, hundreds of buildings collapsed and hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless. The visiting delegations came from various countries around the world, including a delegation from the United Nations and the Red Cross, NATO - the first such event of its type and scope. The drill, which was under the direction of the then Home Front Defense minister Gilad Erdan, included a drill at Ben Gurion airport and at the sea ports. The main purpose of the drill was to improve the initiative and process of receiving international aid following a massive earthquake, with the participation of representatives from many different emergency organizations, including ZAKA, MDA, the , the airports authority, the relevant government ministries etc. At the conclusion of the drill, Home Front Defense minister Gilad Erdan hosted all the visiting delegations to dinner in the Defense Ministry offices in Tel Aviv. Erdan praised the work of the ZAKA USA delegation, as well as all the activities of the ZAKA International Rescue Unit in times of routine and emergency. ZAKA International Rescue Unit commander Mati Goldstein noted: "Integrating ZAKA volunteers in this drill with representatives of major international emergency organizations only serves to underline the important and integral role played by the ZAKA International Rescue Unit in international rescue efforts. This is thanks to the years of experience we have gained in the field." NEWSZAK A 12 ZAKA AT MOUNT MERON FOR LAG BA'OMER CELEBRATIONS The annual Lag Ba’Omer pilgrimage to points for parents and missing children on Mount Meron, the resting place of kabbalist the site. In total, ZAKA volunteers dealt with Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, which this year 482 incidents of missing children took place on a Motzei , ended Dozens of ZAKA vehicles distributed over without serious casualties, thanks to ZAKA's 30,000 donated bottles of mineral water to multi-faceted safety campaign. Building on the participants, as they made their way by years of experience of offering assistance foot or in buses up to the holy site. at this mass event with all its many In addition, ZAKA volunteers administered transportation and crowding issues, ZAKA first aid to dozens of people, many of whom developed a successful strategy together suffered from dehydration due to the with the Meuchedet Health Fund. heat. Prior to the festival, ZAKA also ran a ZAKA distributed 35,000 identification safety information campaign to minimize wristbands to children, bearing family accidents on the road and at the site. names and phone numbers, which proved ZAKA Chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav noted indispensable in reuniting children with that "there was a reduction in the numbers their parents when they became separated of missing and lost children as a result of the among the estimated 300,000 who came to extensive information campaign and the the site over the holiday weekend. Dozens distribution of identification wristbands. of ZAKA volunteers working 24 hours shifts We will continue to make improvements operated a special hotline for missing from year to year, including supplying even children and adults, with several meet-up more bottles of water to avoid the cases of dehydration."

NEWSZAK A 13 TWENTY NEW ZAKA VOLUNTEERS IN KIRYAT ARBA

In late December 2013 and at the initiative of the head of the Kiryat Arba Religious Council Rabbi Yosef Dayan, twenty new volunteers joined the ZAKA unit in Kiryat Arba, headed by Gil Bismoth after completing an intensive three month training program. During the course, the volunteers studied forensic identification and honouring the dead (kavod hamet) - both from the professional and the halachic standpoint and how to act in times of routine and emergency. Guest lecturers came from the Israel Police and the IDF, as well as professionals in pathology and rescue operations. Director of the ZAKA Rabbinical Council Rabbi Ya'acov Roget also participated in the course. The graduation ceremony was attended by veteran ZAKA volunteers as well as the Kiryat Arba Mayor Malachi Levinger, who spoke about the "Kiddush Hashem that ZAKA and its volunteers do in Israel and around the world.”

NEWSZAK A 14 ZAKA VOLUNTEERS SEARCH JERUSALEM FOREST FOR MISSING AMERICAN STUDENT

Tens of ZAKA volunteers, from the specialist Jeep, All Terrain and Canine Units scoured the countryside in the Jerusalem Forest where 23-year-old American yeshiva student Aaron Sofer was last seen hiking with a friend for six long days and nights in August. The ZAKA volunteers joined with hundreds of police officers, volunteers and other emergency response and rescue personnel in the search for Sofer. The ZAKA volunteers even continued their search on Day 2, which was Shabbat, after ZAKA Jerusalem commander Rabbi Ben Zion Auiring received special approval from ZAKA Rabbinic authorities. Sofer, from Lakewood, New Jersey, had been studying at a yeshiva in Jerusalem and was last seen in the Beit Zayit area of the woods Friday morning, before he and a friend became separated while navigating a steep incline. The friend contacted police to file a missing person’s report later on Friday, which led to the intensive manhunt. Despite the fact that the Israel Police closed the special situation room it had erected on site, volunteers continued to search for the missing student until his body was found six days later. ZAKA volunteers then prepared נעדר! .his remains for burial MISSING! אהרן סופר בן 23 דובר אנגלית Yeshivah bochur Aharon Sofer נראה פעם אחרונה ביום שישי בשעה 12.00 ביער Age: 23 ירושלים, Height: 5"9 Color of hair: orange/ginger אזור בית זית. American citizen English speaking לבש חולצה לבנה, חליפה Aharon Sofer was last seen in the Jerusalem שחורה, מכנס שחור וכובע Forest (Yar Yerushalayim) situated near שחור, שער ג'ינג'י, פאות מאחורי ,Moshav Beit Zayit; at 12 noon on Friday August -22 - '14. האזניים, בעל משקפיים, .He was wearing: Black trousers. White shirt Black hat. Short black jacket. Glasses. Peyos כל מי שראה אותו או שיודע .behind his ears פרטים על מקום המצאו נא להתקשר מיידית Whoever saw him, or knows details of his disappearence or current whereabouts: משטרה :Please phone immediately to 100 או למוקד החרום של זק"א Police - 100 Zaka Emergency Hotline 1220 1220 נא להתפלל עבור אהרן בן חולדה AHARON ben CHULDAH

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