A Rosh Hashanah that changed Bram and his friend's lives and the
lives of those who they helped rescue From the Lower East Side of Manhattan to IsraelThe following is a short diary of events depicting the life-saving
journey of Bram a Jewish kid who hails from the Lower East Side of New York
City, and who succeeded in saving a life of an Ethiopian Jew in Israel, Rosh
Hashanah, marking his 4th successful mission and find with the IDU,
Israel's lead civilian canine security and SAR unit. Just as they were settling
down for dinner, the rest of their Chag and their plans were changed completely. Known as the busiest day of the week, Friday, September 18th
2020 –coupled with Erev Rosh Hashanah- was no exception. Especially for the
volunteers at the Israel Dog Unit HQ, located in Kfar Tappuach of the Shomron.
After cooking, cleaning, organizing, shopping, taking care of the dogs,
conducting basic maintenance, along with a whole horde of other chores and
errands – including dealing with 2 high risk missing person cases – the members
of the IDU's 24-hour emergency response team had a collective sigh of relief as
they were finally able to wish their families a final "shanah tova"
and head up to the synagogue for Shabbat/Rosh Hashanah prayers. Finally, after
a tough, hectic, hardworking day, these special volunteers who devote their
every spare minute to the lifesaving activities of the IDU would be able to
enjoy a nice and peaceful holiday meal and welcome in the new year. However, what
they did not know, was that this vision of a serene, peaceful non-eventful
holiday was not to be.
Called out to a rescue operation during Rosh Hashanah Dinner.
Just
as they were settling down for dinner, the rest of their Chag was changed
completely. All of the jovial conversation quickly went silent as the
volunteers heard the emergency phone line ring from the other room. On the other
end was policeman Guy of the Lod Police Department informing them of the
disappearance of Avraham Gitnekh, a 65-year-old dementia patient who left his
house Thursday at 12:00 PM (almost 2 days earlier) not to be seen since! The
volunteers present looked to Mike Ben-Yaakov, Commander and Founder of the IDU,
for the next steps. Ben-Yaakov quickly identified the case as a high risk and
proceeded to deploy David and Yosef, 2 experienced IDU volunteers, equipped
with a SAR dog and a thermal camera mounted on a drone. At about 5:00 AM
Shabbat morning, David and Yosef returned after covering their assigned areas;
unfortunately, without any news on Avraham, the missing person. As per the
plan, David and Yosef woke the second shift of volunteers, including Commander
Ben-Yaakov, who packed the van with the necessary dogs, food and equipment in
order to be able to independently set up a complete search HQ for an indefinite
amount of time.
A
few hours later, Ben-Yaakov and the volunteers with him arrived at the Lod
Police Station where the local police chief allocated the precinct conference
room to the IDU team from which to conduct the search for Avraham. IDU
navigators immediately started examining maps and identifying the relevant
areas. Martin and Joseph two local Tel
Aviv dog- handlers were sent to do a couple of relevant areas north of
Avraham's house while 2 more volunteers, Bram and Yitzy, were sent with SAR dog
Yenta to cover the south.
Guy
asked Mike to deploy additional dog-handlers and drones in Kiryat Gat,
Avraham's likely destination, as he lived in Kiryat Gat from the moment he made
Aliya from Ethiopia in the mid-1980s. He had only moved to Lod three weeks
prior to his disappearance.Zev
and Bnaya from the IDU's Gush Etzyon branch, were sent to meet Guy at a bus
stop on Kiryat Gat, where clothing had been spotted that resembled the clothing
that Avraham was seen in on the security cameras outside of his home. The Gush
Etzyon team search nearby orchards, without any sign of Avraham, and then moved
on to join the Tapuach and Tel Aviv IDU teams at the IDU command center in the
Lod police station.Missing for two days, the clock was ticking, not in Avraham's favor, in
the boiling heat
At this point it was a full 2 days after
Avraham's disappearance and he was considered to be in very grave danger. As
Bram, Yitzy and SAR dog Yenta approached their assigned area, they realized
that from the attempted point of entry the area was mostly fenced off. They
logically decided to split up and go along the perimeter of the area in
different directions searching all entry points on the way. As Yitzy and SAR
dog Yenta headed east, Bram headed south and soon found a suitable entry point
to a very interesting abandoned parking lot, overgrown and unmaintained: a
perfect example of where a missing dementia patient, such as Avraham, could be
slowly dehydrating in and waiting for help. However, after searching the area
very efficiently, making sure to check every possible rock and tree where
Avraham could be, Bram left the area convinced that Avraham was not there.
Another 200 yards down, now heading east, Bram happened upon another entry
point: an unkempt trail going around a small hill with a very steep drop into a
jungle of thick thorns and brush. Fearing that Avraham could have fallen into
the unfriendly plants, Bram quickly started battling his way through the
valley, searching every possible plant.
The missing person was found alive.
After
about 50 yards of this, Bram exited the thorns and proceeded to return to the
trail only to be pleasantly surprised by a man with Avraham's description lying
on the ground just a few feet away! After sending his findings to the search
HQ, Bram realized that the man, presumed to be Avraham, was extremely
dehydrated from lying in the sun for so long without water. He gently carried
him to a shady spot not too far away and proceeded to give him to drink from his
own water supply. Soon after, the police came with a family member who
confirmed that the man found was indeed Avraham and quickly rushed him to an
ambulance from where he was then taken to the hospital.
Bram
and the other volunteers who were then searching proceeded to return to the
police station where the search was headquartered to celebrate the happy ending
of this intense episode as well as the remainder of Shabbat and the Chag. G-d works in mysterious ways. Amir Ohana, Israel's
minister of Internal Security, came to visit the Corona check points in Lod and
to meet with Lod's Chief of Police, who congratulated the police and the IDU
volunteers on the impressive find and for saving Avraham's life. However, the
story does not end here!
This was only the beginning of an adventurous Rosh Hashanah
After
the celebrating, the IDU team packed up all the dogs and equipment to head back
to base in case of another search. They didn’t have to wait long. About 20
minutes into the drive home, the phone rang once again. This time the call came
from Dudi Mayblum, Head of the IDU's northern branch, informing the carload of
volunteers about a missing Alzheimer's patient, Moshe Senior, in the Neve Chof
neighborhood of Rishon Letzion. Without missing a beat, Commander Mike Ben-Yaakov
along with the eager volunteers, turned around the van, and headed out to the
area of the search. Once arriving, Ben-Yaakov got ahold of the policeman in
charge of the search who then relayed the relevant information. After learning
all that he needed to know, Ben-Yaakov then deployed the volunteers in the car
with him along with others who arrived on their own. After about an hour of
searching, Commander Ben-Yaakov received the good news that Mr. Senior was
found alive.
After
receiving the good news, it seemed that the IDU team, exhausted from a long
day, would finally be able to return home. Once the IDU team returned to their
base in Kfar Tappuach of the Shomron, they quickly took care of the dogs who
were also exhausted, before finally sitting down to make Kiddush, eat something
and enjoy the rest of the Chag. This was already long after midnight. However,
just as they were making Kiddush, the phone rang for the third time. Calling
from Nahariya in the north, a young lady informed Commander Ben-Yaakov of the
disappearance of her grandfather Vladimir Freifeld, an 85-year-old Alzheimer's
patient, who rode off on his bicycle and hadn't been seen for 18 hours. Ben-Yaakov
quickly dialed IDU North who proceeded to search the relevant areas until
Vladimir was ultimately found alive. We say many times in the Rosh Hashana
prayers, the books of life and death are open before G-d and he judges each
creature individually and inscribes them for life or sadly, sometimes the alternative.
With 3 high risk cases within 24-hours of each other all found alive thanks to
G-d as well as His messengers in the IDU, we can say that this year, cannot be
off to a better start. G-d has smiled on the respective missing people and He
has smiled on the volunteers of the IDU to whom He gave the privilege of having
a hand in the rescue of all three.
Where else can a Lower East Side kid join a unit, adopt a dog and start
saving lives?The IDU is more than just a national unit that
saves lives with security and SAR dogs in Israel. For Bram and the other young
IDU volunteers, it is a unique opportunity of a life-time to be a part of an
operational unit that engages in security and search and rescue missions every
day. For Bram this was his fourth find. Not bad for a 19-year-old immigrant
from the Lower East side who moved to Passaic before making his journey to
Israel. Bram has had no shortage of adventure and adversary since he moved to
Israel almost two years ago, studying in the pre-military academy at Keshet in
the Golan. He was one of Israel's first Corona patients, labeled patient 260.
He beat Corona, with G-d's help and now he continues to save the lives of
others in Israel.
