Terror victim needs our help

One of the survivors of the Merkaz HaRav massacre is in America for surgery, and needs some financial assistance.

A month or so after the attack Naftali was sitting up and even playing the violin, but he very nearly didn’t make it. Shaare Tzedek’s chief of surgery, Dr. Yosef Alberton, carefully described the 9th grader’s arrival at the hospital in an interview with Yediot Acharonot.

“You can say that Naftali was already not among the living,” he recalled. “He had no pulse in the main arteries, just weak heart beats. He wasn’t dazed, he was unconscious. At such times, there is no room for sterilization procedures. We put him on the table, poured iodine on his abdomen and opened it. I grabbed the aorta and held it hard with my hand to allow blood flow to the brain. I actually felt like I was holding his life in my fingers, until we saw that the pulse was beginning to return to his veins and his condition was stabilizing.”

Rabbi Billet is assisting other rabbis and communal leaders in a fundraising effort for the family, calling it a chance to “participate in the miracle of Techiyas Hamaisim.”

Here are the money contacts:

If you are in a position to be able to be a part of this mitzvah and you wish to participate, please make out your checks to THE YIW MAYER LEBOWITZ CHARITY FUND and earmark your check for Naftali Sheetrit. Checks should be mailed to the Young Israel of Woodmere, 859 Peninsula Blvd., Woodmere, NY 11598.

For more information, e-mail Dr. Asher Mansdorf, who is coordinating the fundraising effort, at amansdorf-atnospamplease-aol.com.

Give if you can.