"There are no words to describe what the front of Sbarro's Pizza looked like"
Friday; Erev Shabbat.By Binny Freedman
Her eyes, I think, will stay with me forever. Imploring, beseeching, full of so much sadness. I think the shock of where and how she was, was sinking in. I can't begin to describe all that was in those eyes.
Yesterday; Thursday, August 9th the 20th of Av, on my way to work, I found myself walking down Yaffo street. Hungry, I decided to stop and grab a quick bite... at Sbarro's Pizza.
In the past 5 years I have frequented this establishment exactly twice. Walking into Sbarro's there is a larger area for sitting in the front, but the back looked a bit cooler and quieter, so I decided to grab a seat in the back. That decision saved my life.
Waiting on line, when they brought me the baked Zitti I asked for, it was cold. So I asked the woman behind the counter if she'd mind warming it up. "Ein Ba'ayah", no problem, she said with a smile. I will always wonder if that was her last smile on earth... A couple of moments later, a fellow from behind the counter came to the back with my baked Zitti. Then he started to speak to someone at one of thetables... That baked Zitti saved his life.
At about 2PM, I both felt & heard a tremendous explosion, and day turned into night. And then the screaming began. An awful, heartrending sound; the sound of people coming to terms with a whole new reality, of people not wanting to comprehend that life has changed forever. Those of us sitting in the back were spared, but I was afraid of panic, so I started yelling at everyone to quieten down; not to panic. The ceiling looked like it might cave in, but there is always the danger of a second explosion, detonated on purpose shortly after the first... But then I smelled smoke, and was suddenly afraid the restaurant mightbe on fire. So we started climbing our way through the wreckage to the front.
Would there be another explosion? Would the roof collapse? Were we making the wrong decision, climbing through? There are moments that last a lifetime... There are no words to describe what the front of Sbarro's Pizza looked like in the immediate aftermath of that explosion. A woman was lying near the steps to the back. Her eyes were staring straight at me, following me. So full of pain and longing, sadness and despair. I dropped down becide her trying to ellicit a response to see if she could speak. And then I watched the life just drain out of her. I tried to get a pulse, to no avail. She died there, on the steps in front of me. She was lying by the table I had decided not to sit at...
There were bodies everywhere, and those images are in my mind; they won't let go. A child's body under the wreckage; a baby-carriage; limbs and a torso; A woman holding a motor-cycle helmet and screaming next to a person on the floor who had obviously been someone she was with... And then the mad rush to help the ambulance and emergency crews get the wounded out. They were obviously afraid of a second bomb, so there was no medical effort inside beyond getting the wounded on to stretchers and out. A religious Jew missing at least two limbs in tears and shock; what do you say? "yehiyeh Be'Seder" it'll be all right? Will it?
I happened to sit a bit to the left as you walk towards the back, and so the wall behind me shielded me from the blast. Another fellow whom we went back in to get wasn't so lucky. Sitting only 5 or 6 feet to my left, he caught the full force of the blast and was thrown in the air. When we got him on the stretcher he was bleeding profusely and was missing a leg... There are no words to describe what that man's hand, clenched around my arm, felt like. He just kept looking from me to his leg and back again. I started saying Tehillim ...
So many mixed emotions fill my head today. I came home last night and gave each of my children a very long hug... But there are so many families today who are waking up to the reality that life will never be the same. 17 funerals with friends and families saying goodbye to those they loved so, whose only crime was a desire for a slice of Pizza on a beautiful Jerusalem afternoon...
I recall once, reading a story of a boy who was saved from a near-drowning by a stranger. As the fellow carried him ashore, the boy looked up and said "thanks for saving my life, mister". To which the man responded: "Just make sure it was worth saving...". Tonight we celebrate Shabbat. All over Israel, in 8 hours, parents will bless their children at the Shabbat table. I imagine we will all hug them a little tighter this week.
In a few hours we will light Shabbat candles. This Shabbat, in the wake of all this darkness, the Jewish people will do what we have been doing for 4000 years; what we have always done. We will pick up the pieces and light our candles, because that is all we have ever wanted; just to bring a little light back into the world.
After 2000 years of dreaming, we have come home. So many nations, and so many empires tried to stop us from getting here but here we are, none the less. Home; that word has such a beautiful sound to it, to a people that has wandered the globe for so long...
We are not leaving. We will be here to celebrate this Shabbat and next Shabbat, and forever, until the end of time, here, in the hills of Judea and Gush Etzion, and Jerusalem. May Hashem, who in His infinite Wisdom saw fit to allow me the privilege of celebrating one more Shabbat with my family, in the hills of Jerusalem, see fit to put an end to all of this pain, and all of this suffering. Wherever you are, and whomever you are, be with us here, in Yerushalyim, and offer up a prayer for all those who lost loved ones in yesterday's terrible tragedy.
Yehi Ratzon, May it be G-d's will, that soon, we will find the road to the peace we have longed for for so long.
Shabbat Shalom,
Binny Freedman,
Efrat
Too Many Funeral
Not Enough Tears Left
I made Aliyah in June 1994. I cried when I left family and friends in Los Angeles. I cried when I arrived with my family in Israel. I cried when the doctor told me that it 'Was a Baby Girl' in July 1995 at Hadassah Hospital. I cried when I was told that it 'Was a Baby Boy' in March 1997 at Hadassah. For the past 24hours,the life in Israel has been the worst 24hours since our Aliyah,7years ago. Yes,we have reported and written about the bombings, the bullets, and the orphans. Yes, we have written about the births,the happy times of a brit, a bat/bar mitzvah/ and weddings. Today, I must share with you the stories behind some of the 15 dead Jews from yesterday's restaurant terrorist murders. The young chatan,newly engaged, Mr. Golobek from Karmiel,26, was very active with his father in the Meretz local chapter. He and his family were to meet the bride's family at a restaurant in Jerusalem. He arrived early at the restaurant with his fiancee to save a table so that the long drive for his parents from Karmiel would not be added to by a wait for space in a busy restaurant in downtown Jerusalem. The list for the wedding guests to be invited were with his parents. The bride's parents were delayed in traffic from their apartment in Jerusalem. A bomb went off, the groom is dead, the fiancee is injured. This morning as the funeral procession began in Karmiel for the dead chatan, the wedding list according to the grieving mother is now a levaya list. Her family spent the night 'inviting' and 'announcing' the funeral plans. The bride is in stable condition, her beautiful face and figure filled with shrapnel and nails. The bride's parents are sitting in the house of shiva of the machatanim they will never have. The two best friends,Malka and Esther,15,were to meet for a pizza after they had spent the summer in their Ezra camp helping the kids in the neighborhood. One girl came from Ramot and one from Jerusalem in the city. Their busses were delayed due to a suspicious object on the road. They called each other on the cellular phone and changed their lunch plans to 2:00PM at Sbarro. The best friend, Esther, phoned her mother, a nurse at Hadassah and said, "I won't be home for dinner, I am with Malka in town." The mother, the nurse finished her shift and returned home with the radio news of a bomb in a restaurant. She had just eaten there the night before with Esther. They had come from the cemetery as it was the yarhtzeit of Esther's late father who died 11 years ago, when Esther was only 4. They said their personal kaddish, went out to eat on Wednesday night at Sbarro and Esther loved the food. Esther and Malka met at the restaurant. Today, they were buried two hours apart at Har Menuchot. The middle sister promised her little brothers all week that after Tisha Ba'av, she would take them to the zoo for their birthday today, August 10. Ms. Maoz called them from her phone at 1 30yesterday and asked the little siblings if they wanted 'some pizza' which she would bring them home. The younger 5year old brother wanted pizza with mushroom and ice cream. She explained that it was too hot to bring ice cream which would melt. The pizza was ordered and as she hung up the phone on her younger siblings,the bomb went off. Today due to the wild animals and bloodless terrorists, the family cannot go to the zoo. The little siblings cried as their big brother who just went into the army last month was saying some prayers around what they thought was a 'sandbox'(the graveside) over the sister who>had pizza to go and is now in heaven. The family from Holland moved to Talmon West. The Eema was a special ed teacher working with hearing disabled children. The Abba was a principal of the day school. They wanted to get away from the bombings and drive bys and attacks in the Shomron so they promised their 5 youngest children that they would spend two days in Jerusalem. They found a pool that had separate hours for the swimming. They checked in to a family hotel. They went out to eat pizza and lasagna. The oldest 3 children were at home in Talmon listening to the mortars and watching the rocks being thrown by the Arabs nearby. Today, the Chief Rabbi of Israel presided over 5 funerals. Abba and Eema and three children were buried side by side,and the other two kids are recuperating in the hospital. The oldest children were at the cemetery saying five kaddishes five times.
During the night I could not sleep. My daughter was too close yesterday to the action. I woke up at 4AM and found out that an only child, Shoshana (Judy Hayman) Greenbaum,31,pregnant, was a victim. Judy and her parents, Dr. and Mrs. Allan Hayman were members of the Yeshiva University of Los Angeles community. They were active in all aspects of this kehilla. Allan was the gabbai at the Yeshiva of Los Angeles minyan. When I was living in LA, for some years I was a congregant at Yeshiva. I sat at the next table over from the gabbai, Allan. We watched our children grow together and I knew that Allan and Shifra were so proud of their continued growth in yiddishkiet with their only child. I was back in LA in May of this year. I saw them and they told me that Judy was married and living in the East Coast. Their pride and their joy was now a Mrs. and she was coming to Israel to participate in a teacher's program of YU.Judy (Shoshana) was supposed to go back next week. She died yesterday. Ijust came back with a close friend, Benny Adler of LA,from Har Hamenuchot.We parked my car and watched the funeral processions. One family was burying Malka, another family had just buried Esther. The family from Holland of 5 burials were leaving from another mountain route. People were coming and going in all directions. I stood outside the chapel with the other Kohanim listening to the euologies of Judy's husband, Mayor Olmert, Ambassador Dan Kurtzer of the USA,a Rosh Yeshiva. The room was packed. Outside the chapel, another family was waiting with its body. As the screams and cries and tears reverberated around the pathways and walkways,I watched behind my tear soaked sunglasses the teenage classmates of Malka, Esther,Ms. Maoz, and the Holland. Here were the consuls of Holland, Australia(for Malka), USA, and other countries bringing wreaths of flowers. The press was everywhere. Someone shouted at the US Ambassador, an Orthodox Jew himself, during his eulogy for Judy. It was 100 degrees outside. We had to get moving. Shabbat was approaching and there were still two more childrens' funerals. I have said enough....My eyes are dry and red. So are the other Los Angelenos who came for Shoshana. Her parents are in LA. They have been spared the site of their only child laying in state as the chevra kadisha prayed over her body. I am trying to make Shabbat now.....I don't know how..
Too Many Funerals/Not Enough Tears Left
Harvey Tannenbaum
Hamakom Yenachem,Hashem Yikam Damam
9 August 2001
AN EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE SBARRO SUICIDE BOMBING ATTACK
A testimonial from former New York resident and American Rabbi Binny Freedman, 38, who was eating lunch in Sbarro's when a suicide bomber blew himself up there today, killing at least 18 and wounding over 100 others. This is his first-hand account: "I just felt like having pizza today, so I headed into Sbarro's," Rabbi Binny Freedman, 38, said. "The restaurant has two sections, and I chose to sit in the back, thinking it would be cooler and quieter. If I had chosen to sit up front, by the window facing Jaffa Street, I wouldn't be talking to you now."
Originally from Manhattan's Upper West Side, Freedman traveled to Israel in 1981 to study for a year and has been there since. "I thank G-d that I didn't take my children out to lunch with me today," he said, from where he stood on the corner of King George and Jaffa Streets. "Suddenly, in the middle of my lunch, I heard the huge explosion. People started screaming. A man not ten feet away from me was thrown into the air.
He lost at least two limbs. I helped carry him to the ambulance. There were kids everywhere, crying, bloody, dead. I saw mothers leaning over children, sobbing. I can not understand. You take your kids for pizza, for a treat,and this is what happens. My heart feels completely broken. I cannot understand my luck. I have not a scratch on my body. I am incredibly grateful but I do not pretend to understand why I survived." Over the cell phone static, hours later, Binny described the wreckage, saying that Sbarro's was completely destroyed. He said that right after the explosion and through the smoke, he looked towards the front section of the restaurant, packed just a second earlier with hungry lunch-goers, and saw not a single person left standing.
While traffic on the street outside began to move a few hours later, Freedman and many others remained on the corner, mostly dazed and crying. Freedman explained that while the bomb squad had dispersed already, the chevrah kadisha, a group of religious Jews who take the responsibility after such attacks of collecting severed limbs and pieces of skin so as to try and fulfill the Jewish law of burying a corpse in its entirety, were still hard at work in the area.
"I have such mixed feelings. I feel tremendous gratitude at being alive, but I don't know how I will go on with the weight of what I have witnessed today on my heart. How could human beings do this?"
Ellen Goldstein
Marketing & Community Relations Director
Jewish Federation of Greater Buffalo