Beit Miriam students raise $1800 for United Hatzalah Israel

This year, students at Beit Miriam religious school at West End Synagogue decided to raise money to support United Hatzalah Israel. Sharon Paz, director of lifelong learning said that last summer she read the book 90 Seconds, the Epic Story of Eli Beer and United Hatzalah, written by Rabbi Nachman Seltzer. She said she was moved by the book, and wanted the students and families to hear about the work the organization does in Israel. Not only that, but she also said, “Reading about United Hatzalah, touched me personally, because I have a close friend from Savannah whose life was saved by Hatzalah in the New York area. I knew what they did and the scope of what Hatzalah was doing in Israel was unbelievably impressive. I shared this with the teachers at Beit Miriam and everyone was enthusiastic.” And then, just five weeks after beginning the school’s Tzedakah project, came the tragedy of Oct. 7. 

 United Hatzalah is a volunteer-based organization which provides emergency medical response within minutes of any medical emergency all over Israel. United Hatzalah’s volunteers include Emergency Medical Technicians, paramedics, and doctors from all backgrounds, both secular and religious, Jewish and non-Jewish, who are on call all day every day of the year, even on Yom Kippur. Hatzalah volunteers arrive in three minutes on average from the time of the call and in only 90 seconds in metropolitan areas.  

We know that hundreds of Israelis owe their lives to the many United Hatzalah volunteers who came from all over the country on October 7th, on Simchat Torah, to treat and save the wounded from the Nova festival and from the kibbutzim under attack bordering Gaza.  

 Magen David Adom ambulances were not allowed in the area because of security concerns. 

United Hatzalah-Israel does not charge any of the recipients for the services they receive. Everything United Hatzalah does is paid for by the tremendous fundraising efforts of Eli Beer and his team.  

We are so happy to share that we raised $1800 for United Hatzalah Israel this year.  

Thank you to Yosef (YoYo) Prebus who donated money from his Bar Mitzvah gifts and continued to bring additional Tzedakah every week, to Adam, Valerie, and Zach Landa who said they will give whatever was needed to hit our goal in the end and to the Beit Miriam families and students for sending in Tzedakah every Sunday.