Pnina Peretz, formerly Weiss, lives in Mod’in and recently joined United Hatzalah as a volunteer EMT. She finished her course in June and has already immersed herself in saving lives. She is also a bereaved sister, as her brother was killed during his army service in Nablus, on September 30th, 2002.
On Monday morning, Pnina received an alert on her emergency phone application from United Hatzalah’s Dispatch and Command Center, alerting her to an older man who had fallen and injured his hip. Without hesitating, Pnina rushed to the scene. What she found there left her overwhelmed with emotion.
Recounting the story, Pnina said, “I received the call that a man had fallen and injured his hip. I live down the street from where the emergency occurred and I arrived at the house in less than two minutes, together with another United Hatzalah volunteer EMT. When I entered the apartment, we both introduced ourselves and began to treat the man for his injury. After we finished the treatment, and while we were waiting for the ambulance to arrive, we began to talk to the man and his wife.”
“The man’s wife heard my name told me that I have to follow her to see something in the next room. She took me inside and brought out a small card with a prayer on one side and a picture on the other. She asked, ‘Are you connected to this person?’
“I was floored. I told her ‘Yes, that person is my brother. How did you get that picture?’”
Pnina’s brother, St.-Sgt. Ari Yehoshua Weiss, 21, of Ra'anana, was killed when Palestinian Authority Arab terrorist opened fire on an IDF position in the Nablus casbah.
Pnina explained: “After my brother was killed in action, my mother made small cards with prayers for the safety of soldiers on one side and a photo of my brother on the back. She passed them out to members of our community and in our shul (synagogue - ed.). The prayers with the photo made their way from Ra’anana, where we lived, to shuls in other cities, including Ohel Nechama in Jerusalem, where the woman found it.”
“The woman told me that she found the photo 10 years ago. She said, ‘If I find a photo of a fallen soldier, I see it as my duty to keep it and remember him.’ She told me that she keeps it next to her computer and looks at it on a daily basis.
“I have no connection to this family. My family has no connection to this family. Here I am helping this man and suddenly my brother is there looking back at me via a photo attached to a prayer that my mother left in shul more than a decade prior. It shook me. I am still a bit shaken up by it.
“To tell a little bit more about myself, I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe in personal Divine intervention. Over the years since my brother was killed, I’ve seen signs from time to time that he is still a presence in my life and still guiding me on the path that I should take. Today may have been one of the biggest instances of that. I see this incident as both G-d and my brother telling me that I am on the right path and guiding my work with United Hatzalah.
“My brother died saving people, I will live doing the same mission.”