The Israeli government’s coronavirus regulations are ostensibly designed to save lives, but in some tragic cases, they have actually ended up costing lives, leaving people to die afraid and alone – not in hospital beds on ventilators, but in their own homes.
Those most aware of the plight of the pandemic’s hidden victims are the volunteers with ZAKA, the haredi organization that deals with cases everyone else prefers not only not to touch, but not to know exist.
On Monday, ZAKA volunteers were called to a home in Ashdod after neighbors detected a suspicious and highly unpleasant odor in their building’s stairwell. Fearing the worse, the volunteers found it – an elderly man, living alone, who had apparently slipped and fallen in his apartment. According to neighbors, no one heard his cries for help and no one came to his aid. He lay there where he fell until he died, probably at least a week ago.
The man’s neighbors hadn’t known to call ZAKA – instead they called police and the fire brigade, who in turn summoned the organization’s volunteers to deal with the man’s body which was, by then, in an advanced state of decay.
“With tears in our eyes and pain in our hearts, we tried to treat the niftar [deceased] with as much respect as possible in this difficult case,” related ZAKA volunteer Avi Deri. “The elderly man appeared to have slipped and fallen as he entered his home. He was found behind the front door. We entered the apartment via a window,” he explained, “and we found him there.”
Since the beginning of 2020, ZAKA has dealt with over 120 similar cases – elderly people, living alone, who died alone and undetected and were found long after their demise.
“We have to keep these people in mind especially now, that we are in lockdown,” said a ZAKA spokesman. “People should be checking up on them at least once a day – it might just save their lives.”