David Singer of Emanuel - a hareidi-religious community in the Shomron - is in mourning for his 2-year-old daughter Tiferet, who was killed yesterday when an unattended car rolled down atop her. He spoke with Arutz-7's Hebrew radio newsmagazine today about the lessons he has learned and would like to impart, and about local medical and security needs.
"What I understand," he said, "is that the car, an automatic, simply began sliding down; we are still checking if there was a problem with the handbrakes, or what. I believe that every incident like this should give us strength and teach us lessons as to how to be careful in the future, just like we study every security incident. In accordance with my nature, I immediately sat down to try to figure out what happened and what we can learn. First of all, I turn to all of Israel: Do not let children remain alone in the car (though that's not what happened in this case). Also, don't rely on the parking gear, but rather always use your handbrakes; my daughter [would be alive] if handbrakes had been used... At the funeral, I turned to everyone and said, 'Our little girl did not feel any pain, as she became unconscious immediately - but we have to feel the pain, we have to see where we go wrong. Do we watch our children carefully enough? Do we leave them unattended? [etc.] - although in this case, her grandfather was with her, and he, too, was injured by the car."
"The second issue I want to bring up," David said, "is the lack of medical services in this town. In all Emanuel, even though we have 3,500 people and we experienced two big terrorist attacks [in which a total of 20 people were murdered, in Dec. 2001 and July 2002], we have no paramedic service. A Hatzalah crew came after a few minutes, but we had to wait a full 25 minutes until a paramedic crew was able to arrive, and by then it was far too late. We also don't have a doctor who lives in the town."
"And so," he continued, "I have taken it upon myself to start a drive for these services. We want to find a doctor who specializes in trauma - the municipality is willing to pay his salary - and to establish a paramedic team. This is the way I know how to deal with crises, just like I did four years ago. We arrived here in Emanuel just two days after the second terror attack, in which my friend was killed; I realized that emergency equipment was sorely missing here, and so I resolved to come and help. Thank G-d, we have succeeded very well, and have been able to acquire important equipment. Just a week ago or so, we had a ceremony for the distribution of bulletproof vests and optic combat equipment for first-response teams, both here and in neighboring communities. The problem is that though I was supposed to go on another fundraising trip a few days ago, I put it off at my wife's request - yesterday was our anniversary; I was able to spend a lot of time with my daughter who was killed... but the bottom line is that under the current circumstances, I won't be going anywhere for a while - and yet we have to raise the money for the equipment."
"I therefore turn to those abroad who know me and have contributed in the past towards the work that we are doing. I am sure that they read Arutz-7 - because it's only natural that those who contribute to causes of this nature would be connected with Arutz-7 - so please: I can’t come to see you physically, so please help us at this time. We need the $12,000 to pay for the equipment that we just gave out, and even though we were able to equip only 30% of the first-response teams this time, it's a start."
"I can tell you that my daughter felt no pain, but just totally enjoyed life - and now, with her death, I am going to save other people," David said. He provided this email address for those who wish to help: roni@emanuel.muni.il
"What I understand," he said, "is that the car, an automatic, simply began sliding down; we are still checking if there was a problem with the handbrakes, or what. I believe that every incident like this should give us strength and teach us lessons as to how to be careful in the future, just like we study every security incident. In accordance with my nature, I immediately sat down to try to figure out what happened and what we can learn. First of all, I turn to all of Israel: Do not let children remain alone in the car (though that's not what happened in this case). Also, don't rely on the parking gear, but rather always use your handbrakes; my daughter [would be alive] if handbrakes had been used... At the funeral, I turned to everyone and said, 'Our little girl did not feel any pain, as she became unconscious immediately - but we have to feel the pain, we have to see where we go wrong. Do we watch our children carefully enough? Do we leave them unattended? [etc.] - although in this case, her grandfather was with her, and he, too, was injured by the car."
"The second issue I want to bring up," David said, "is the lack of medical services in this town. In all Emanuel, even though we have 3,500 people and we experienced two big terrorist attacks [in which a total of 20 people were murdered, in Dec. 2001 and July 2002], we have no paramedic service. A Hatzalah crew came after a few minutes, but we had to wait a full 25 minutes until a paramedic crew was able to arrive, and by then it was far too late. We also don't have a doctor who lives in the town."
"And so," he continued, "I have taken it upon myself to start a drive for these services. We want to find a doctor who specializes in trauma - the municipality is willing to pay his salary - and to establish a paramedic team. This is the way I know how to deal with crises, just like I did four years ago. We arrived here in Emanuel just two days after the second terror attack, in which my friend was killed; I realized that emergency equipment was sorely missing here, and so I resolved to come and help. Thank G-d, we have succeeded very well, and have been able to acquire important equipment. Just a week ago or so, we had a ceremony for the distribution of bulletproof vests and optic combat equipment for first-response teams, both here and in neighboring communities. The problem is that though I was supposed to go on another fundraising trip a few days ago, I put it off at my wife's request - yesterday was our anniversary; I was able to spend a lot of time with my daughter who was killed... but the bottom line is that under the current circumstances, I won't be going anywhere for a while - and yet we have to raise the money for the equipment."
"I therefore turn to those abroad who know me and have contributed in the past towards the work that we are doing. I am sure that they read Arutz-7 - because it's only natural that those who contribute to causes of this nature would be connected with Arutz-7 - so please: I can’t come to see you physically, so please help us at this time. We need the $12,000 to pay for the equipment that we just gave out, and even though we were able to equip only 30% of the first-response teams this time, it's a start."
"I can tell you that my daughter felt no pain, but just totally enjoyed life - and now, with her death, I am going to save other people," David said. He provided this email address for those who wish to help: roni@emanuel.muni.il