Volunteers from the ZAKA organization for identification of victims of tragedies are often witnesses to very difficult and tragic situations, but some incidents are much more memorable and heartbreaking than others.
Such an incident occurred on Wednesday as the organization’s chairman, Yehuda Meshi Zahav, was accompanying the mother of eight-year-old Miriam Monsenego, who was murdered in Toulouse with three other people, to the victims’ funerals in Jerusalem.
Meshi Zahav recalled the incident in a conversation with Arutz Sheva.
“On the way to Jerusalem I traveled with the mother of the girl, Miriam, and on the way she told me that she wants to say goodbye to her daughter and that she wants to give her one final hug,” Meshi Zahav said.
“I took her aside,” he added. “The others continued to Bayit VeGan where they’re sitting shiva and I went with her to the Shamgar Funeral Home, and we came in. She gave her a final hug and then she lifted her head and told me, ‘You’re from Jerusalem, right? You do holy work. Say at the Holy Temple that I brought first fruits to Jerusalem. That I brought the best of my children as a sacrifice to G-d.”
“When you hear a sentence like that, even though I have been a witness to countless difficult situations, you cannot remain indifferent,” he said. “When a mother from France comes and says, ‘This is my sacrifice.’”