It was not easy and it took a long time but recently the Hashmonaim community was finally able to celebrate the dedication of a new ambulance with the latest life-saving features. The ambulance was donated to the community by Sarah and Rabbi Nachum Muschel of Monsey, New York in memory of their son, Dr. Joseph N. Muschel (ob”m) and by the Memorial Foundation established in his name.
More than 350 people turned out for the dedication of the ambulance. The dedication was held in the square surrounded by the three central synagogues of the community, the Sephardic Shul, the Yemenite Shul and the Askenazi Shul. Rabbi and Mrs. Muschel recognized quite a few faces as many of the Monsey community who were enjoying their
vacation in Israel came to the dedication.
Avi and Justin Muschel, two young cousins of Joseph (ob”m), began the ceremony by reading a chapter of Tehillim. Rabbi Itamar Auerbach, the Hashmonaim community rabbi, gave a short Dvar Torah praising the family. Mrs. Sara Muschel related several stories about her son and read a portion of his diary. He had written about how he coped with the question of medical practice on Shabbat and how he loved the people and the land of Israel. Mrs. Muschel
spoke of how fitting it was that an ambulance was being dedicated in his name because he loved to help people and he loved medicine.
Rabbi Muschel thanked the many residents and friends who gathered to honor his son’s memory. He praised the Hashmonaim community that preserved Jewish tradition and he expressed his pleasure at being able to provide an ambulance to the community. He also praised two Hashmonaim residents, Ella Hyman and Chana Spiegelman, who had worked so
hard to influence the family to donate the ambulance to Hashmonaim.
Avi Zohar, the general manager of Magen David Adom (MDA), honored us with his presence. He thanked the family for their gift and he thanked the MDA volunteers of Hashmonaim for their devotion to saving lives.
Two of Joseph’s friends, Meir Becker and Naftali Hammer, spoke poignantly of his friendship with them and told of some of the exploits that they had enjoyed together.
The chairman of the local council, Shimshon Mehudar, presented the family members with
certificates of appreciation for their donation.
At the end of the ceremony, after everyone had returned from the formal presentation of the
ambulance to the community, the MDA volunteers presented one of their own, Yitzchak Hartman, with a special award for his many years of dedication as the coordinator of the MDA volunteers in Hashmonaim. In his short thank you reply, Yitzchak shared with us parts of “The Prayer of every MDA volunteer.” They pray that the emergency call will come before or after a shower and not during the shower. They pray that a call on Friday night will come at least after the soup and they pray that when they rush a pregnant woman to the hospital, they will arrive with one patient rather than with two.
The Hashmonaim community is very grateful to the Memorial Fund and to the Muschel family for their generous donation. (Comments may be sent to [email protected].)
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