Meet Moria Dorfman. She lives in Bat Yam with her family and is a proud volunteer with United Hatzalah’s Ten Kavod (Care with Dignity) project. Moria sent us this note we wish to share with you:
My name is Moria Dorfman, I am an 18-year-old girl from Bat Yam and I recently saved the life of my 6-year-old sister.
On Thursday the 9th of June 2022 I completed a First Aid course that I took through United Hatzalah as part of the Ten Kavod project, which has volunteers visiting elderly people weekly in communities throughout Israel to alleviate their sense of loneliness and provide them with free medical checkups.
My father is the coordinator for the project in Bat Yam. Our volunteers spend at least one hour a week visiting an elderly person who lives alone, to build up a relationship and help them feel they’re not so alone. When I finished the course, I didn’t think I would need to apply what I learned so quickly to save a life, especially the life of someone so close to me.
On Rosh Chodesh Tamuz, Thursday the 30th of June at 5:00 PM, I was watching my younger siblings at home while my father, the renowned mohel Rabbi Nir Dorfman, was in Germany for a brit milah. I was in my room when I heard my one-year-old brother, Yehuda, cry out. I went to see why he was crying and when I arrived in the living room my sister Yael screamed: “Moriah, Miriam (our 6-year-old sister) is choking, do something!”
I looked at her and froze, not believing what I was seeing: Miriam was holding her neck with both hands and her face had turned blue. Yael told me she had choked on a round candy.
I quickly regained my composure and initiated the Heimlich maneuver to push the candy out of her throat. Thank God, it came out within a few seconds and Miriam started breathing again. I looked at her face and saw that it was regaining its normal color.
While making sure not to lose eye contact with my sister, I called United Hatzalah’s medical dispatch number 1221. I told them that my 6-year-old sister had choked and although I had managed to get the object out, I wanted an EMT to come and make sure that she was out of danger. Less than 90 seconds later, two EMTs arrived, and after giving Miriam a check-up, they congratulated me on saving her life. They said that if I hadn’t been home or hadn’t known what to do in this life-threatening situation, Miriam wouldn’t be with us anymore.
I am grateful to Hashem who allowed me to be at the right place at the right time, and who made sure that I was equipped with the knowledge I needed to save my sister’s life. I feel a tremendous sense of pride and recommend that everyone who reads this take a first aid course because no one knows when a person nearby, even a loved one, will, God forbid, be at risk and need immediate intervention.
As the Talmud says (Bava Batra 11a): “Anyone who preserves a single Jewish life is regarded as if he has preserved an entire world.”
