“A physically, mentally and emotionally healthy young man does not go missing for 72 hours,” the Sofer family spokesman told the media on Monday. It has now been 3 days since missing Aaron Sofer, a Yeshiva Bochur from Lakewood studying in Israel has last been seen.
“The family is not satisfied with the way the search and rescue operation has been handled thus far,” Dov Hirth said on behalf of the family.
The frantic search has continued but to no avail, Aaron Sofer is still missing. There is a serious concern that Aaron is in life threatening danger as his family states that he is a perfectly mentally and healthy stable boy, and this is very unusual for him to not contact his family or his Yeshiva for such a long period of time.
“It’s well known that a murder took place in that forest, and especially with the ongoing tensions with Palestinians, we feel there should be a military presence and involvement in the search for Aaron,” Hirth concluded.
Hirth was referring to the murder of Muhammad Abu Khdeir who was murdered in the same forest.
Please say tehillim for Aaron Ben Chuldah.
(Aliza Levine – YWN)
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21 Responses
Zoll G-t Upheetin!
There is no mention of this story in the non – religious Israeli media, let alone a mention by Government security officials. They are in the stage of actively covering up the security situation in Israel to get the Nation off their backs for their passive handling of Hamas, which is why nowadays a large percent of rockets fall without triggering any air-raid siren. Hashem is trying to wake up this country but the government is saying “it’s okay go back to sleep”. We better do something before things get shaken up for real!
They have been conducting an extensive search in the park for over three days now, including throughout Shabbos. They have been combing the woods, using dogs, helicopters and heat seeking equipment. They have been looking under bushes and in caves. No stone has literally been left unturned.
As of now, any talk of foul play is speculation.
Remember, the police were not called in until six hours after he went missing, and they mobilized quickly. Why, given the security situation, would anyone wait that long to report someone missing? If he was chas v’shalom abducted, six hours is a huge head start for the perpetrators.
This is not the time to cast blame. This incident, like all others (including Israel’s treatment of Hamas), is min hashamayim. Hashem, as always, is calling the shots. The time has come for us to heed His message and do teshuva.
They should ask the American consulate, our congressman and Senator s to put pressure on the Israelis.
Six hours? If I went hiking with my friend and I lost track of him I sure as hec would call the cops immediately. What in heavens name happened here with the delay in calling the cops?
Any chance that somebody has a better picture of this bochur? how are we to find him if we don’t know what he looks like? also what are his parents saying?
Also who is Dov Hirth, did he learn with this bachur in Yeshiva ? Also has anybody spoken to his Rabbeim yet? Maybe there is foul play? Were his friends investigated by detectives? Any clue can help !
What puzzles me about this is the friend he was with. how did they separate i heard aron wanted to go one way and the friend didnt, when did he realize something was wrong? we are talking about 2 supposedly grown mature adults if the friend your with doesnt want to go one way because it seems to him to risky why would he just go off on his own? that doesnt make sense. im not sure i can place it but we are missing a whole lot of details which we do know ie.. everything about this friend maybe they’re just keeping it from the public for tactical reasons in any case i hope hes found safe and sound
How about some Hakarat HaTov for all of the efforts being made by so many,to attempt to locate this young man. Perhaps, if there were greater involvement and participation by members of the Chareidi community in National Service or Military Service, these services could be improved, to the benefit of us all.
3.
Yes hindsight is twenty twenty, which means you see perfectly.
The reason it took six hours is because our takes time to realize someone is “missing.”
To Lakewood Mama
you write Hashem, as always, is calling the shots. The time has come for us to heed His message and do teshuva. – I am not telling you what to do but if you do not know the facts it is against Hashem and His holy Torah to write something that you do not know as fact. The fact is :The police where contacted the minute he realized the boy was missing, which was before 12.00. your words are not only damaging to an innocent person, your words are damaging to the entire Jewish world.
Everyone is asked to please
Please continue to Daven for Aaron ben Chulda.
#2
You’re so right! Our lovely Mizrachi brothers and secular sites haven’t said a word about this. It is absurd! Seriously!
Its not true that the non-religious Israeli media does not mention this story. Here are 2 current links for example: http://news.walla.co.il/?w=/1/2779497 and http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Missing-American-yeshiva-students-family-demands-IDF-intervention-372291
Being that Israel is a democratic state with lots of media outlets – it could not hide facts like rockets falling even if it wanted to. The sirens system in Israel is very localized so that sirens only go off in the immediate area where rockets are about to fall, so as to minimize the number of people going into shelters unnecessarily.
This is not the time to incite!
I agree that Aaron’s parents should pressure anyone they can and raise the alarm as much as possible – that is their job in this situation.
If you live in Eretz Yisrael or know people who do – your job is to forward Aaron’s picture to anyone you know, or participate in search if you can. Just PLEASE don’t agitate or incite unnecessarily.
it seems that nobody really cares about this child..he’s missing for the past 2 daysnobody really cares I don’t hear anything about it
Link to Tehillim chain
http://tehilimyahad.com/mr.jsp?r=entvHuTQuM
This story is so bizarre- it was reported on Yeshiva World, and the secular Israeli news picked it up, haaretz.com, and jpost, but just very brief, and hardly any response from the USA Jewish community, parents, friends, just quiet. Sooo odd. I mean the guy is missing and there is no calls to should to say tehillim, no mass emails, it’s so strange because I immediately remembered that the murder took place recently there, so it is a very dangerous place, and the friend came back alone, and local authorities are looking for him, but I was wondering where the response was at?? Come on!
Lealeh: A call to say Tehillim? There needs to be a call? How sad. How immature. A Yid is lost, possibly in mortal danger, and we need to be told to say Tehillim? That’s like telling a 17 year old to make a berachah before he eats or to bentch afterwards. Isn’t this/Shouldn’t this be the natural reaction to hearing such frightful news?
Let’s storm the heavens we need Soooo much rachmim-a Yiddish kind missing the rockets the Isis
Git meshiga and Eric55. They went on a hike and Ahron said he didn’t feel well so he headed back himself. When the friend returned, he saw Ahron wasn’t there so he waited a bit to see if he went somewhere else. After a bit he realized it was too long so he called.
Reading through the comments posted here is plain disturbing. How can you take the responsibility on your shoulders of casting aspersions on the bachurs’ friend in a public forum? Were you there? What if he were your son? Would you be quick to judge him? How do you think he is feeling right now that his friend is missing for all this time? I live right here in the neighborhood of the boys yeshiva, the tension is palpable. Bochurim are going and coming from the forest all day in endless search. I am sure that all the speculation is an outcome of fear and concern for the safety and well being of one of our boys, but some restraint is called for! There is a family suffering here and not every thought that comes to mind should be aired. The focus of our thoughts right now should be turning to HKBH. A young ben Torah from one of our finest yeshivos is lost. How do we find time to point fingers? We need to daven! We need to be b’achdus! Please redirect your thoughts to what you can do to help, not chalila to judge and thereby cause others to judge!
I hope he is found safe why werent the police as soon as his friend noticed him missing i heard he was going to his brother for shabbos but never made it and he was seen getting into a car