By: Shoshana Bernstein

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of Jews are buried each year in Eretz Yisroel. Though the process is certainly arduous for family members accompanying the deceased, it is generally fairly routine. Such was not the case for a family from the Tri state area when their vibrant, healthy mother was suddenly niftar at 1 pm on Thursday, October 2nd 2014 – the day before Yom Kippur.

Since their mother’s wish had been to be buried in Eretz Yisroel, the family knew they had no time to waste. A commercial flight transport was not possible due to the time constraints so they contacted a private executive air charter company; grateful they could afford what they assumed would be the perfect solution.

They were stunned when they were told, “Your request is impossible. It takes five days to obtain the necessary permits for a private jet to land in Israel.”

Frantic, they called four more private jet companies, to no avail. They could not believe their sorrow would be compounded by the inability to bury their beloved mother in a timely fashion! Then a friend suggested they try Isaac Leider from VitalOne air medical transport.

“I received a call at 2:26 pm on Thursday.” Isaac recalls. “A distraught man explained that his mother had passed away a couple of hours ago at New York Presbyterian/ Columbia University Medical Center. He was desperate to have the burial take place in Eretz Yisroel before Yom Kippur.”  Isaac Leider assured him that although it was tricky, he could make it happen.

Isaac, also known as Rabbi911^TM, immediately contacted Rabbi Yaakov Bayer from New Square’s Bais Yisroel Funeral Home asking him, and Mr. Brian Warner, Funeral Director, to drop whatever they were doing and meet him at Columbia. The three men raced to the hospital with Isaac working the phones on the way to arrange for the deceased to be transported to New Square where the tahara would be carried out by the women of Monsey’s Chessed Shel Emes.

At the same time, Isaac was reaching out to his contacts to attain the permits needed for the VitalOne jet to land in Eretz Yisroel. “Since founding VitalOne in 2008, I have developed relationships with numerous officials. When the need arises, we’re able to access the people we need to make things happen.”  Within 90 minutes, the permits that should have taken 5 days were secured.

With his trademark composure, Isaac stayed in touch with the family, instructing them to pack and get to Teterboro airport. He ordered a catered meal to go from the Purple Pear in Monsey to ensure the family’s physical needs would be taken care of during the long flight.

At 7:50 pm the private Gulfstream jet departed from Teterboro airport with 12 passengers on board headed for Shannon, Ireland for refueling and then to Tel Aviv. Isaac saw the jet off, relieved that he had successfully accomplished the times sensitive transport.

When the phone rang at 3 am, Isaac awoke instantly. It was the captain of the aircraft calling from Ireland to say that time had run out. “Israeli air space is shutting down. European air traffic control is advising us to divert to Cyprus. How should I proceed?”

“That was the moment when this transport went from challenging to really off the charts,” Isaac says. “The problem was that Israeli civil airspace closes at 2 pm on Erev Yom Kippur and does not reopen until after the fast.” A similar scenario was playing out with a Delta flight #468 which was ultimately grounded in JFK with 400 Jews on board, unable to reach Israel for Yom Kippur.

Isaac started burning the phones calling his highest level contacts within the Civil Aviation Authority, Israel Airports Authority, Ministry of Transport and even the Prime Minister’s Office.  “With incredible siyata d’Shmaya I was able to get Ben Gurion airport to stay open for us and the jet received clearance to take off.”

The challenges weren’t over. With the jet now scheduled to land in Israel at 3:20 pm, the entire country would be shut down when they arrived. Transportation from the airport was going to be a major problem. “All the trusted transportation providers were closed. It’s 4 am in New York and I’m calling every car service number in Israel looking for a driver!”

Isaac finally found a driver from Jerusalem willing to undertake the trip. The aircraft landed at Ben Gurion airport at 3:20 pm, the only airplane in sight on the tarmac which had closed 80 minutes prior. By 3:34 the family was accompanying the casket on its way to Har Hamenuchot Cemetery. The burial took place at 4:40 and the family arrived at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem at 5:20 pm, a mere forty minutes before Yom Kippur.

“The driver told me afterwards that he was low on gas and all the gas stations were closed.  Somehow he made it to the airport and back on an empty tank! There is no doubt in my mind that the deceased had tremendous zechusim to merit this seemingly impossible sequence of events that enabled her to be buried in Eretz Yisroel, before Yom Kippur in just 18 hours. It remains a very powerful lesson how one’s deeds and mitzvos truly carry you to the next world.”

The family, who wishes to remain anonymous, remains forever grateful to Isaac Leider and VitalOne.