A near tragedy was averted on Yom Kippur night when a one-and-a-half-year-old went missing in the Heftziba neighborhood of Beit Shemesh. The toddler was found after a dramatic search that lasted for a number of hours after Kol Nidre was over.

Dozens of residents from the neighborhood, together with emergency volunteers from United Hatzalah and the police searched for the toddler who according to reports, went missing from his own home. The young boy was found happy and healthy after a lengthy search that included trucks with loudspeakers driving up and down the streets asking residents and first responders to come out and join the search for the child.

United Hatzalah dispatched an ambulance and local command center to the city in an order to help coordinate the search efforts.

Following the announcements, hundreds of additional residents came out to join the search, as time carried on and the boy was not found, a heightened level of worry befell the residents.

The child was found in a utility closet on the third floor of a building not too far from where he lived. Once the announcement was made that the child was found, residents of the neighborhood, as well as the first responders, broke out into song and dance in the streets. Some residents even called the incident their own “Yom Kippur Miracle”.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)