Hours after divers entered the deep waters off a Tel Aviv beach, the body of the missing 24-year-old Jerusalem avreich was recovered. The avreich was the father of two, drowning shortly after a wave swept him away near midnight last night off the Dolphinarium Beach in Tel Aviv.
The avreich who drowned was Rav Yehoshua HaCohen Ben Paz Z”L, 24-years-old, from the Givat Shaul area of Yerushalayim.
The body was recovered by divers and pulled from the water by a police water ski. The family has been summoned to make a positive identification.
The Niftar leaves behind a wife and two children, the oldest not even two years old.
The Levaya was taking place in Bnei BRak followed by Kevura on Menuchos.
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Dozens of volunteers are working with police in the continuing search along the Tel Aviv shore for a Jerusalem avreich, the father of two, who has been missing since Monday night. Taking part in the search at this time are ZAKA divers, a police marine unit, and many bochrim who are concerned, wishing to assist.
The 24-year-old Jerusalem avreich, a father of two, disappeared in the waters of a Tel Aviv beach minutes after entering the water close to midnight together with two brothers-in-law to refresh themselves a bit in the water. A large wave came minutes after they entered the water, sweeping him away.
“I managed to save myself by the skin of my teeth while hearing my brother-in-law calling my name. more correctly, he was screaming – but I was unable to get to him” a brother-in-law of the drowning victim is quoted telling BeChadrei Chareidim. “I immediately began looking for him along the beach and when I did not see him, I immediately phoned Magen David Adom”, adds the brother-in-law.
At about 1:00AM, about an hour after his disappeared, the ZAKA diving team arrived on the scene and began preparing to enter the water. Over 20 divers were there, dressed in their gear ready to enter the water in the hope of rescuing him. The commander of the team, Chaim Autmazgin, organized them as they stood in a row, ready to enter the water but police prohibited them from going in, explaining that the strong tide made it too dangerous to enter the water, even for the trained divers.
Simultaneously, tens of ZAKA volunteers began sweeping the shoreline in the hope of spotting the avreich. A police marine unit was in the water looking for the avreich while a police chopper was also searching from the air.
The father of the missing avreich, a known talmid chacham from Bnei Brak, and Magid Shiur in Ateres Shlomo, was brought to the site, and he looked on as the efforts to find his son continued.
Family members are angry that police did not permitting ZAKA divers into the water, explaining they are trained for this and they can enter despite the strong tide. Police explained once again that it was simply too dangerous to permit the divers into the water.
Close to 5:00AM, the divers were in the water. At about 6:00AM, Rav Sholom Ber Sorotzkin (Rosh Yeshiva Ateres Shlomo) arrived on the beach, and with Autmazgin, they were briefed by the police commander on the scene, who told them that police divers had also arrived on the scene.
Rav Sorotzkin instructed the dozens of bnei yeshiva to begin searching along kilometers of beach to continue searching for the avreich because police explained there is a chance the avreich managed to get out of the water, and he is on a beach in the area.
A name for Tehillim was not available.
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(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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19 Responses
May this young man be found safe and sound very soon, b’ezras Hashem.
Torah is compared to water.
What message is Hashem trying to send us?
Are some children “missing” from being in the sea of Torah?
And some adults too.
Gold, the message Hashem is giving us is clear enough: Don’t enter the water late at night when there is no lifeguard around! Haven’t there been enough drownings for us to learn that?!
The message that HaShem is sending us is simple: yeshivas should teach the students about dangers of bain ha zamanim. Too many deaths due to hiking boating etc.
Learn about the dangers before you go out!
Sad. But I have to say to everyone: don’t be foolish! To Gold and everyone else: maybe the message Hashem is sending is don’t go into the water if don’t know how to swim, don’t go into rough seas at midnight, wear a life jacket if you go boating, and practice water safety! עד מתי יהיה זה לנו למוקש?
I grew up on the Jersey shore, and spent all my summers on the beach, thus i am both very familiar with and understand the ocean waters. One rule of thumb for all YWN readers – NEVER GO INTO THE WATER AT NIGHT. Not in the ocean, not at a lake, not in a river. All these water sources have a koach to them that must be respected. They can be properly enjoyed in the day, but never ever at night. Hashem yishmor aleinu, condolences to the niftar’s family. A tragedy.
My heart reaches out to the family of this poor man.
But there’s a clear message here that the article ignores – the beaches are closed at night as there is no lifeguard. There are big signs that say explicitly that’s dangerous to swim at night without a lifeguard. Probably illegal, too. So why does our community ignore the law? The signs?
Gold, please do not try to do what Moshe could not. ki lo machshevosai, machshevosaichem. as the rav ztl said, figure out what God wants not why he does things.
Gold & Justasec: It’s easy to walk around giving messages, first take a moment to feel the family’s pain and be a little considerate
A certain American godol zt”l (I am afraid to say his name for fear of misquoting him) told the story of a man whose child was niftar r”l from the fire he started by knocking over the Chanukah candles. When this godol went to be menachem ovel he found the father sitting like a big tzadik and being matzdik olov es ha din (accepting the Heavenly Judgement) Afterwards this godol commented that the father was not a tzadik but actually a ROTZEACH (murderer). Why did he leave the candles within reach of the toddler? Similarly, if a person runs across the street without looking both ways and gets hit, it might be that he brought the Heavenly punishment upon himself by not being careful with his own life which he was entrusted to guard. We have to take every normal precaution and then trust in HaShem that our efforts should be successful.
HaMokom y’nachim osom b’toch aveili tzion v’yerushalyim and may they know no more tzaar.
And maybe hashem wants us to obey local rules and regulations – and not to ignore the warning signs on every beach
BDE
just shocked to continue seeing these horrific and tragic death events happen daily R”L
we need to all wake up to reality and return to Hashems wake up call for serious teshuva as a nation
May his neshama have an aliya
When will these young men realize they are not invincible? When will they spare a second’s thought for their families before taking risks? Do Yeshivas & Kolels have to bring in Hatzalah to educate them before Bein Hazmanim? Actually, maybe they should.
Look at the number of yesomim, the grieving almonahs, fathers saying kaddish for adult sons. Little boys struggling to say Kaddish with Saba for Abba. How many more hearts have to be broken before these guys get it?
So many lives lost in preventable accidents. Such a waste.
This could have been me.
Decades ago I decided to go for a swim in the Pacific Ocean in northern San Diego County. Nothing illegal, free beach, no lifeguards, nobody around.
A few minutes later I found myself caught in a riptide, being pulled out to sea. I may have been pulled as much as a mile away from shore.
Fortunately my parents had forced me to learn how to swim when I was young, even though it was very difficult. And I knew that swimming against a riptide meant certain exhaustion and death, particularly in the cold Pacific waters. I knew to swim parallel to shore until out of the riptide. I must have swum over a mile north before I could swim towards the shore. I walked to where I had left my belongings and went back to where I was staying.
Everyone should learn to swim. It could save your life, and maybe the lives of people trying to rescue you. And swim at guarded beaches.
myownopinion, spot on message. It’s sad and unfortunate what happened from this tragedy, but there are certainly several questions regarding this individual’s actions and the horrific tragedy.
@charliehall thanks for your comment, may it help save lives.
This is a sad tragedy. That said.
Why would anyone besides surfers go swimming at a beach that does not have stone barriers.
Every other beach in tel aviv has stone wave barriers besides dolphinarium.
And on top of it people need to know,
There is a very safe, very calm, seperate beach in tel aviv near the hilton with barriers where Monday is for men and it’s open very late.
Hml, it’s an element of selfishness, foolishness, and immaturity. The families should only find comfort.
Myownopinion: I almost quoted that story too. Its really sad and we are not judging but please take wise precautions. Better safe than sorry!