An Amazing Thing Happened In The Office Today...

Back in 2001, in the middle of the Intifada, I was sitting in my apartment in Old Katamon (a neighborhood in Jerusalem) one Saturday evening doing some reading for a class on Sunday morning.

The news was light that evening - almost nothing had happened, which was very rare for an Israeli news anchor to admit.

I turned off the tv, and resumed my reading. A few minutes later, I started hearing sirens screaming out of the nearby hospital...one, then two, a few more, and a few more. I groaned to myself, knowing that I would turn on the tv and see image after image of Israeli terror victims screaming in agony. I braced myself.

And I did see Israelis screaming in agony. But - it was no terror attack. It was shoddy architecture and planning.

Originally, reports indicated that the collapse was at a club called "HaOman 17", one of the best clubs in Jerusalem. If that was the case, there would have been many many students from my university there.

I called a friend of mine, Masha, who was both a tour guide (and still is, and is an exceptional one at that!) and a field/search and recovery medic. She happened to be close to the Versailles Hall at the time of the collapse. I asked her, since I was blood type O+ (universal donor) if I should get there asap. She said to just get in a cab and head straight to Magen David Adom on the other side of town.

When I got there, an amazing site awaited me...this was within about 20 minutes of news breaking about the collapse of the wedding hall. At the Magen David Station at the entrance to Jerusalem, there were nearly 1000 people waiting in line (an amazing fete in this part of the world) - all universal donors! They were all waiting to be able to give blood for the victims. I had to wait til nearly 5:00am in order to donate blood, and there were hundreds behind me.

This would happen almost anywhere in the world, yes, but - it happened here and with a complete sense of כל יהודי ערבים זה לזה - each Jew is responsible one for the other. There is a huge amount of internal debate and discord in this country, but when the occassion calls for it, the people of this country unite.

Today, I donated blood again. The professor who oversaw much of my work at The Hebrew University also works at Yad Vashem. I won't delve into detail, but he could be doing much better health-wise.

Enough employees gave blood today so that my Professor will be able to have a blood bank for at least a year. Everyone turned out. Jewish and Arab, Israeli and foreign, white collar (if there is such a thing in Israel) and blue. There is something stregnthening and envigorating knowing that you are no longer part of a minority but rather part of a collective.

I am my father's son and neither of us are able to deal well with needles or the sight of blood. It's a pity...I think I would have liked to have been a physician. My colleagues told me that while I was giving blood, I turned a white shade of pale. But - this is what was called for, and this is what we do.