From the desk of Yerachmiel Tilles
The story I want to tell you took place four months ago [in early Spring 2017]. We are a few families who have known each other from childhood, and it is our custom to go out on picnics every now and then. This time we went to Park Hayarkon [in TelAviv]. The kids were playing in the playground and riding their bicycles, the women sat together chatting and we men were in charge on the BBQ.
Close to us was a religious guy playing ball with a very young kid. We didn't really pay any attention to him. Although we are all secular people, we have much respect for our religion.
At a certain point my friend Tomer went to the car to bring the pita bread. He came back very angry and announced, "I couldn't get into the car, there's a motorcycle parked too close to the door." Tomer is the natural leader of our group. He is tall, strong and angers easily. He has a good heart until someone gets on his nerves, and for some reason that motorcycle made him angry.
"Whose motorcycle is that?" he yelled out, as if there was a chance between the thousands of people in the park to find its owner. Nevertheless, surprisingly, the skinny guy that was playing near us with his son responded." Are you talking about the Eichud Hatzalah [1] motorcycle? "Yes." Tomer replied." Is it yours?" "Yes, it is."
Undated photo of Efraim Gadassi "So, move it already," Tomer tells him. Get it right now out of that parking spot." "Why are you talking this way, it's not nice," the guy answered.
"Not nice?" Tomer shouts back. "In a second I'll stop talking at all and punch you instead. Get your damn motorcycle away from here before I get violent with you." The guy looks at him, hurt."How would you like it to be talked to in that manner in front of your kid?" Tomer walked towards him wanting to hit the guy, but we stopped him. We asked the guy instead to just move it so the situation won't get worse.
In truth, in my heart, I felt bad. I didn't agree with Tomer, and I bet none of the others did either. But Tomer was our friend and that guy wasn't, and in our codes that was enough of a reason to stand by our friend. And the guy? He was not our problem. Humiliated, he simply took his son and went to move the motorcycle.
There was a silence, the kind that screamed what we each felt: why did he have to humiliate him like that? After all, Tomer had already gotten to the pita bread from the car door on the other side, so why was it so urgent to move the motorcycle at all?
As I said though, that was only in our hearts, We felt bad to be a part of the matter, even if only passively, but we didn't say a word, not even when a few minutes later the guy came back with his son and the ball.
What happened a few minutes after that turned this story upside down. We suddenly heard a scream: "Hagit fell off the big ladder!" Hagit is Tomer's 6-years-old daughter. She was playing with our kids and a few others on one of the tall structures in the play area, and she fell from the top of the ladder. The kids were shouting that something is wrong. We ran there to find Hagit lying on the sand, totally blue. It was obvious that she wasn't breathing.
Tomer started screaming: "Help! Please! Somebody! Hagit!--please wake up!" Someone called for an ambulance. A second later, that man with the young kid comes running, puts his son in my arms and asks me to look after him. Before I had a chance to answer, he was gone, running like crazy.
It is hard for me to describe these moments; we were a few dozens of people staring at a catastrophe and there was nothing we could do. I felt so helpless. In the midst of that chaos, we heard an ambulance siren. How could an ambulance come so quickly?
We soon found out the answer. The siren came from that religious man's motorcycle, the same one inscribed with the words "Eichud Hatzalah" The motorcycle had a huge box on the back and the guy opened it quickly, took a few things out and went straight to Hagit. It was so weird. Tomer, the big strong guy, was shivering, and that skinny gentle guy became the one in control. He gave orders to some of the people: "Hold this"-"Give me that"-"Go to the motorcycle and bring me the blue bag"-"Now open
