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Misaskim Helps Grieving Families of Williamsburg Fire Tragedy
Date: April 25, 2005
When most of Brooklyn's frum community was still asleep on Monday morning, April 25th, the second day of Pesach Yom Tov, a tragic fire devastated the Williamsburg home of the Matyas family. The first call to the New York Fire Department was reported at 5:52 a.m. Despite the rescue efforts of the FDNY two sons - Shia, a"h and Yidel, a"h, and a grandson of the Matyas family - Yisroel Avraham Falkowitz, a"h, succumbed to smoke inhalation. Rabbi Yanky Meyer, director of the Boro Park based Center for Community Resources (CCR) was contacted and informed of the heart-breaking tragedy at 7:30 a.m. His plans to attend shul for the Yom tov services immediately evaporated as he reluctantly activated the Misaskim division of the CCR. Assisting Grieving Families The motto of Misaskim is "Providing Services for the Grieving Families." The Williamsburg fire, unfortunately, was not the first catastrophe to strike our community during this yom tov when normal work activities, with the exception of cooking for yom tov are prohibited. Operating under directions established by leading rabbonim in the community, who have since the inception of the CCR, guided the organization; Rabbi Meyer initiated a Misaskim operation to bring kavod hameis to the niftarim and try and comfort the grieving families in Williamsburg. A Major Complication "A major complication to arranging that the levayas for the niftarim not be delayed," Rabbi Meyer told The Flatbush Jewish News, "was that we had to deal with the fact that the three victims of the fire were in three different hospitals - Woodhall Medical Center, Long Island College, and Brooklyn Hospital." Hatzolah volunteers had taken the niftarim to these three hospitals during the course of trying to feverishly, but to no avail, revive them. In its primary goal of assisting members of the community, one of the functions of the CCR is that of dealing with Medical Examiner's Office. Based on mutual respect, the CCR has won the admiration of the staff of the Medical Examiner's Office. Thus, even before the Brooklyn office of the City's Medical Examiner's Office had opened, Rabbi Meyer was able to contact Dr. Marie Macajoux, Chief Medical Examiner of Kings County. Private Cell Phone Numbers The CCR not only knows the office numbers of many city agencies, but also had over the years been given the private cell phone numbers of important city civil servants such as Dr. Macajoux. Dr. Macajoux was duly informed by the CCR about horrific Williamsburg fire and about the various halachic complications resulting because of the fact that it occurred on yom tov. She was explained of the need by CCR volunteers to minimize aspects of chilul yom tov . After the conversation with Dr. Macajoux, Rabbi Meyer and other Misaskim volunteers were driven by non-Jews (according to the directives of community rabbonim ) to the Kings County Medical Examiner's Office. Police and Fire Inspectors There they arranged for the medical examiner to call and make sure that both the police and fire department investigators were contacted. Dr. Macajoux was made aware of how the families were hoping to have the levaya (funeral services) for the children conducted that afternoon, the second day of yom tov. With the gentle persuasion of the CCR, the fire marshals and the police investigators were asked by Dr. Macajoux to proceed and hasten the investigation. Within a couple of hours the investigators informed the medical examiner that they had ruled the deaths of the niftarim to be accidental. Once that the ruling was announced, authorization was given to the CCR's Misaskim division to arrange for the bodies of the niftarim to be transported from the three hospitals to the medical examiner's office in Kings County Hospital. A Most Timely Authorization This authorization greatly cut down the time that would have been necessary if regulations that normally require the city to transport bodies to the medical examiner's office had been enforced, a procedure that might have taken many more hours to be performed. By 12 p.m., all three niftarim had been brought to the Kings County Medical Examiner's Office. Misaskim volunteers at the medical examiner's office made sure that no autopsies were conducted. Indeed, Rabbi Meyer told The Flatbush Jewish News "the entire staff of the medical examiner's office pitched in, inspired by and understand of the extreme sensitivity and magnitude of this terrible tragedy." Averting Normal Circumstances As a result of the intervention of Misaskim and the compassion of the Brooklyn Medical Examiner's Office, all three niftarim were released to Misaskim by 1:15 p.m. Under normal circumstances without such an appeal by the CCR for special consideration, it might have been towards the end of the next day that the bodies would have been released at the earliest. As a result of the quick and thoughtful action of the medical examiner's office, the first levaya for Yisroel Falkowitz took place at 2 p.m. that same day, the second day of yom tov in Williamsburg. Because of the need to wait for the release of some members of the Matyas family from the hospital, the lavaya for Shia and Yidel, was held shortly after nightfall on the first day of chol hamoed . Rabbi Meyer told the Flatbush Jewish News that the entire community owes a great debt of gratitude to Dr. Macajoux and all the dedicated staff of the Brooklyn medical examiner's office who dealt with the unbearable tragedy of the Matyas and Falkowitz family with such incredible compassion. |
