ZAKA revisits New Orleans to discuss aftereffects of Oct. 7, including mental toll
Beth Israel Rabbi Phil Kaplan, ZAKA volunteer Micha Lader and Gates of Prayer Rabbi David Gerber. Photo by James Henry Brook
Since Oct. 7, ZAKA has played a key role in dealing with the aftermath of the Hamas massacre in Israel, and is preparing for the possibility of war in the north. Israel’s non-governmental rescue and recovery organization is now turning to supporters around the world to ensure that its volunteers have what they need to do their jobs, and the mental care resources to deal with what they have seen.
On June 5, ZAKA held a program in one U.S. community that is very aware of the organization — New Orleans, which was the site of ZAKA operations following the levee failure after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
An iconic photo shows ZAKA volunteer Rabbi Isaac Leider carrying waterlogged Torahs in waist-deep water through the flooded sanctuary of Beth Israel. The June event began with a donor reception in the sanctuary of the Orthodox congregation’s new building, and continued next door at Gates of Prayer, a Reform congregation that housed Beth Israel until the new building could be constructed.
Dan Forman, president of Gates of Prayer, said after Katrina, “we took care of each other, as Jews generally do,” and the decision to have Beth Israel build next door was based on the close relationship that developed after the storm. “This gathering is a true reflection of our values.”
ZAKA has about 3,000 volunteers around the world, ready to deploy anywhere in the world on two hours’ notice. The organization has just 12 employees.
One of the volunteers is Micha Lader, who has been a volunteer search and rescue supervisor for the Rockaway Nassau Safety Patrol for 15 years. Among the sites he has been sent to over the years are the World Trade Center and the Surfside building collapse in Florida.
He was at Shemini Atzeret services in Toms River, N.J., when “we knew something big was going on” as the sheriff entered the sanctuary and said “don’t get scared, but you will see a lot of police outside now,” as a precaution.
He contacted his brother, who by then was at the Shura military base near Ramle, “where all the bodies were taken to get identified.” At that point, initial reports had the death toll from 400 to 600, but his brother told him “it is far more than that.”
At that point, it was only a matter of when, not if, he would head to Israel. The June 5 event, held in conjunction with Jerusalem Day, was the first time he publicly spoke about his experiences. “It’s been difficult to put into words.”
About two weeks after Oct. 7, Lader was part of a team sent to the Gaza Envelope communities to relieve those who had been there since Oct. 7,” to “give them a break.”
Though the scenes were still horrific, “what we saw and what they saw were two different things.” They were looking for bodies and helping clean up the scene. There was a list of places they still could not go, because live grenades were present.
Moshe Rozenberg, executive director of ZAKA, said at the beginning, the priority was “collect the bodies and go,” because it was too unsafe to collect tissues and other samples. There were still terrorists who had not been located, and constant rocket barrages from Gaza.
They finally got a call from the government that it was safe to expand their work, but it was still on ZAKA to fund the needed supplies. Some volunteers on Oct. 7 were relying on the flashlights from their cell phones.
While Lader said he has been to sites of hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters, “this was different. This was deliberate,” and what he had seen in the past did not prepare him for what he would see.
Or smell. He knew the smell of death, but this was far worse, and pervasive.
Kibbutz Be’eri, where 101 civilians were murdered along with 31 security personnel, “was the worst I have ever seen,” with holes in every single home. There were homes that had rooms with blood but no bullet holes, shrapnel or fire markings. That’s where terrorists stabbed people or killed them with their bare hands.
He said it was a scene of “murder for the sake of suffering,” and “there was no line that was not crossed.”
As houses were checked, they were marked with an X and codes for what was found inside — markings familiar to anyone who experienced the aftermath of Katrina.
Getting the word out about what happened “is everything,” Lader said.
Lader insisted “we will rebuild. We will heal. We will ensure the light of those we lost will live on through our acts.”
Responding to terror
The roots of ZAKA go back to what is called the first Palestinian suicide attack, in July 1989 when the 405 bus from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was commandeered and plunged into a ravine, killing 16. Students from the nearby Telz-Stone yeshiva rushed to administer aid, and one of them went on to found ZAKA in 1995.
Lader said the 405 attack showed a need for knowledge on how to treat a disaster scene — marking where bodies were taken from, finding out where survivors had been sitting, “all these details are extremely important to identify bodies later on.”
That was especially important following Oct. 7, and many bodies were beyond recognition. Days or weeks later, Zaka volunteers went to where unidentified charred bodies had been found, based on details on the body bag, to look for any blood, tissue or other source of DNA. “Many bodies were identified based on this,” such as in burned-out cars.
ZAKA is the acronym for disaster victim identification in Hebrew. In Israel, they have sole responsibility to deal with incidents of “unnatural death,” such as from terror attacks. They work with emergency services and security forces to ensure that the dead are handled with respect, a mitzvah of the highest order because the deceased has no way to repay the kindness.
In addition to working in Israel, an international team is ready to be dispatched to major mass casualty incidents. The ZAKA International Rescue Unit works in close cooperation with Israel’s Foreign Ministry, the IDF and other government bodies.
In 2005, ZAKA was recognized by the United Nations as an international volunteer humanitarian organization, citing its work at the scenes of terror attacks in Mombasa, Istanbul and Taba, recovery of remains from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, and natural disasters such as a tsunami in Southeast Asia.
The organization has a legal department to help families when a government insists on an autopsy, which most of the time violates Jewish custom, or if cremation is ordered. When there is no other choice but to do an autopsy, there is a ZAKA volunteer “to make sure nothing is taken out.”
Though many think of ZAKA as an Orthodox agency, Lader said it is apolitical and ready to grant humanitarian assistance to anyone, anywhere. They have secular volunteers and volunteers from other faiths, such as Muslim volunteers versed in their rituals in handling the dead.
Rozenberg says his organization steps in “when Magen David Adom is stepping out.”
Nobody else does what ZAKA does, he said. “Very few people in the world can physically and mentally do the work that ZAKA volunteers are doing.”
But even that has its limits. Rozenberg said two “perfectly healthy” volunteers died of heart attacks since Oct. 7 — one was 39, one was 44. “They couldn’t take it.” Nineteen volunteers have been in and out of psychiatric wards after what they saw in the communities bordering Gaza.
Rozenberg met with a volunteer in New York who is a successful real estate lawyer. He is paying for weekly therapy sessions. He told Rozenberg, “That, I can afford. What about the people who can’t afford?”
The organization is looking to raise funds “to give them the proper mental support they need. Also, their spouses and kids, who now have a ‘different’ father.”
Gates of Prayer Rabbi David Gerber said that the ZAKA volunteers “witnessed first-hand the cruelty of our enemy.”
Arnie Fielkow, former CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, said he knew a little bit about ZAKA, but “the more that I learned about this organization, the more impressed I become. They are truly doing God’s work.”
After ZAKA showed “dignity and respect” for the Beth Israel Torahs and the Jewish victims of Katrina, the event was “our opportunity to thank ZAKA and those affiliated with it for all they do in Israel and around the globe.”
Rabbi Phil Kaplan of Beth Israel said the Torah rescue was not why ZAKA originally came to town in 2005 — in addition to general assistance, they sought to retrieve the body of Meyer Lachoff, longtime gabbai of the congregation, who died two days after being evacuated to Baton Rouge. Lachoff was eventually buried in New Orleans, and the ruined scrolls were buried next to him.
Fielkow said the best way New Orleans can show appreciation to ZAKA is to support their efforts in a time of great need and uncertainty in Israel. “Let’s partner up and make sure they have whatever they need in order to fulfil their mission.”
