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NEWS
ZAKA in Texas
by Yated Ne'eman Staff
When body parts from the space shuttle are found, among the
specialists identifying the remains is a 23-year- old Israeli
named Yisroel Stefansky and a 21-year-old Israeli-American
from New York, Isaac Leider, two members of ZAKA -- the
Israeli rescue and recovery organization.
In the past year, after six years of functioning only in
Israel, ZAKA has attended at three out-of-country disasters;
the first, recovering the remains of David Rosenzweig, an
Orthodox Jew who was murdered in front of a pizzeria in
Toronto, the second being the terror attack in Bali and the
third being the loss of the US space shuttle
Columbia.
Contacted in New York where he was attending a wedding,
Stefansky flew to Houston's Johnson Space Center within
hours. An Orthodox Jew, Stefansky is dedicated to ensuring
the proper burial of every shred of human remains, a job he
has done for the past seven years as a unit leader with
Zaka.
Stefansky's main role as a trained paramedic is to save
lives. Although ZAKA is best known for collecting body parts,
the organization prides itself on being first on the scene of
terror attacks, averaging four minutes from the moment of
disaster until their life-saving work begins. ZAKA operates a
fleet of ambulances and motor-scooters. Unlike regular
ambulance services where equipment is kept at central
headquarters, ZAKA's are kept in the hands of volunteers so
that they are instantly at the ready. Volunteers are put
through a three-month training course in first aid, fire
fighting and the grave task of body parts recovery.
Currently, ZAKA boasts over 700 volunteers spread throughout
Israel.
On arrival at Houston, the ZAKA volunteers were briefed by
NASA personnel and informed that the remains so far found
were in generally identifiable condition. However,
identifiable is a relative term. Some could only be
identified by DNA tests.
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