 One Body, One Heart
By Dr. Meir Wilder THE IDEAL Throughout the span of Jewish history, unity and cohesiveness have been evidenced through acts of gemillus chassodim, loving kindness, between Jews who were total strangers to each other. Even though there may have been no personal or family ties to bind them, their shared membership in the Jewish People brought out expressions of concern and generosity which could not be explained according to the "natural laws" of social psychology. The late Bostoner Rebbe of New York, Rabbi Moshe Horowitz, once commented that contemporary American Jewry often views previous generations of European Jewry with a sentimentality, which can distort the historical reality. Some of what we admire most of the recent generations of European Jewry never really existed, with one notable exception: Whenever one Jew or a group of Jews was in trouble, the rest of European Jewry would share the suffering and respond accordingly. Since we hear so much about conflict and strife amongst different Jewish groups today, it would be in place to showcase any evidence that the Jewish reflex of "one body, with one heart" is still very much in tact. THE EVIDENCE It started out like any other flight from Tel Aviv to NewYork . . . late. After the usual, expected security checks and delays, the 747 jumbo jet took off for an ill fated refueling stop in Brussels. At 4:30 A.M. local time, the plane landed uneventfully. Many of the passengers even questioned whether it was worthwhile to enter the airport lounge for less than an hour.... By 9:00 A.M., the first official announcement was made informing the passengers that there would be an additional one hour delay until take off. At 11:00 AM., departure was promised by 12:30 P.M. And by 2:00 P.M., special buses arrived to take nearly five hundred weary travelers to a local hotel. Not only were the passengers unprepared for their indefinite stay in Brussels, the airline was caught off guard, as well. From the pre dawn hours until mid afternoon, all the airline was able to provide besides "complimentary beverages" was one cold, boxed lunch per person. As afternoon turned into evening, these hundreds of stranded families ran out of food, as well as patience. All sources of auxiliary food supplies and snacks were depleted, and there was still no definite word from airline representatives as to when the repairs would be completed and the flight resumed. Of course, the airline representatives did accept their responsibility to provide meals for these unwilling visitors to Brussels. So they distributed vouchers to be used in the hotel restaurant for all passengers who "did not insist only on kosher food." For those who did, however, there were only promises of another boxed lunch... which never came. MEANWHILE, IN ANTWERP Meanwhile, news of this interminable delay reached Antwerp, the city with the largest Jewish community in Belgium, located forty five minutes away from Brussels. The personal identities of the passengers were all unknown. But one can assume that on a flight from Tel Aviv to New York, most of the passengers would "insist only on kosher food." Members of the Antwerp Jewish community responded reflexively. As if this kind of emergency occurs every week, volunteers quickly organized. An impressive array of kosher food and milk (which was urgently needed for infants and toddlers) was purchased. It was then packed in boxes and delivered, as if by eagles' wings, to the Brussels hotel where over four hundred famished Jews anxiously wondered when they would see their next kosher meal. The food arrived in the middle of the night, filling the stomachs of hungry travelers, calming the nerves of anxious parents. There was such ample supply that the passengers who "insisted only on kosher food" had enough left over for breakfast the next morning and throughout their flight the next day when their journey finally continued, after a total delay of twenty seven hours. Why did the Jews of Antwerp show so much concern for people whom they never had met? Why did they go to all that bother and expense? And how can I and my family ever express our gratitude to them? The Jews of Antwerp acted as they did, I suggest, because when they heard about our ordeal, they responded reflexively as part of "one body with one heart." And this article has been written to at least partially fulfill my obligation to acknowledge their kindness. Perhaps I will only be able to completely fulfill that obligation when and if I am able to live up to the example set by our anonymous baalei chessed (benefactors) of Antwerp.
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