Hatzolah Air Event - Rabbi Shlomo Farhi

Sally and Joey Ellie and Ellie Ellie Ro Ellie kville gr excuse me and all of our beautiful guests here tonight you know we live in a world where the difference between life and death can actually be a matter of minutes and sometimes even seconds and in those critical moments when every heartbeat counts the choices that we make can actually alter our lives forever so tonight I want to speak to you for a few minutes about those moments and the extraordinary power that we have to ensure that those moments and those decisions always end with life you know our toraat tells us that there's a sacred obligation that transcends time and place and community and custom that it urges us to to act when lives hang in the balance the language of the Tor is don't stand by on the blood of your brother if someone is dying you cannot stand by it obligates you to become a lifeguard in that minute it obligates you to perform CPR in that minute it obligates you to do crazy things to be able to ensure that that person's life is preserved but the mishna in actually takes it one step further and I think that that's what brings us here tonight the mishna says in a place where there is no man attempt to be a man Elliot you said it on the video you're stuck in a moment and in that moment there's no doctor and there's no option and I I think that is what we are here to do tonight to support the people who understand what it means to be the people when there are no people and that is what hatah is they're there when no one else is they respond to the knock that other people ignore what can we do where can we get that help what are we supposed to do in this moment my friends a doesn't respond to emergencies it rises to them you know the torat tells us that if you find something on the road a piece of paper that belongs to someone I saw in the in yha I was there yesterday for one day there was a sign on the wall that said if you find this notebook I'll give you 10,000 shekele to return it very important notebook this a t that even without 10,000 she to return a lost object however there's a very interesting language that's used in the Torah and the explains that doesn't just mean return the Lost object to him but they say that it it means that the greatest is when you return him to him you give him his life back law imagine returning someone's father mother child returning them to them now today we Face unbelievable challenges challenges that allow us even though we have the most advanced Medical Technologies in the world surgeries you could never believe of believe in medicines that we the world has never seen the problem often is not that we don't have a cure and we don't have a surgery to be able to perform most times as Med will tell you it's a matter of getting the person to that thing and the equipment that sits here next to me is an understanding of what this is private jets in those moments are not a luxury they are a necessity they allow a person to be transported where they could never even In First Class you can't bring someone who can't breathe on a commercial flight so in that minute that private jet is the only jet is the only thing that will allow a person to be able to have their lives saved and Ellie what you've done and what you've built is a bridge and a Lifeline in a moment where no other man thought that that was possible and today I want to share with everybody here that that obligation that idea being an angel the P says and we say it all the time we say it's a statement that you say to someone when they're leaving you for God will command his angels to guide you and to guard you on your way to protect you in those moments that you should not be uh you should not be hurt and the language that's used is God will send his angels to protect you and they will lift you up into the sky on their in their hands Ellie is an angel like that but my friends I want to share with you something it's not only Ellie that is an angel like that tonight the angels are each and every one of you cuz with you the work that they do is unbelievable it can be it can take us to places unimaginable but without you every single thing is grounded your generosity is the lifeblood of hatala air you fuel the Jets all 4.5 million pounds of fuel burned you fuel it my friends you power the missions over 1,600 missions so that story that re that revived an entire family's love that connection to a grandma to being under R there's 1,600 families that have have experienced exactly that same thing but you write those stories you enable the 388 Medics 32 Pilots to be able to bring those life-saving opportunities the four planes the six helicopters and hopefully beem more ell you know what I was thinking when I saw that plane I was thinking one thing Hashem gives us a choice either we pay for the planes to be able to save other Jews or God makes us pay for planes that are in the sky in Gaza protecting Ed its Israel which planes do you want to fly into the air that's the question God asks all of us angels and we get the choice and that choice my friends is here tonight don't think of it like that think of each family think of a father that will get to see his son standing at a B Mitzvah think of the mother that otherwise would not get to see her daughter graduate think of the grandparent that at a is going to have to be mentioned is unfortunately un not here with us tonight my friends that is what you are bringing tonight with the money that you help hat Sala bring and I will leave you my friends with one last piece because to me I think that this is everything I want you to picture a world where there's nobody that is beyond help no one where there's not a single destination or a single hospital that is not reachable because hatah a has has enough planes helicopters Pilots whatever they need to be able to get someone's loved one to be able to walk back into their house at the end of that story and this is not a dream my friends it's a vision that we could build together you know hat Salah is air is here for us 365 days a year but they only us ask us to be there for them one day a year and that day my friends is today today if we come forward if we help then we will be Z to continue to fly higher to reach further and to save many many more lives together my friends tonight you get a chance to be an angel don't miss this opportunity [Applause]