Hatzolah Air Event - Full Coverage

[Music] we in our community the most generous people uh that I've ever seen cuz I'm part of it and I watch it how it unfolds and how life goes in this community and we uh are giving our time we're giving our money and we're giving ourselves to better this community and we don't stop when I say we don't stop I mean all of us every single one of us plays a role and has a job to better this community so tonight I have a very dear friend I gave him two hugs I usually give one but I gave him two because this organization is so Sensational they're so incredible they are the ones we don't want to want the organization that we hope we never need but you know what when push comes to shove and the time comes that we need that help there is hatala a there is ello there is his team there is everyone that partakes in doing one thing saving lives there is nothing short of saving people's lives on behalf ofah a I've been fond of them I've been a supporter of theirs for many many years my own family has utilized their service we will hear more about that tonight as the program rolls and you'll understand the critical importance of us being the supporter of hatah air including all the other tentacles that they have on the ground and all the other things that Encompass getting somebody that's very ill I always say from the side of the road where they are stuck in trouble to their destination which is safety and betterment of their health and there's nothing that we can pay for that there's no money you could try you could say put a number but when we're in trouble and push comes to shove there is nothing that we wouldn't do when that hatala airplane lands on that tarmac somewhere not only in the country anymore in the world and they get us out of there they get us to safety and to where we need to be nurtured so Joey and Sally you were kind to open up your home tonight the weather is perfection first time we don't need air conditioning it's perfect actually I was talking to somebody a rabbi that was in the mountains and he said he woke up this morning it was in the' 40s I said look I'm not taking out my sweaters but I got you it was freezing up there but the weather's gorgeous we are gorgeous the community is gorgeous welc come home it gives me great pleasure and a big honor watching you evolve watching you and Sally grow watching you sit next to your dad every Shabbat and all the prayers and the holidays and I love seeing that because we are community of Legacy from the ones that started this all in the early 1900s the one that took the Baton the ones that are here today and we are just trying to emulate our fathers and teach our sons and you and your brothers and your family your sisters you've learned well so I'd like to call I'd like to call Joey and Sally up as our host of this evening on behalf ofah a and then we will get rolling into the program and everybody that's here is in for a treat I can only explain it from my viewpoint from my purview but when you hear from people that actually lived it and understand what it means you get a better picture please come up with your wife it's beautiful amazing so before we call us Grandma I want you yes to welcome everybody yes do your thing thank you you're welcome Harry that was as usual incredible um your introduction and your uh Master of Ceremonies is always second to none and uh you know first of all I want to thank my wife for this great night even though a lot of this beautiful setup you see here was really done by the hatala air team they went through the details of every part of the backyard and they really wanted to set it up beautiful but make sure everybody goes back there later yes so there's unbelievable beautiful bar bar there back there later mixologist great drinks we have some beautiful music also so you all enjoy but I'll tell you why Sally was so instrumental for tonight because when they called reached out to me for this event and after back and forth back and forth I said okay we'll do it well I agreed um I agreed I didn't ask Sally anything I didn't speak to her about it and I came home and I said s we're having an event on Wednesday night in the house the 21st and she she said amazing what do I need to do so and and since since then she reached out to a lot of people invited a lot of people and she did way more than I did uh being a host so uh really this set this is a testament to her her effort to what she did here tonight um so why are we here tonight in one aspect and you'll hear soon a little bit more you know excitement about that uh a few months back my grandmother got into trouble and Miami and it was a very quick event that uh really she she fell in a very bad position and she was in emergency condition and 94 years old she had an emergency surgery in Miami and uh we didn't know what the outcome of that was going to be 95 95 in next month and uh we know we didn't know what the outcome of that was going to be we were all praying for her that she would make it uh sure enough she did make the surgery but she was in terrible terrible condition after the surgery and she could not stay in Miami there was no attention there was no support there was no love around her that she could survive after that surgery we had to get her back to New York my dad uh worked Tire my dad and my Uncle Raymond worked tirelessly to figure out how to get a back here and made only went to only one direction to work on that which is hatala air and I was not involved in any details of that I didn't know much about that and when they reached out to me to host this event Joe reached out to me a few weeks ago he said we want to host an event events people are tired and exhausted of events there's no such thing how can you have another event that we we exhausted from them it's impossible no you don't understand then he sends me a picture and he sends me a picture okay very nice I see a from far I see a plane I see some people in front of the plane I okay very nice Joe what do you want me to do with this he goes look at the picture zoom in on it so I zoom in I see this fantastic looking plane looks like Air Force 1 wow beautiful plane okay very nice I said so Joe very I see a beautiful plane what do you want me to do with that cuz look at the people in the picture and I scroll down and I see my Uncle Raymond my dad my grandmother all ready to board that plane to head back to New York and then I put two and two together and said wow this is the plane that saved my grandmother's life to get her back here to bring her to nurture her back to health so she's here with us tonight um after her very very dramatic ordeal and the support and love of everybody and we're here tonight in her honor and uh really at the end of the day what hat hat really represents is what the Jewish people all about loving and taking care of each other cuz without that we have nothing and you know we hear that song a lot I'm Israel High I'm Israel high and then it says God will protect us God will watch over us really God will only do that if we're watching out for each other and if we're caring for each other and that's what does all throughout the world so it's an honor to have them here tonight and hope to have more beautiful things that can really help the Jewish people progress and move forward in life so thank you all for coming [Applause] so Ellie wants to give you and Sally a gift that you'll have in your home and you'll always remember the night that you prepared for this organization thank you it's a privilege give you this just thank you beautiful and I'm going to give it to S by the way she deserves it she really does that's for you thank you welcome it's an honor to have you got it what's that put it in the Box okay we have a treat for you now it's not often that we get to do this in our events but tonight py betesh Who's well and feels great I just saw her she'd like to thank hatah openly in front of the community for everybody to know okay oh my goodness you guys all right my hold on to I'm good I'm good I'll talk louder than this yeah talk in there yeah I I could talk I I speak my myself you don't want the mic I don't know yeah leave the mic leave the mic that's good okay thank you I who helped me my whole trouble with my leg and my operation and with everything and how they got me here how they did with hatah I have no idea he worked on the two of them worked on it for days and days and how they picked me up from the hospital it was remarkable I've never met people like this in my life and what they did for me till they got me to the plane and they got me up in the plane and got me seated and I was in so much pain which I am now too but I have to thank this whole organization for what they do for our people what they do for our children and it's just remarkable God bless you all I'm you ready give him a kiss his wife won't get jealous will she W I'm 94 years old she's not going to get this for me Mrs betes these are the moments we wait for to see somebody that wants to praise someone else and give back and talk about your boys and talk about Ellie row and talk about you come down well it's enough okay but I wait she's having a good time no I want to tell you I met the pilot I met him here tonight that's the pilot yes I know what do you think she kissed him for I did and he was so remarkable how you got them Elliot I don't know how you did it and what they did for me yeah hasem took over I know let's go come okay so my son is going to kill me he doesn't like me to speak so wait am I step here all right God bless you again especially to her I'll tell my wife thank you [Music] than everybody look to the television we have a small short video explaining how heroic that event was it'll tell the story of how Mrs PES got to the plane and got home yeah go ahead it was a beautiful Friday night in Florida and it's very ironic that my uncle took me into wearing an Apple Watch on shabat gave me ways of how it's kosher could do it and that night we all went home at about 6:30 in the morning my Apple watch started vibrating like crazy I jumped up looked at my watch and I saw it was my mother's Aid hysterical crying on the other side of the farm my mother had fallen about 1:00 in the morning and they didn't find her until 6:30 the next day she was laying in vomit rolled out on the floor hysterical crying and pain I rushed over there I called H Salah we got it to the hospital there were no doctors around it was New Year's Eve that night it took a while of phone calls to New York to Florida everywhere till we found one doctor and that doctor was a hand surgeon she had broken her hip and her clav so we had no choice but to use this doctor because she was in terrible pain thank God the surgery went okay and now I'm sitting with the Dilemma and the problem of how do I get her back to New York to get her the right doctors to help her I said you know what I I can only turn the hot Sala let me see if I can get hot Salah air if they could come and take my mother home and then I get a call from Ellie row it was like Superman coming to the rescue he says we're going to get your mom home I'm going to get her back to New York the way you want her you need a day or two to get the plane set up be ready at 7:00 tomorrow morning we take taking your mom home I started crying I I it was it was very very emotional he picked me up in a big Sprinter I looked in the Sprinter there was Ellie there was another pilot there was a second pilot and a doctor all on the all in the Sprinter we went to the rehab center we picked up my mom this man ellieo was the warmest kindest caring person that I ever met in my life we hit it off within 2 seconds the minute I met him he had another mission to go on and he gave us the pilots to bring us home and not only that they stopped off at a kosher restaurant and said I'm not bringing you to the plane without all of you having food he's like being in your shoes I loved him and then he called me uh months later telling me he's going to Israel to fight and I said you know what only a guy like this could do what he does I don't know if anybody else that could do what Ellie does I love that man you had to see our faces once that plane hit down in New York there's no words what to what I could say about hat salar a what they did from my mother and my mother looks at me every day till today and says that I don't know how you ever got them but H Sala air really really saved my life as a hat Salah member I've known Ellie row and hat Salah air from its Inception I know that anytime that I've called Ellie and said Ellie listen I have this case they're in Aruba or they're in Colorado no hesitation Ellie says Lenny send me the information I'll take care of it right away my dad was in the hospital uh back in December and we needed to get him up to New York hatala a was there for us I wanted to say thank you to Ellie row and his whole team at hatala a they were unbelievable in our time of need our community is extremely lucky to be able to have this option I hope nobody ever has to go through what I went through and I hope nobody ever has to need hota air but if you do there's nobody bigger and better than them to take care of you they're magic when we need them they're there for us nobody realizes what it entails to get an airplane in the air the course that are involved it's not an ambulance it's not a quick drive it's not a fill up of gas it's not a little bit of insurance There's real cost there I really recommend that we all here tonight support them give them what they need to stay in business to help us when we need them but I'm telling you all we have to support them from our pockets to make this organization work and be there for us when we need them [Music] ladies and gentlemen besides the fact that what you just saw cost a fortune and the millions and millions and millions of dollars to operate and run a fleet like this from one man's shoulders but all the people and the moving parts that they have to have we all not just this community everybody that they have helped the 1,600 people they've taken and saved their lives we owe atalah a and Ellie row a dead of gratitude it is my great honor to call my friend up to say hi to us I'm humbled I'm humbled to be up here today in front of such an extremely wonderful crowd no words to the betesh family of old Generations especially the one who gave me delicious kiss tonight thank you Mrs VES and of course thank you Harry it's a quite remarkable that the first flight at Salah ER did was in September of 2019 not even 5 years ago in the world hatah was started by one man a pretty average I would say almost unimpressive man who in 1966 watched a friend of his have a heart attack called 911 in the city watched them die and a half an hour later they showed up and he begged them to do something but it was too late he bought his first oxygen tank for three years had it and after 3 years he said to himself in 1969 what good is it if I just have one oxygen tank let me go and create something called KRA hatala which are a bunch of guys all with add all extremely happy to do whatever they can to save somebody they never met for free 24 hours a day some 50 plus years later today there are over a 100 independent hatala organizations in deal in Flatbush in Panama in Australia and South Africa and all over Europe all over the Americas in Israel and I am actually humbled and proud to be one of those 10,000 Plus atala members around the world September 2019 with one aircraft and one flight request every 3 weeks today we just received our 10th aircraft and we have over 30 flight requests a week people ask me how we do it cost us fortunes the planes are all donated all the emergency flights are flown for free no money's asked Mrs betes did we ask you for anything for free we land with jets that cost at times tens of millions of dollars with Chiefs doctors number one in their specialty with case managers people ask us how we do it what I'm about to show you has never been seen or shown in Deal before but it is a glimpse into the life of what really happens with real people that drop their real jobs and leave their real families real businesses real careers and they run to save your life for free anywhere in the world let's take a look wow [Music] we received a request from Chicago hella for a 4-year-old girl that drowned while on vacation in Panama we're looking for a doctor and two slight minut please let me know if you're available ice cream okay okay I heard you I know I know I know okay let's finish this oil first and then I'll get you ice cre pickles no not those not those um half sour pickles excuse me yeah oh yeah thank you look what I found y hello I just got a request from a woman and P foury old TR oh no have an urgent request to get to Miami ASAP okay I'm on it I'll take her home sorry than don't worry I [Music] see hi sweetie how you doing just finished the case um she'll be home in about an hour uh hope to see you then bye Dr kco yes an emergency case just came in the hotline Panama I understand I'm on it hi sweetie sorry I'm not going to make it home tonight there a critical case in Panama yeah I'm sorry see you tomorrow hello hi uh I need B on the flight thank you okay the next phase of site work we're going to be doing is right in this area over here right in this corner yeah excuse me one second I have to ENT the phone I'm in a meeting right now can I call you later oh okay I'm on my way I'm very sorry I have an emergency flight that's all here I got to go I'll make it up for you go get him Captain row I'm on my way [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] wait wait wait wait Captain Jackie speaking Captain Jackie we have an urgent medical flight request we need you to fire up the jet St copy I'm in my way he guys I have this is call I have to go [Music] ladies and gentlemen at this time we've started our initial descent into Panama's International airport we ask that you return to your seats we landed in Panama taking off now the patient who drowned to the hospital for surgery please pray for my daughter taking off now from Panama to Miami keep going Dr grco will take care of the rest requests permission to land in Miami [Music] hello sweetie hi I'm back I'll see you in an hour [Music] bye so sorry we have to cancel today period can we be scheduled for tomorrow please question mark [Applause] we could have used actors but we didn't we used Angels Dr grushko Who you saw Captain jagie Ben and all the others were all real volunteers they get paid zero in this world that is their retirement plan out of this world these are true angels we have had what's called seat desaya if you look on the side of every one of our airplanes very very proudly you'll see three Hebrew letters Bas Sam very proud as you walk in and that means with God's help we have had extreme extreme amounts of God's help and with that two years ago we opened the first civilian medac system for the state of Israel now now we have five helicopters we're the only helicopter system that operates every single day in emergencies in Israel we have five aircraft that are dedicated to saving lives of people we never met for free we operate 24 hours a day 365 days a year Nathan Hoffman came over to me I saw him here before he called me on Russia Shana we did a flight for somebody in this community and every single day of the year we're available to help save your lives Liv to respond to a ground hotela call maybe one or two gallons of gas for us to respond it's thousands often tens of thousands or more we cannot do it without you but we will always be there for you thank you so much for coming tonight that was powerful I told you told you uh our next speaker is a very dear friend of the communities a rabbi that really doesn't need any introduction a man that is here 7 days a week 365 days a year to support us and what I think his main focus is to make us better make us better Jews to elevate us and he's doing a great job whether it's in public or it's his CDs and discs that we listen to I personally listen to his this on the way to the city every day back and forth Rabbi Joey Haber we want to thank you for everything that you're doing and continue to do for our community to elevate it and keep us who we are I love you you can lift that if you want thank you Harry very much for those kind words we kind of be brief you know that was incredible I've spoken after a lot of unbelievable things in my life but I don't think I ever spoke after a movie like that I felt like we just watched Top Gun that was phenomenal I'm here tonight I would say first and foremost because of my love for the betesh family grandma py that's how we call you it's not Mrs betesh I'm sorry to us it's Grandma py we love you dearly we love your sons your daughters your grandchildren your sons-in-law your daughter-in-laws your great grandchildren the whole thing and watching you seeing you sitting here is is incredible it's emotional it's it's so unbelievable cuz we were watching each step as it was happening and there was so so many vulnerable moments along the way and the fact that you he dressed so eloquently is elegantly is really such an unbelievable I'll give you a little story it technically has nothing to do with that but I think it'll make our Point very clearly in the beginning of this summer I had to speak somewhere outside of the community it was an eskan community and I still hadn't prayed arbat yet so it was after ARB I was after the speech it was late at night I went to Ash to pray ARB as you all know I'm in the year sh have to say kadish so what's tricky about the way ashaz pray is Syrian didn't say kadish before alenu Sayad after alenu so I'm standing there in the It's Tricky as it is I'm syan I'm trying to follow along and do my thing and they finished Al now it's my turn to say kadish and I guess I didn't jump quick enough I wasn't sure what to do next and next thing you know they start saying at night so I I'm like oh no I missed my kadish I don't know what I'm going to do and I'm just my father just passed away I can't believe it I'm Miss kadish I don't know now they finished and now I'm like not sure what to do when can I say it now is this my chance do I lose my chance and all of a sudden a man behind me just says to me three words he says go for it go for it and I jumped and said kadish and in that second I felt like wow a second ago I was so vulnerable so H so weak so lost and one man's little phrase go for it gave me the I gave me the courage to go and do it hatah a is telling the Jewish people go for it my family never used it yet but my father as you know was sick for seven years and the community didn't quite know exactly the extent of the disease but my sister Sim M was very involved in a lot of the medical in this community at times she was finding new ideas and new ideas we're going to give Daddy this treatment and that treatment and every time she would say Joe we're going to take care of daddy to Florida we take Daddy to Miami we take Daddy to Germany we take Daddy to Cleveland Cleveland I'm like Sim what are you talking about Daddy's in no condition to fly to Germany how we getting Daddy to Germany and she said Joey what are you worried about hat air that's what we're going to call that sense that there's someone behind us telling you you go for it there's nothing you can't do there's no treatment you can't get there's no place you can't go there's nowhere in the world there's no doctor you can't meet oh you're stuck in a wheelchair oh you're in terrible condition oh it doesn't make sense for you to fly in a plane and go into an airport it doesn't make sense for you to even sit in business class or first class on a plane don't worry go for it we got you you know we know abrino is the father of nation and the famous story is the story of him the three guests came to his house what's so incredible about that story everybody in this room has had three guests come to the house that they've served the answer is there's one piece of it that's unique and that is abah who just kept running to do it watching those angels on those videos you saw people running to do it now I always thought it was incredible when they run in the middle of a work day to take someone 3 miles away to the hospital but to run to Panama to run to Miami to run to Germany to run to New York to run to from anywhere around the world that's crazy how could we not give them the support how could we not be behind them our forefather abrah a told us what is and is telling every single Jew we will run anywhere we can to help you we are behind you no matter what you do no matter where you are we're going to stand behind you and tell you go for it I have to tell you a little cute followup to that story I walked out of that M and I was like wow that person has no idea how powerful those three words were I said I have to tell him thank you but I have no idea you know how I was about a month and a half later the middle of the summer I took my wife and my daughter and her husband out to dinner in Lakewood in this restaurant called The Loft and there's this big table of like 12 15 people sitting sitting on the table and the head of the table an older man comes over to me he says you're RAB I said yes men never met him before he says we all listen to your classes on my whole family listens to the classes and one of my sons is having a birthday tonight and we like you to come and give him a blessing for his birthday so I'm standing there waiting I said no problem give me two minutes I love being able to make someone happy I stood there for Thought B for two minutes went to the table gave them a whole little three minute speech and a whole blessing if the speech was over one of the sons told me he says Rabbi I was the guy who was behind you in that Manan that night I was the one who told you go for it I said you don't know how much I wanted to meet you and thank you for that moment I hope no one in this room ever feels the vulnerability that the pesh family felt my grandma py was on the floor the entire Friday night I hope you don't ever feel the vulnerability of that my family's felt over the last seven years trying to figure out treatments for my father but I know this that if that moment ever comes you want someone behind you telling you no matter what no matter how much you have no matter who you are you want someone behind you telling you go for it tonight is our opportunity to tell hatah go for it thank you we're wrapping up probably one of the best things as I've watched over my lifetime in the years that I've been involved in our community was when a man made a decision not just a regular decision but to leave his home to leave the place that he was made most comfortable with his wife and children they made their life there and then an opportunity came and he took this opportunity and the rest is history what Rabbi schlomo fari was able to do I've watched from when he arrived was with Isaac Ash and a whole bunch of other concerned people in New York City that deserve to have the best of everything not just Brooklyn not just deel but our Brethren the community in New York and ra schomo fari came and he made such a great honor to introduce to you a man that most if not all of you know RAB [Applause] SCH Sally and Joey Ellie and Ellie Ellie Ro Ellie kle kle 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 torat 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 m in actually takes it once step further and I think that that's what brings us here tonight the Mish 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 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 hat 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 yush 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 that even without 10,000 to return a lost object however there's a very interesting language that's used in the Tor 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 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 medo 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 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 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 that revived an entire family's love that connection to a grandma to being under a there's 1,600 families that have experienced exactly that same thing but you 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 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 edit 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 uh 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 hatala a 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 we come forward if we help then we will be 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]