by Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com We, in the Torah community, have had a series of tragedies of late that are truly heart-wrenching.  Rachmana litzlan 45 korbanos in Meron with many injured. 2 korbanos in Stolin, with many injured. And while it is true that there has been a remarkable outpouring of noseh b’ol chaveiro, sympathy, and empathy – there is one that that we have not been doing. [WHAT FOLLOWS AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE IS A POSSIBLE SOLUTION – that all of us can do.] WE NEED TO BE BETTER PREPARED We have to follow the words of the Gemorah in Tamid (32a), “Aizehu chochom? HaRo’eh es haNolad – Who is a wise person? One who anticipates what can come.” We have Hatzolah organizations. We have Zaka organizations. We have Gamachs. We have almost every conceivable chesed organization – from bris gemachs, shalom zachar schnapps gemachs, we also need one more thing. We need to take charge of our own safety as well.  We need to hire crow control experts for our levayos, for Meron, for our buildings, for our wedding halls. The Midrash tells us in Aicha Rabba (2:13), “im yomar lecha adam: Chochma baGoyim – Taamin – if a person says to you that the gentile secular world has wisdom – believe it.” There are experts who know what types of tweaks are needed in order to save human life. There are people, educated people with Phd degrees, that can survey and inspect any venue or building and can determine its safety and structural integrity in order to save lives and to avoid tragedies. What we need to do is have the Chareidi world engage these experts. We should hire them and bring them down to our buildings and levaya venues, to our chasuna venues, to our shuls, and to wherever else we gather.  We need to bring them to Meron for recommendations. It shouldn’t be the Israeli government or the police or the IDF, it should be us. If we were to do this, it would be a source of enormous Kiddush Shaim Shamayim – because it shows the truth that the Torah lifestyle values life above all. We should be the ones to have these experts issue the report showing and demonstrating how most crowding and stampeding disasters can be prevented by implementing simple crowd management strategies and reports about structural integrity. We should be the ones showing the world that there people should be assessing the nature of the spaces being used – and how their exact people-handling capabilities are. We should be the ones hiring the experts who tell us if the entrances and exits are adequate. We should be the ones implementing ticket collection – because tickets actually save lives. We and the experts we hire should be asking the questions: How best should barriers be employed? The truth of the matter is that the police and the civil authorities often do not have a clue in these matters. Let’s look around and see that criminals that have been incapacitated and are dangerously ill are often left to lay around before medical experts even arrive. WHY AREN’T WE DOING WHAT WE USUALLY DO? The Chareidi population are usually the ones to run to the very best doctors and treatments – […]

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