AUGUST 1998 BACKGROUNDER

by David Blewett

Once again the world has seen grim pictures of terrorist bombings, this time in Kenya and Tanzania. It is no accident that an Israeli search and rescue team took the lead in going through the rubble looking for survivors. The terrorist bombings in Israel have made them experts at that difficult task. But have you ever wondered what happens to survivors of such a bombing? Not long ago I learned what happens in Israeli hospitals and it is a remarkable story.

Rev. Petra Heldt was recently in New York to speak to Hadassah's annual convention about her experiences as a patient at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. When we met I heard first -hand about those experiences. Petra is a Lutheran pastor from Germany who has lived in Israel for twenty years working to improve Chris-tian understanding and respect for Jews, Judaism and Israel. On July 30, 1997, she happened to be in Jerusalem's Mehane Yehuda Market shopping for a dinner party that she and her husband, Malcolm, were hosting for Jewish and Christian friends. Two terrorist bombs almost blew her away (the subject of the August 1997 Backgrounder). Petra spent the next six weeks in the burn unit of Hadassah Hospital and is still receiving physical therapy there.

Petra heard the explosion and saw the fire ball from the first bomb. Her instincts told her to run away. As she ran she noticed that her friend Nissim, the fish seller, was shaking hands with a customer but instead of releasing Nissim's hand the customer was actually pulling him closer. Suddenly that person set off the second bomb. Petra was only three or four meters away. Second and third degree burns covered her body and pieces of the bomb were in her legs and feet but, thank God, she was alive.

Petra was the first one from the market to reach Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem but the press was already waiting there. A reporter asked her, "Why do you think you survived?" She told me that her immediate reaction was that she just wanted to get away from that guy. Who could blame her? Despite Petra's obvious need for medical attention, this reporter wanted to interview her. The answer she gave to his question, however, was inspired: "To have an opportunity to speak about the greatness of God. We are his tools to bring reconciliation to this world."

In the first few days after the bombings the burns on her face caused her eyes to be swollen shut. She told me that during that time of blindness she thought about the story of Daniel's three friends who God had protected after Nebuchadnezzar threw them into a fiery furnace (Dan. 3). She wondered, as so many others have, why is it that once they came out from the furnace the Bible never mentions them again? She came to realize that although the text records their conversation with the king before he threw them into the furnace, it says nothing about what they said after they came out. Evidently only the king gave God credit. She came to believe that the biblical silence about them is because they gave no further witness to God, unlike their friend Daniel who never quit speaking about his God.

Mr. Avi Benjamin, the advisor to Israel's Foreign Minister on interreligious issues, was watching the evening news at his home when he saw the reporter's interview with Petra in the hospital. Within 30 minutes he was with Malcolm at her bedside. His secretary, Ahuva Oren, who also saw the news, arrived shortly after him. Together they stayed with Petra and Malcolm through the long ordeal of initial examinations and tests. Looking back on that first evening, Petra said, "As I came out of each examination room my friends were there to cheer me and accompany me every step of the way until we finished, which was well after midnight." The nursing staff even make it possible for Malcolm to stay with his wife the first few nights, a real comfort to both of them.

For the first few weeks after the bombs Petra had no appetite and ate almost nothing, but then suddenly she had a craving for fried liver. Malcolm mentioned this to their friend Yehudit Sar-Shalom and asked her how he could satisfy it. Yehudit told him to stop by her apartment on his way to the hospital the next morning, she would have it cooked and packaged for him. Speaking of food, all of Malcolm's meals were provided by a haredi group that regularly brings meals to the families of patients. They continued this service for several months after Petra was released.

It is one thing for friends to drop everything and get to the hospital, it is something else for strangers to do that. One visitor was a woman who had also seen Petra on the news and then traveled all the way from Haifa with a rose and an Israeli flag. The woman came, gave Petra the flower and the flag, and left.

Two Israeli school girls from Beth El, as soon as they heard about the bombings, took it upon themselves to take the bus into Jerusalem and visit the eight patients in Hadassah's burn unit each day during their school vacation. They spent hours chatting with Petra and in the process became good friends. One afternoon they asked if there was anything they could bring her or do for her. She said that she would really like to hear music, which was one thing they could not do for her since it was the eve of Tisha B'av, a somber day that commemorates the destruction of the temples and other disasters, and music is not allowed during that time. But, as soon as the fast day was over, the girls came back and sang to her for over an hour. "What a remarkable experience. Although I was unable to move in the bed, in my mind I was dancing."

Another patient in the burn unit was Said, a 15-year old Palestinian Muslim boy. He had suffered burns over 90 percent of his body and lost a leg. The burns healed but for Said, a talented basketball player, the loss of his leg stole his will to live. Everyone feared that he might commit suicide. Rabbi Pessach Krauss visited Petra often and one day she told him about Said. "I have had a wooden leg since I was hit by a car as a little boy," he said. Petra had no idea since he walked and lived so normally. He immediately went over to Said and showed him his leg. When Said saw it his spirit returned and he began to heal. Rabbi Krauss continued to visit him and Said is walking freely today.

Across the hall from Petra's room was a large Russian woman who had suffered third degree and some second degree burns over 80 percent of her body. The task of getting her in and out of bed was a horrendous experience. Because her burns were so severe she could not be touched without causing excruciating pain, her weight complicated the problem. Eventually a special hoist was rigged up to maneuver her in and out of bed but even so, each time she was moved everyone on the floor heard her screams of pain. One afternoon, after the lady had been returned to her room, the doctors asked Petra and several others if they would pray for her because the doctors did not know what else they could do. They prayed, the doctors continued to work. Today she has resumed her normal life in Jerusalem.

Petra also told me about David, a man terribly disfigured by the bombs – one side of his face had been blown away, the other side had been full of nails. For months David spoke to no one and always worked alone in the rehabilitation center. Doctors and therapists had real concerns about his mental recovery. But suddenly one day David spoke. He came to Petra and said, "Look what I did today." Everyone in the room was shocked and overjoyed as he began to emerge from his shell. When Petra was able to ask him what caused this happy change he told her that he had gone home over the weekend for his son's bar mitzvah. While he was there with his family who were celebrating his son's coming of age and mature acceptance of the covenant, his mind snapped back and he joined the celebration. At that point his ability to speak and his desire to be part of the community returned. It no longer mattered what he looked like, the continuity of the Jewish people was celebrated in an unbelievable way that weekend. The joy of the son's bar mitzvah restored the father's life.

Knowing that Petra had been injured in the terrorist attack on the Mehane Yehuda Market put a face, a friend's face, on those who had previously been individuals that I cared about but could not relate to. Now, having heard Petra speak about her experiences, I understand something of the physical and mental suffering that survivors endure. I also understand for the first time the phenomenal outpouring of Israeli support for victims of terrorism. What I heard from Petra introduced me to a quality of community in Israel that is rare in today's world.

Petra still wears pressure bandages on both arms and hands to reduce scarring from skin grafts, but most of the pain is gone and she has regained flexibility in her fingers. She has returned to her teaching assignments, to her work at the Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity in Israel and to her ministry of being an instrument of reconciliation.