1st Interview with R. Shimon and Daniella Arush about the Accident (2-Minute News Video)
3 days after the fatal accident, R. Shimon and Daniella Arush were interviewed at Barzlai Hospital by Channel 10 news. IY”H, they and their children should be blessed with a complete and immediate recovery from their injuries!
Narrator: 3 days after she lost her 1.5 year old daughter Chana, for the first time today Daniella Arush recreated the fatal accident next to Sderot.
Daniella Arush: We were on our way to the Baba Sali [on his yahrzeit], we wanted to daven Netz there [pray at sunrise]. And on the way we got into an accident.
Narrator: On the night between Shabbat and Sunday, parents Shimon and Daniella and their three children were on their way to the yahrzeit of the Babi Sali in Netivot.
R. Shimon: I was the driver beforehand, and then I told her I was tired, and asked if she had energy to drive, and she said “Yes.” We switched there, and I went to sleep. My wife screamed “Shema Yisrael” and I saw a flash of light.
Daniella: The car came towards us. I saw its lights in front of my face, and that was it. I don’t remember anything after that.
Narrator: Shimon and the three children were very seriously injured. Daniella, in her eighth month of pregnancy, managed with her last bit of strength to leave the car to call for help.
Daniella: I called 100. Instead of coming to help me, they began interrogating me on the phone. I got off the phone. I told them that I have a GPS tracking device in the car, so they could find me through the tracking device, and that they should come to assist me right away.
Narrator: The investigation of the police revealed that the woman driving the other car involved in the accident was coming back from the yahrzeit in Netivot. She drove about 7 kilometers in the wrong lane, apparently on account of the heavy fog. Despite that, Daniella is not angry.
Daniella: I remember that I ran over to her after I removed the children from the car. And right away I told her, “Sweety, come here, I’ll take you out of the car. Let me help you.”
Narrator: Since the accident she has been hospitalized in the maternity ward, waiting to give birth. Occasionally she goes to visit her husband and children, ages 4 and 6, and in the meantime their condition has improved a great deal.
Daniella: Everything was so exact, in the way of Divine Providence. Simply exact from Hashem. That I was sitting in the seat with the wheel, and the wheel protected my stomach. And my husband was sitting next to me, and each child was sitting in the exact place so they would be most protected. It was something, simply something special.
Narrator: The condition of the woman who is suspected of causing the accident has also improved a great deal, and after three days she was released from the ICU and sent to the regular hospital ward. 25 years ago she lost her husband and was seriously injured in an accident on exactly the same road. Now both families will try to rehabilitate their lives anew.
So sad 🙁
May HaShem send them all a full refua shlemah and a nechama for this difficult loss
First, May HaShem send them nechama and a refuah shlema to all of them. That said, it disturbs me a little that she does not talk about the child she lost, instead, she recalls that “every child was sitting in the exact place so everybody will be protected”.Maybe she didn’t know the 1.5 year old passed away, but if she did, it seems strange.
I noticed the same thing, but I assume it’s not because she didn’t mention her daughter z”l, just because the person who edited the video cut it out for some reason. As someone whose done a bit of video editing, I know how easy it is to completely alter an interview with a bit of editing.