[COMMUNICATED]
A recent horror story out of Jerusalem highlights the importance of doing a full background check before hiring any workers. Yisroel Rothman, a young father of 4, hired a contractor to help him expand his small apartment to better accommodate his kids. Little did he know, the man that he hired was a convicted criminal, who had no intention of improving his home, and every intention of scamming him out of his money.

[COMMUNICATED]
Each time a mass tragedy occurs, authorities urge the public to refrain from spreading rumors as to who has been killed and injured, so that family members will not learn of a loved one’s passing in an insensitive way. Unfortunately, however, in the age of social media, this is sometimes impossible to avoid. One tragic example of this was that of 24-year-old Mordechai Fekete.

[COMMUNICATED]
“Classic Simcha Bunim. He’ll never push his way onto a bus, he must be waiting there in the crowd to get home,” the Diskind family told themselves on Friday morning. News had begun to spread about the now infamous Meron tragedy, but mother Chava Diskind was sure it was her son’s sweet nature which kept him from arriving home.
They could not have been more wrong.
Tzadik Simcha Bunim Diskind, father of two sweet children, Mindy and Moishe, was crushed to death on Har Meron Thursday night. The two little Diskind children just lost their beloved Tatty, and the sole provider of their family. Simcha’s widow is 22 years old.
“I know it’s good up there for Simcha Bunim,” are the heart-wrenching words written by Simcha’s brother.

[COMMUNICATED]
Over one week ago, five children from the large and well-known Elchadad family of Bnei Brak went to Meron together to celebrate Lag Baomer. 
But only three made it home.
Moshe Mordechai (18) and Yosef Dovid (12) were only a few steps ahead of their younger brothers when they became ensnared in the entanglement of people that night. By nothing short of a miracle, the younger ones behind them came out completely alive and unharmed. But in a horrific tragedy that has shattered their entire family, Moshe Mordechai and Yosef Dovid were trampled to death side by side. 

[COMMUNICATED]
The previous day he’d sat with his father, the respected avreich HaGaon Rav Yehuda Leib Rubin zt”l, 27 years old from Beit Shemesh, who learned at the kollel Choshen Mishpat in Sha’arei Chessed.

[COMMUNICATED]
Many of us spend hours of our lives dedicated to chesed. But in moments like those witnessed on Meron this past Thursday, one man’s ahavas yisroel withstood the true test of time. Yisroel Anakava used his very last reserves of strength to save a stranger and moments later, he was horrifically crushed to death:
“We were crammed there, and we couldn’t breathe. I was next to Yisroel. He was a powerful man and he could have thrown himself over the fence. But then he saw me. And with superhuman powers, he pulled me out of the pile of death and threw me over the fence.”

[COMMUNICATED]
The stories that came pouring in Ruti’s direction as she sat shiva for her husband rendered her speechless. But honestly, that was her Yisroel. Always caring for others, always thinking of others. As a husband, Yisroel was always putting Ruti first. He would listen to her intently, and dedicated his life to make his wife and kids happy. The stories gave her tremendous comfort and soothed the pain of her aching loss. But when a stranger named Binyamin came in and said this, she couldn’t hold back heaving sobs anymore:

[COMMUNICATED]
“He loved the Torah, the Mitzvos. He was so connected to tzadikim. To R’ Shimon. But R’ Shimon took him as a sacrifice in the place he loved the most.”
The emotional words of a close relative spoken at Yisroel Anakava’s funeral several days ago left no tear unshed. Anakava, the father of a toddler and a four-month-old was only twenty-four years old when he was tragically crushed to death in the Meron tragedy. According to several witnesses, he died a hero’s death.

[COMMUNICATED]The tragedy’s terrible statistics: 60 orphans, 18 widows,approximately 600 men, women,and children are sitting shivah

After the enormity of the tragedy’s statistics was known, we came before Maran HaGaon R’ Chaim Kanievsky shlit”a to ask what our response should be; what do we need to do?