Snow Freezes Israel Activity

By COLlive reporter

A rare 4 day snowstorm that has paralyzed many cities in Israel has weakened, but its effects are still being felt around the otherwise sun-drenched country.

Thousands of Jerusalem-area residents were left without power and heat. Israel Electric Corporation has called it “the worst snowstorm in Jerusalem in the last 150 years.”

Four people were killed in storm-related incidents over the weekend, the Jerusalem Post reported.

On Shabbos morning, an infant boy was killed by a space heater fire in Lod, and a man in Rishon Lezion slipped to his death on Friday night, while trying to fix a leak.

Israel Defense Forces sent Home Front Command rescue and assistance crews to Jerusalem and Tzfas, deploying dozens of vehicles and drivers called up from amy reserves to deliver equipment and unblock roads.

“The ice is very dangerous because temperatures remain cold and it is hard to see,” said a spokesman for Egged bus service, explaining way they aren’t resuming public transportation.

Schools and kindergartens remained closed in Jerusalem on Sunday. Municipal workers will work on Sunday to fix the damage to educational institutions in the hope that studies will resume on Monday.

The northern city of Tzfas, home to a large Chabad community in the Kiryat Chabad neighborhood, was strongly hit by the storm, with 70 percent of its residents losing power as temperatures fell below 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit).

With plenty of time on their hands, some American-born students of the Beit Chana girls Seminary in Tzfas showed some creativity when they carved out in the snow a replica of 770 Eastern Parkway – Lubavitch Headquarters.

Magen David Adom, the country’s largest ambulance service, said it assisted over 200 pregnant women in a time frame of 48 hours – the majority of them in the Jerusalem and Tzfas areas.

Gadi Suliman, a volunteer medic, told the Times of Israel that he responded to an emergency call, arriving to the Tzfas home just minutes after it was received.

“When I arrived, I saw that the baby girl was already born,” he said. I cut the umbilical cord, wrapped the baby and the mother in blankets and took them –in very difficult weather and road conditions– to Ziv Hospital in Tzfas.”

In Lod, the large Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch continued learning as usual despite the cold. Students rushed outside to photograph the snow during the break.