ZAKA
ZAKA , Hebrew זיהוי קרבנות אסון;, (Zihuy Korbanot Ason'un), abbreviated זק״א, German: “Identification of accident victims”, is an organization that is mainly active in Israel and officially recognized by the state, which provides assistance after accidents or suicide attacks and collects body parts. It was founded in 1989 by Jehuda Meschi Zahaw and Rabbi Mosche Eisenbach .
activity
The more than 1000 ZAKA members, who are mostly Orthodox Jews , support the medical teams (also when collecting body parts that may still be sewn on), identify the victims of terrorism and, if necessary, collect body parts and the spilled blood for them Funeral on. The volunteer organization also provides first aid , helps with the rescue and helps with the search for missing persons. For identification, the individual bone parts collected in plastic bags are labeled and assigned in hours of work .
The members are exclusively husbands and require the consent of their wives; they are only used after intensive special training.
history
ZAKA first collected human remains after a terrorist attack on a 405 bus in 1989. She has been officially recognized by the government since 1995 (albeit not financially supported) and has worked closely with the police to identify victims ever since. The organization is now recognized by the UN and has even been named Volunteer Organization of the Year 2001.
Hesed shel Emet
The founders and members prefer their work to be referred to as Hesed schel Emet , or “true charity ”. Her “service to one's neighbor” is dedicated to killed Jews so that their remains can be buried in the sense of Halacha , that is the legal part of the tradition of Judaism, part of the Talmud , and nothing remains unburied, as required.
The phrase Hesed schel Emet applies to “service to one's neighbor”, which is “true love service”, since it is performed without thanks being given by the dead. Other ZAKA units consist of Druze , Muslims or Bedouins in order to give the dead an honorable treatment in their communities or to do service on Shabbat . Jews will interrupt Shabbat at any time to avert danger from life or to save lives because the Torah requires this, but not for service to the dead.
Publicity and recognition
The volunteers are easily recognizable by their bright yellow vests with the inscription ZAKA. Often they are the first to arrive at the scene of the accident, and the last to leave after they have literally been notified of the attacks by mobile phones, radio and beeper scratched the last scraps of skin from the walls of the house. As a result, they are also known to television viewers in the West. Some journalists also use it as a source to learn more about the attacks. The German President Horst Köhler became the first German honorary member of ZAKA in April 2005.
demonstration
In 2004 a group of ZAKA members flew a burned-out bus to The Hague , which was destroyed on January 29, 2004 in a suicide attack in Jerusalem . This was intended to demonstrate for the construction of the Israeli barrier outside and inside the occupied West Bank. The same bus, along with photos of 950 victims of Palestinian terror, was flown to Washington to call for action. This action was heavily criticized by some victims' families.
Special group Kohanim
The Temple Mount must not be desecrated by the dead. However, when two Israeli police officers were killed on the Temple Mount in July 2017 , they had to be transported away. Jews are prohibited from entering the Temple Mount. This is reserved for the Kohanim . These, in turn, are not allowed to touch the dead, or even approach them. In this religious conflict, the ZAKA Rabbinical Council decided that the restoration of the sanctity of the Temple Mount had priority and that a special group of Kohanim were allowed to enter the Temple Mount and remove the corpses. This is connected with conditions, so the Kohanim should not wear shoes, should not have long hair and they must first go to a mikveh , the ritual immersion bath.
See also
- Magen David Adom (MDA) - Israel National Red Cross Society
Web links
- ZAKA Official Website (Hebrew)
Individual evidence
- ↑ President of Germany, Dr. Horst Koehler, is a ZAKA volunteer (Engl.)
- ↑ Horst Köhler is appointed the first German honorary member of the Israeli rescue service ZAKA. - Embassy of the State of Israel in Berlin. Accessed via web January 24, 2010
- ↑ Horst Köhler appointed "first honorary member" of Zaka -Die Welt online. Accessed via web January 24, 2010
- ↑ http://www.bjsd.de/bjsd/presse/pe20040226_haag.html
- ↑ Two police officers die in an attack on the Temple Mount. In: Tagesspiegel . July 14, 2017. Retrieved July 18, 2017 .
- ↑ Ayala Goldmann, Corpses are not allowed to stay on the Temple Mount , Jüdische Allgemeine , August 10, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2017.