The headlines about the Swissair tragedy have faded and other newspaper stories vie for our attention. Yet it is precisely at this point, as the horror of 229 people meeting a gruesome death slowly recedes from memory, that a new story emerges. It is one of genuine selflessness and outright valor, in a world where these values are too often viewed with skepticism.
The nightmare began on the night of September 2, as a Geneva-bound plane from New York plummeted into the sea off the shores of Nova Scotia at a speed that left no possible chance of survivors. Within moments, the news had flashed round the world and within a few short hours dozens of stunned families were en route to Halifax to confirm what could barely be imagined.
At the Orthodox Union headquarters in New York City, the news that one of its own Board of Governors members – Stanley Klein, z”l – had been on board the fateful flight, tore through the ranks of officers and staff. Executive board member Rhoda Miller, whose husband, Joseph, was murdered in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 went to the Klein home in the wee hours of the morning to console the family struggling with the initial shock. Her son, Alan, flew to Halifax with OU Synagogue Services Director Rabbi Moshe Krupka to offer counsel and comfort to Jewish families waiting for word about their loved ones.
But the most critical task fell to Executive Vice President Rabbi Raphael B. Butler. Through a chain of intermediaries and a series of delicate negotiations, he arranged for Dr. Jay Levinson, an expert in victim identification as well as the related halachic issues, to come to the site – ultimately to play a crucial role in the drama taking place off the coast of Canada. An American Orthodox Jew once employed by the CIA, Dr. Levinson is now living in Israel, where he has been in charge of a disaster victim identification unit of the Israel Police. International political hurdles and bureaucratic red tape were of little consequence to him, as he told Rabbi Butler: “This is a question of mait mitzvah. I’m coming.” And come he did – not as an official from Israel, nor as part of any political entity – but as a pro bono consultant to the Orthodox Union, to help meet the religious needs of Jews involved in the tragedy.
By the time Dr. Levinson arrived in Nova Scotia, he found that there were more Jews on the flight than had been counted originally on the basis of the kosher meal roster and family names. Over the course of the first days, the number rose from eight Jews to twenty-one. He found that Rabbi Krupka had already proven a sensitive liaison between the Jewish community and Canadian and Swissair authorities. Through numerous discussions with Rabbi Krupka, Nova Scotia Provincial Chief Medical Examiner Dr. John Butt had learned that retrieving and burying Jewish remains was only one of the religious issues: it was concern for the living, for the spouses of the presumed deceased to avoid the interminable status of agunah, that motivated this team of rabbis and laymen. He offered his complete cooperation.
Unassuming and personable, Dr. Levinson quickly earned the trust of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the local Atlantic Jewish Council, and the numerous specialists involved in the aftermath of the crash. Though initially granted only observer status, patience and professionalism ultimately won him a badge enabling him to go anywhere and access any records he needed. Operating at the juncture of halachah and science, Dr. Levinson suggested procedures to expedite the identification process while he sensitized pathologists, finger-print experts and dental specialists on preserving kavod hamait during lab procedures. He was painfully aware that every moment counts, as freezing temperatures would soon render the sea impenetrable and the search would be terminated.
Anxious to bring Jewish remains to their kever Yisrael and determined to prevent future agunah problems, Mr. Miller and Rabbis Butler and Krupka undertook the excruciating process of gathering detailed information on each and every Jewish passenger. Manning the phones at the “command center” over many long days and nights, they made one agonizing call after another: connecting with the families of the deceased in distant cities, encouraging them despite their crushing grief, urging them to speedily send anything that could help with identification – from descriptions of what their loved ones were wearing on the flight to fingerprints and medical records.
Fighting fatigue and frustration, they also spent precious hours with bereaved families, helping them draw upon our tradition and the spiritual resources within them. Jews and non-Jews sought the comfort of their quiet, solid faith and deep empathy. The tireless activity and passionate concern of these Orthodox volunteers for their brethren of all denominations was noticed too, and the sense of Kiddush Hashem was palpable.
The constant buzz over the phone wires soon brought results. Packages of identification materials, meticulously assembled by bereaved families from all over the country, began to pour in; and as the restless ocean also began to yield bits of precious evidence, halachic questions came to the fore. Consulting with Dayan Aaron Dovid Dunner of London, Rabbi Moshe Tendler of Monsey, New York, Shlomo Adler, chevrah kadisha chairman of Manchester, England and scholars of Otzar Haposkim in Jerusalem, Dr. Levinson carefully catalogued all materials that might be of use. The halachic issues were many — involving nuances of burial, fine points of identification and proofs of death admissible in a beit din. A halachic concern was resolved when Dr. Butt was able to certify that anyone who was on the plane could never have survived the crash. For some, proof of boarding the plane or the finding of personalized belongings might have to be enough to allow shivah to commence. Complicated questions of aveilut were discussed with Rabbi Dovid Feinstein.
Why did the Union take a lead role in the tragedy of Swissair 111? “How could we not be involved?” responds OU President Dr. Mandell I. Ganchrow. “One of our own, truly beloved members and finest benefactors was on that flight. At first, it was out of concern for his widow and family that we offered our worldwide contacts to help. But once there, the opportunity to relieve the anguish of other Jews grew to monumental proportions. Chaverim kol Yisrael – all Jews are connected. We simply we had to respond.”
Their mission ended, the weary foursome made their respective ways back to New York and Jerusalem. Their activities shifted back to the humdrum of daily living, yet their internal compasses still swung northward, reflecting on the days of interminable waiting, searching, grieving. Their memories will remain their own; but our Sages tell us that a mitzvah lishmah breaks through unseen barriers erected between man and God and between one Jew and another. To be sure, the gratitude of families and the occasional praise of onlookers afforded moments of satisfaction to these modest volunteers; yet even they will never know what spiritual doors of chesed and ahavat Yisrael were opened for us all through their singular acts.