According to Australian news reports, the couple perished when the Toyota minivan driven by Rochel Simons, 48, crossed the median and was struck by a tanker truck. The driver of the truck, a 39-year-old man whose identity was not released by authorities, also died in the crash. Wreckage and the threat of fuel igniting blocked traffic on the arterial Hume Highway in both directions for hours.
Tragic Accident Claims Lives of Jewish Educators in Australia
SYDNEY, Australia — Australia’s Jewish community was in shock Friday morning, one day after a horrific car accident along the main Sydney-to-Melbourne highway took the lives of longtime members Zev and Rochel Simons.
According to Australian news reports, the couple perished when the Toyota minivan driven by Rochel Simons, 48, crossed the median and was struck by a tanker truck. The driver of the truck, a 39-year-old man whose identity was not released by authorities, also died in the crash. Wreckage and the threat of fuel igniting blocked traffic on the arterial Hume Highway in both directions for hours.
The couple, Chabad-Lubavitch Chasidim in Sydney and parents of 10 children, were headed to a wedding in Melbourne. Their youngest children were attending a sleep-away camp at the time.
Veteran Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Devorah Groner, director of the N’shei Chabad women’s organization in Melbourne and a family friend, said that she was expecting to see Rochel Simons at the Thursday afternoon wedding.
memorial fund
A memorial fund has been established at http://www.SimonsFamilyFund…
AD MOSAI!!!
oh this is just terible!!! AD MOSAI!!! how much longer do we have to wait?!?!? hashem please bring moshiach now! this is so sad!
Close Family Friends
I just saw Zev before they left on their trip to melbourne. He was walking behind me on Dover Rd, towards a car park. I said to myself, watch it, he will make sure to stop you and say “hello”, lets see. And sure enough he did. Zev stops for that extra second to each person, and says hello how are you, no matter what. As he continued to walk past, i was just then and there thinking, “what nachas his parents must have from raising such a frum nice son, all these years dedicated to teaching others yiddishkeit…..I never really thought such thoughts, and it was just then and there 2 nights ago, that this whole few minutes played out about whata special nice giving person Zev is. Its so freaky. And the end of my thoughts were, ”such a sweet kind warm always happy wife“ he has. Rochel never says no to anything at all. ever. If she cando it, she did it.
We know the simons for 26 years when we started out shlichus here in sydney. Rochel was one of the first ladies to come and bring a pot of dinner to our home the first night! All the Simons kids matched up all our kids ages. Our families were like many sets of twins. Our KIDS entire childhood waS a blend of our kids and their kids, all the years. They were the mosteasygoing flexible, generous, warmest, happiest people around. The family always moved over one more space for the unexpected guests that were always welcomed. Zev always brought home the unwanted guests thatnobody else wanted. And he made them feel loved and treated them like everyone else.
Their house will never be the same. Zalman and Yehuda, need to be able to say mommy tatty they are only what 10? 11? Bassie and shainy, 14? 16? young teenagers, they need their parents guidance and support thru these hard growing up years. Who will be their mommy and tatty? Mushky, You are so beautyful and sensitive, and ready for a shidduch soon. How will you go to the chupah without mommy and tatty? This isnt possible. It is all a nightmare. Didnt we all wish we’d wake up this morning saying, ”this wasnt true it was a bad dream?“
We are all bawling our eyes out nonstop for you guys. Mendle, who are you going to call to tell of your first new babys progress, the first words? walking and talking? chamy and leah, i am lost for words. You were like, grew up in our home. Your home away from home. How will you cope with this? My heart is with you. Hashem took out the wrong cards. It wasnt meant to be your parents! Theres a mistake here. right? If there was a survey who the nicest people in Sydney are, your parents would be voted in as a winner without one hesitation! I promise you, theres a mistake. Hashem mixed up the cards and got the wrong people. This isnt true. Its a huge mistake, right?Zev and Rochel to leave the world so early? Werent they always late to things? so why couldnt they be late now? whats the rush Hashem? Bring them back, did they have to be so early? something doesnt add up here. Hashem, look whats left behind? Willthese kids ever have a shabbos table like they did last week? Who will be their mommy and tatty now? Who? Hashem, there are 10 orphans now. Whats your plan? zalman and Yehuda have bar mitzvas soon. Without their mom and dad? How will it all happen? Their house/home will never be the same. Both sets of grandparents are still alive, k”h into their 80″S and now they have to figure it all out. Hashem, it wouldve been easier to leave Zev and Rochel alive, then to try to clean up this big mess. Its sooooooooo hard! Whats your plan Hashem? I beg you one thing, Hashem, just one thing, please, in t heir Zchus please send Moshiach to us, so that we all will not suffer any longer.
Close family friends.
p.s.
So true what they say. Live every day like it’s your last. Do teshuva before you die and really love the peple around you.
yisroel kaye
B”H
Boruch dayan haemes.
This is so sad.
AD MOSAI HASHEM BRING MOSHIACH NOW!!!!
M. Beenstock
I was saddened when i heard the terrible news. I knew Reb Zev, he was very nice person. When i think of Reb Zev, images of him talking to people, asking people how they are doing, and taking a general interest in people. He will be missed by the whole Sydney Community.
Benyomin Simons
As I sit in front of the computer reading the comments made about my late brother, Zev Simons,and sister-in-law, Rochel, I must tell you that it brings me great comfort reading everyone’s feelings about Zev and Rochel and how they touched so many, many people. It is not that you are just trying to be nice by your comments because everything that has been written is absolutely true. I looked up to my brother with respect for his kindness and always sound advice and will miss him dearly. We would always sit together davening in Shule and listening to his melodious voice when davening from the Omud if asked. He always had a nice word or smile for everybody, as did Rochel, and never wanted to get involved in the unfortunate ‘politics’ of our community. He always had an open home inviting guests for Shabbos and would look around the Shule on Shabbos to see if someone needed a place to eat. As a teacher and administrator, he always put his whole heart into his work which was truly a labour of love. He loved the children and they loved him.
I am sure that the feelings expressed by so many people who have been touched by them both, will serve as a living memory and example to all their children for the rest of their lives (until 120).
Benyomin Simons – brother of Zev Simons Aibishter…why !!
MVH
Binyomin, I haven’t written anything yet because “al tenachamehu besho’oh shemeisoi mutol lefonov”, but if you’re already up to monitoring these threads and responding then I will say that you hit the nail on the head with your comment that all these people are not just trying to say something nice. Unfortunately we have a midah that when someone dies we always try to say something nice about them, which seems like a good midah, but it means that whatever people say on such occasions is tinged with a bit of doubt – maybe they’re just trying to be nice. But with Zev and Rochel everything that has been written was nothing more than the truth!
It was sometimes difficult to have a nice juicy conversation with Zev, because the minute it would turn in a direction that might lead to loshon hora he just wouldn’t go there. He didn’t want to talk about politics or people or anything like that, he wanted to talk about chassidus and how to be a better person, and quite frankly it could get a bit boring sometimes! But it wasn’t like some people who talk like that for show; with him you could tell that it was with an emes, that that’s who he really was, a person who was immersed in the Rebbe’s sichos and maamorim, and who could not abide to have a negative thought about another yid.
And Rochel was exactly the same. Whoever introduced them knew what s/he was doing, because they were well-matched in this midah of niceness, if that’s a word; of only thinking good about other people, and therefore only saying good about them, and of course only doing good to them.
I don’t know the children as adults – when I used to spend shabbosim at their house the older ones were young, and the younger ones were babies or not yet born, but I could see the chinuch they were getting, and I’m sure they’re wonderful people.
A Bochur shliach from synney
I was a bochur Shliach about 7 years ago ,and I allways thought of reb zev as a true chosid devoted to the rebbe’s inyonim . .
He was a true chosid of the Rebbe.
Ad mosai.
close friend
i was so saddened by this news.
they were the most normal, happy, kind, giving ppl you can ever meet in your life!
this is shocking news and wish it was a dream!
may they rest in peace
Broken
Once again, it is the good ones that are taken. torn away. why.
Great Torah Race winner - 1984
As a former student for three years at Yeshiva College – once winning the Great Torah Race at the age of 9 – I was indebted to Zev Simons. He encouraged non-orthodox Jews like myself to become more aware of Yiddishkeit and to embrace the more orthodox elements of the religion. I would go to Yeshiva shule each Shabbat, and Zev would be more than happy to invite me over to his house afterwards. His attitude would be along the lines of:
“What is one more guest when I already am having 15 and the family?”
Although I then went to a non-Jewish high-school, Zev ensured that my hunger for Yiddishkeit stayed strong. He along with another Rabbi would give time from their busy teaching shedules to help prepare me for my Bar-Mitzvah. He would always stop for a chat, see how my family and I were doing and was even able to discuss day-to-day events unrelated whatsoever to Yiddishkeit.
Although my attendance to shule started to be limited to Chaggim and I stopped going to Yeshiva, my prize for winning the Great Torah Race (The Complete Story of Tishrei) would be read at home each Elul.
Recently, I have decided to return to Sydney and was hoping to catch up with zev Simons and others alike. My wife is a convert and we have two children and now we read the stories of Tishrei together as a family. We attend shule each week, we keep the Shabbat, we are completely kosher, we regularly help those in need for a Shabbat meal and we are highly regarded in our small Jewish community.
Although my local community will miss us as we return to Sydney, it is the likes of Zev Simons who demonstrate warmth and hospitality, and carefully help the non-orthodox Jews embrace more orthodox elements of their religion that these communities should be grateful for.
A truly great mensch
friend
Anyone who has grown up and lived in sydney as I have will undoubtedly agree, that Zev and Rochel Simons A”H, were the kindest, most generous, warm, giving people that our city has known. They were the epitome of Ahavas Yisroel, their home, a model for Hachnosas Orchim, and they both were wellsprings of middos tovos. They were wonderful mechanchim, and loving parents who raised 10 beautiful children who all echo their parents’ fine middos.
This horrific tragedy is not just a loss for their children, grandchildren, parents, and siblings left behind, but this is a devastating and heartbreaking loss for our entire community.
Words cannot describe the pain and grief that our community feels. In their short lives, they have touched hundreds if not thousands of neshomos- young and old. I consider myself blessed to have been one of those people.
V’hachai yiten el libo.
I daven that we, the friends, family and community left behind, can come together as a community in our grief, put our differences aside, and in their z’chus, follow the shining example of Zev and Rochel in making Ahahvas Yisroel a true priority in our lives.
My heart goes out to their grieving parents and family, and especially to their precious children, too young to have to face such sorrow. Hamokom y’nachem eschem.
2 diamonds were taken from our midst, and Zev and Rochel will live in our hearts forever.
Avraham Sonenthal
I find it very disturbing that not one person leaving a comment saw fit to mention the truck driver they killed, 38-year-old Andrew Richards from North Albury.
Rabbi Benzion Milecki
Avraham, I don’t know who you are, but I found it very disturbing that you chose to spoil this beautiful page with your comment. How unnecessary!
Speaking for myself, and I am sure many others too, I can say that I did think about the truck driver and searched for information about him on the web. I couldn’t find anything on him. Please remember that, to the best of my knowledge, Zev and Rochel’s names were also not published on any mass media site, nor any family details about them. I certainly couldn’t find any.
Avraham, what you should have said is simply: “On behalf of the entire community, I extend our sympathies to the family of truck driver, Andrew Richards from North Albury.” That way you would have been part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.
Chazal say that the “Bearer of the letter should deliver its contents”. Because you have raised this issue, and given us the name of the victim – which is a very good thing – it seems appropriate that you should now lead the community’s response to the family of the victim. I am willing to assist you in this. You can email me rabbi@southhead.org
I look forward to hearing from you.
Rabbi Benzion Milecki
Sydney Australia
MVH
1. His name wasn’t given in the newspaper articles, so how were we to know it?
2. Nobody here knew him, so what could we possibly say about him? None of us have any idea what sort of person he was, we have no memories of him, so I’m not sure what disturbs you.
Jillian Richards
MVH asks what sort of person was Andrew Richards? May I assure you he was a very loving husband and an exceptionally kind father of three beautiful girls aged just 3 yrs (Nov. birthday) 7 yrs and 11 yrs on 18th Dec. Now, they too will grow up without their father’s love and guidance. He was a kind, generous and fun-loving man and his large funeral beared testament to his popularity and the respect in which his family is held.
As his mother, I say thankyou to the kind family friend who wrote our family a letter expressing their regret that our son lost his life through no fault of his own.
Jennifer McEwan
For those who didn’t know my brother you have missed out on a very special person and fond memories. Andrew did not differentiate between people, their beliefs or there nationality. His friends, colleagues and family have stated that it was better to known and loved Andrew and lost him than to never know him. All of us thank him for his smiles, his ideas and the time he would take to listen to everyone.
Andrew accumulated many friends in his life with his infectious laugh and easy caring nature which was a true gift. He was one of nature’s true gentlemen. If you ever needed help, a friend or just someone to talk to Andrew would be there as soon as possible. My oldest son(4) wants his Uncle Andrew, he was his special Uncle. My family will miss not having a brother or Uncle to share the memories with in years to come.
Andrew had a passion for the AFL Carlton Football Club and water ski-ing. He has passed his passion of water ski-ing onto his oldest daughter, who will not have the many hours of time or coaching with her gifted Dad. Each of his daughters received special gifts of time with their Dad and this they will greatly miss.
Andrew, 38, was born to caring, loving parents. We grew up in a Benalla a small country town only half an hour from the place he passed away from us. My parents came from the surrounding towns of Shepparton. He lived in Albury for approximately 15 years and is where he met his wife. He was a Christian person who married in the Anglican Church, the same church each of his children were baptised in and finally where his funeral took place.
Andrew lived for his family and they came first in his life. He is survived by his wife and three daughters, our parents, my husband and our two sons, his elderly grandmothers, Andrew’s wife’s family and all of our extended families. This includes many friends which he considered family.
Please understand that this is hard for Andrew’s wife and family to read. We all grieve for those we have lost. Andrew wasn’t just a truck driver from Albury; He was a husband, father, brother, uncle and friend also. His life was taken from us tragically that day and of no fault of his own. He was on his way home and would not have expected to have a car cross the wide centre strip through a fence and trees. If you take the time to read articles from the Albury Border Mail newspaper in the proceeding days or drive the Hume Freeway north bound which we have to, to go to Albury, please stop, look and see. Maybe this will give you understanding.
The A C Richards Family Trust has been created to assist Andrew’s wife with their children’s education.
Finally my parents would like to know if the Holy book and various other personal articles they found on the side of the road at the accident site which Andrew’s wife passed onto the Police have been received by the Simons family. Even at this time my parents understood how important it was to have keepsakes and to cherish the people we had lost.