Bruised and Hurt, Pittsburgh Proudly Marched in the Parade!

by Yonit Tanenbaum

Boys in the Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh leading the march in the parade.

Following a potentially devastating highway accident that law enforcement dubbed “miraculous,” over 100 men, women, and elementary school students from the Jewish community in Pittsburgh, P.A., marched with renewed faith in yesterday’s parade commemorating comradeship and learning.

With cuts, scrapes, and scratches, the students marched with heads held high in the parade in honor of the Jewish festival Lag BaOmer.
Whiplash did not keep them from celebrating along with tens of thousands of other students from as close as the next Brooklyn neighborhood over, and as far as Los Angeles, C.A.

When a 37-year-old man driving a Honda Civic entered Interstate-78 earlier that morning in Bedminster Township, N.J., going the wrong way, oncoming traffic swerved to avoid hitting him. In the oncoming traffic were two buses carrying Yeshiva students along with a few parents and administrators, heading to New York City for a large parade in honor of the Lag BaOmer holiday.

The scene of the early morning crash.

One of the two buses collided with the vehicle at 5:35 AM, slicing the Honda in two, and careened off the highway into a sloping ravine, dragging half of the car with it. Branches tore into the bus through the windshield. Shards of glass pelted the travelers. The bus came to a halt about 100 feet into the ravine, and after hitting many trees, came to rest precariously atop the Honda Civic. The driver of the small sedan trapped beneath the bus died instantly.

One of the students’ parents, Yankel Pelled, who was seated in the first row, was pinned to the floor between the dashboard and the driver’s seat. Another parent, Rabbi Moshe Vogel, recalled that despite his attempt to protect his two sons as the vehicles collided, the force of the impact flung one of his sons from his arms toward the front of the bus.

Since the bus had become “crumpled,” reported Vogel, rendering the door unusable, passengers broke the emergency windows in order to exit. Passersby and passengers from another vehicle that had been hit by the Honda Civic aided the parents in lowering the children from the elevated bus to the ground. Once everyone had been extracted from the wreck, and lacerations had been attended to, a Monsey Tours bus transported the group to the parade in New York City.

The mass emergency response, including helicopters intending to lift victims to a nearby hospital, was not needed. Only Pelled, 58, who had been sitting in the first row of the bus, required hospital admittance.

Pelled is recovering from multiple injuries in Morristown Memorial Hospital and his family hopes for his return to Pittsburgh within the next few days. “He is in a lot of pain but feels very lucky, thank G-d,” revealed Pelled’s wife about his condition. “It could have been much worse,” she added. “Our son was able to march happily in the parade and had a good time.”

“It was a beautiful event and everyone was in good spirits,” reflected Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum, principal of the Boys School of Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh.

In response to the traumatic event, “plans are being made for a seudas hoda’ah,” the principal said. “People will be encouraged to take on hachlotos,” he added.

Well-wishers may keep Yaakov ben Shulamit in their prayers for a speedy and complete recovery.

Principal Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum Marching with his children and students.

13 Comments

  • Pittsburgher Forever

    Oh my. There was so much Achdus and Simcha around the world , the sitra achra worked so hard to mar the day. B”H everyone is OK. Please, let us not need miracles anymore!

  • a father of 2 former students

    yossi yr walking like you survived the war …and u deserv a heros welcome . yr a captin in the rebbas army

  • Simcha S F

    thank hashem everyone is ok wish i could seen my cousins march

  • I wonder

    maybe he was English,so he drove up the other side of the highway,or maybe high on something,or simply disoriented,

  • Yaffa S.

    wow, I did not know that the children of pittsburg survived such an accident! from where i was of course u could not see the scratches and bruises. theses pictures really make it real. Especially one of them read one of the 12 pesukim! Hashem is truely merciful.

  • Chosid-s Chosid

    Pittsburgh has the zechus of many many temimim including, R’ Shalom Posner, R’ Chetzkel Deren, R’ Yiroel Altein, R’ Kehos Weiss and Yebodel Lechiam Tovim R’ Ephriam Rosenblum, and of course R’ Yisroel Rosenfeld.

    Pittsburgh had a very special place with the Rebbie and the Rayyatz.

  • MomKam770

    B”H
    Well< now that they are physically fine, we are dealing with the emotional trauma embedded within. There are special programs taking effect for all those involved, including staff, students and parents, administered by Mrs. Sharon Saul, a Pittsburgh psychologist, trained to be sensitive to traumatized victims.