Manhattan Crowd Hears Stories of Wounded Soldiers’ Resilience

The room was quiet as Aharon Nazarov told his story. Injured in six previous terrorist attacks, the seventh, in October 2002, left the young Israeli soldier’s entire body burned. Travelling on the same bus as a suicide bomber, he was the only survivor.

He spoke at an exclusive breakfast Tuesday morning at a New York City hotel to a group that included Israeli Consul General Ido Aharoni and the country’s interim ambassador to the United Nations, Mehron Reuben, as well as community members from the Chabad-Lubavitch Israel Center of the Upper East Side.

In the city as part of an East Coast tour for injured veterans organized by the Chabad Terror Victims Project, Nazarov said that while he was in the hospital, he was visited constantly by the organization’s director, Rabbi Menachem Kutner. The rabbi even threw him a surprise birthday party, a push forward on the veteran’s long road to recovery.

For Kutner, bringing Nazarov and seven of his fellow soldiers to New York and Washington, D.C, is part and parcel of helping them enjoy life.

“I feel very good to be here with the soldiers now in Manhattan,” explained Kutner. “Now I see the soldiers with big smiles on their faces, and they’re having fun.”

The audience gathered over a buffet of eggs, bagels, salads, lox and coffee to hear the various dignitaries, program organizers and Nazarov speak. Reuben said he hoped people came away from the event knowing that these were true heroes, and added that the program was a “wonderful show of support” for the soldiers and for what they had gone through.

“It is because of them and thanks to them that we have our country and are here today,” said the ambassador.

Reuben stressed the importance of making sure the soldiers don’t feel that they have been forgotten or left behind. People hear in the news about an attack and injuries, but once it leaves the news, it’s out of the public eye, he said. “But for the people who have been injured, their families and close friends, it goes on forever.”

Baruch Milloul, who lives on the Upper East Side, went to his Wall Street job late yesterday so he could come meet the soldiers. A repeat guest – he was also present for last year’s program, when a different group of soldiers came to New York City – he said the media does not do justice to the reality of what the men have gone through.

“To meet them personally, to understand the stories and to befriend them, makes the attachment to them and their experience far more meaningful,” he said.

Erez Itzhaki, a real estate developer attending the program for the first time, said even more than supporting the soldiers by attending the event, he derived support from the guests.

Hearing them speak reorients people to what is important, explained Itzahaki, both in terms of prioritizing and understanding life better.

“People think they are supporting the soldiers,” he said. “The soldiers are supporting us.”

Nazarov said through a translator that he was very touched by the spirit and the generosity of the community. Smiling shyly, it was clear that he was gratified by the morning’s experience.

And there’s more adventure in store for the soldiers, who headed off to the nation’s capital Wednesday morning, and more opportunities to connect with the local Jewish community. Milloul said he is also eagerly anticipating Friday night’s community dinner honoring the soldiers.

“I’m looking forward to an intimate experience with these soldiers, so we can get to really know them,” he said.