Shalom Klein, a United Hatzalah EMT, was standing at the bus stop on Shamgar Street on Thursday night with his wife and seven-month-old daughter when the now infamous Egged bus careened out of control and smashed into the bus stop. Shalom quickly took his family to safety across the street and then rushed back to help the injured.
Arutz Sheva reports the rest of the story: Shalom ran back across the street. He recounted: “I found a young woman with severe injuries to both of her legs. I took off my tzitzis and I tied them around one of her legs as a tourniquet, stemming the blood flow. Another volunteer EMT from United Hatzalah arrived and tied a tourniquet on her other leg.”
Shalom was later in touch with one of the young woman’s family members. “The woman’s relative told me that she was beginning to recover and the doctors attributed the fact that she was alive to the tourniquets that were put on her legs. I never thought my tzitzis would save someone’s life, but they did on Thursday. I am glad that my family is safe, it was an absolute miracle that we weren’t hurt ourselves. The bus careened into the people gathered at the bus stop and it hit people right and left. I believe that I was spared so that I could save this young woman’s life. I was in the right place at the right time to help. I used what I had on me and I improvised just like we are taught in training. Today that lesson saved a life.”
“When Your Life Is Hanging By A String” on Chabad.Org, is another true incidence of how someone’s life was saved by his Tzitzis