ב"ה
Tuesday, 25 Adar I, 5784
  |  March 5, 2024

Fiery Car Crash Survivors Meet Up

COLlive EXCLUSIVE: 7 Lubavitchers who survived a fiery car crash met in Crown Heights to mark the anniversary of their miracle. Full Story, Photos

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GO RABBI MINKOWITZ
September 4, 2014 1:57 am

besttt prrincipal in the world !!!!!!!!!!
<3 beis rivka montreal

Neeseem g'luyim!
July 10, 2014 1:22 pm

Wow! What a meaningful and powerful writeup. Knew the story without all of the incredibly neeseem’dikeh
details. May all potential sakanos to yidden always be averted so smoothly that we aren’t even aware of them.
P.S. Happy anniversary, Rabbi and Mrs. Geisinsky!

An admirer
July 9, 2014 11:16 pm

Thank You for sharing this miraculous story! They are all role models among Lubavitch whom we can emulate. May they continue to see the Rebbe’s Brochos to be Mekuyom.

A Relative
July 8, 2014 6:55 am

Rab Shapsy Noach Gordon brown suit (middle left of the 3rd wedding picture)

Mendy Hecht
July 7, 2014 11:36 pm

To #13: Sorry for getting some of the finer details wrong. There was a bit of a rush to get the article done, and the entire event unfolded, came and went without my being able to send it out for review to those in attendance. I did not include the piece about Rabbi Hodakov that you mentioned for that very reason–because I had heard it but I didn’t get it clearly, so I didn’t want to write something I wasn’t sure about. Conversely, I was sure I heard Gershon Shusterman’s name mentioned several times in connection with the car; apparently… Read more »

Oh my; what a flood of memories.
July 7, 2014 8:55 pm

To Mendy Hecht, thank you for posting this article. It brought back a flood of memories for me; I was10 years old and remember the accident vividly as I was very much connected with 6 of the nine as well as the Chosson, and the supposed car owner. It reminds me of a time when Lubavitch was still a small community where everyone knew everyone else. Many members of the group had spent previous summers in Camp Gan Israel Montreal. Rabbi Lebel Kaplan OB”M, was my head counsellor, I think in 1968. A giant of a man physically, intellectually and… Read more »

Thank for the Details
July 7, 2014 3:57 pm

Rabbi Samuels told the story one Shabbos afternoon in Milwaukee.

Thanks for sharing the story!
July 7, 2014 1:03 pm

Worthy of a JEM interview or two.
I have known one of the Rabbis in this story for many years and surprised he never shared it.

Rabbi Minkowitz couldn't open the door
July 7, 2014 11:29 am

I heard this story from Rabbi Yosef Minkowitz. He was sitting in the middle seat on the left side (right behind the driver). He said he couldn’t get out of the car from the door right next to him, because the door didn’t open. He figured it was because the plastic on the door locks melted. The interior and exterior of the car was by then filled with fire, and he was severely burned, before he miraculously escaped. On the photo it is clearly visible that the left passenger door was bent out of shape by the powerful crash, and… Read more »

Mottel from Australia
July 7, 2014 9:47 am

Some of these bocherim in the crash had just left us after being in Melbourne for 2 years. They were hand chosen Shluchim , personally chosen by The Rebbe to save us down here.
Yossi Minkowitz , Shlomo Majesky, Leibel Kaplan O.H., and I think Hershel Marosov & maybe others from down here were also in the car.
Those Shluchim had an enormous influence on me as a 15 year old teenager when they arrived and were a major part in Melbourne being the Chassidisha City that it is today.

To #14
July 7, 2014 8:56 am

IIRC, the directive abut stopping every hour was given after an accident in Gan Israel Montreal. I think it was during the summer of 1971.

I remember Rabbi Majesky telling us in class:
July 7, 2014 8:40 am

Thirty years ago, while sitting in Rabbi Majesky’s 11th grade BRHS Tanya class, I remember Rabbi Majesky telling us this story with every detail. If my memory is correct, I remember Rabbi Majesky telling us that the Rebbe referred to the bochrim by farbrengen as the “Serufim”. Can any of the Baal Hanisim confirm that?

On another note, the Tanya and teachings that he taught continue to guide us daily. If only we appreciated the treasure that we experienced at the time. We took our outstanding teachers and mentors for granted. Those were the days!!

To # 7
July 7, 2014 2:50 am

If i remember correcly, the rebbe wrote that in early summer 5731

Very rare: the Rebbe acknowledged the miracle!
July 7, 2014 2:20 am

Wow! Such a miracle, acknowledged by the Rebbe himself!
It shouldn’t be in a “sidebar”!

Rebbe's directive
July 7, 2014 2:08 am

Following this accident, the Rebbe did not give a directive to stop every hour when driving at night.
If someone knows when this directive was given, please post it.

Additions and corrections
July 7, 2014 2:01 am

A few additions and corrections: 1) Tuesday morning (a few hours after the accident) Rabbi Chodokov went in to the Rebbe’s room to ask for a Brocho for the injured. When he came out he was pale. He said that the Rebbe told him that last night when he requested to add the explanations of the Rebbeim (Kdoshei Elyon) regarding a fire “I had them in mind”! Rabbi Chodokov exclaimed “such open Ruach Hakodesh, such an open miracle”! The Rebbe repeated this to Rabbi Label Groner after Minchah. 2) The Rebbe specifically asked for this sicha to be prepared for… Read more »

Montreal
July 6, 2014 11:36 pm

Can some list the names of the bochrim now rabbis on the 4th to last photo

Penn
July 6, 2014 11:34 pm

What a beautiful article thanks COL and thanks to the writer, so gifted.

Mendy!
July 6, 2014 11:27 pm

I spy Mendy Hecht!
a relative

Wow Zeidy Light!
July 6, 2014 10:25 pm

wow

Shloma Majeski
July 6, 2014 9:32 pm

I have known him since he arrived in Melbourne in 1967with the first group of shluchim.. An impeccable chossid. A duga Chaya par excellance. Such chassidim come once in a life time. How fortunate we are to have him in Crown Heights.

To Those Who Drive at Night
July 6, 2014 8:56 pm

Was it not following this accident that the Rebbe gave” orders “that drivers on the road at night should stop to rest every hour or switch drivers every hour?In any case, it is worthwhile to remind people about this. The best to all of those involved.

Wow Zeidy Light!
July 6, 2014 8:24 pm

We love you, you are the best!
Love, Levi, Chaya and Ita

Well written
July 6, 2014 7:52 pm

Excellently written.
AL

Friend
July 6, 2014 7:00 pm

Unbelievable! They should all be well and get the Brochos the Rebbe blessed on them!

What a Lichtig story SHMUEL DO IT!!!
July 6, 2014 6:57 pm

BRING MOSHIACH NOW YOURfreind Chaim
Yitzchok knows you can!!!!!!

go Rabbi Minkowitz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 6, 2014 5:25 pm

the best principal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
beis rivkah montreal

Baruch Hashem
July 6, 2014 5:01 pm

All of them miraculously survived, and have led lives that have positively impacted the communities in which they live.

Awtsmoos
June 29, 2023 10:09 am

B”H A new detail of the story that I heard last Shabbos, Korach 5783, that even the other people whom it happened to didn’t know, is that afterwards when one of them (one who talked to rebbe’s secretary in the office) went to get the car after it had been towed he found a Sefer HaTanya in the car, which he said was completely not burned, except for the outer edges, but all of the inner parts of the pages were in tact. Also he had gotten a silver dollar from the Rebbe before it had happened and had lost… Read more »

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