In suburban Philadelphia, Main Line Hatzolah’s inaugural event began at 7:30pm with a 30-minute “social hour” where people from the community had an opportunity to enjoy heavy hour devours meet Hatzolah members and other local first responders, including the chiefs of Police, Fire, and local EMS.

At around 8pm people gathered to hear divrei bracha and Torah from Rabbi Avraham Shmidman, rav of the Lower Merion Synagogue and host of the event as well as from Rabbi Avraham Steinberg, rav of Young Israel of the Main Line and posek for Main Line Hatzolah.

The evening continued with opening remarks from Sid Laytin acknowledging the VIPs in attendance, including the aforementioned chiefs, a ward commissioner, the va’ad harabbanim, and the board of directors. He further recognized the many people who worked hard and sacrificed to make the dream of a local Hatzolah a reality with an acute emphasis on three individuals. Namely Tzvi Rudin, a 15yr EMT who now serves as Operations Captain and leads the team of 15 Responders; Avraham Vegh, a volunteer with the local fire station and technologist who leads Main Line Hatzolah’s technology, security and infrastructure. And Moshe Starkman, Main Line Hatzolah’s Executive Director and workhorse.

Sid then told of the history of Hatzolah in the United States and the story that inspired it. He then told of a similar story impacting Lower Merion and the genesis of Main Line Hatzolah.

Finally, Moshe Starkman spoke about the program itself to ensure everyone understands when to call Hatzolah and when to not call Hatzolah. Who we are, what we do, how we do it and most importantly, why we do it. “Hatzolah is fueled by ahavas Yisroel. It is the ‘secret sauce’ that makes Hatzolah work and has evolved the brand into the single largest volunteer EMS organization in the world.”, he said.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)