*From Eli Beer, Founder and President of United Hatzalah

“5 years ago, I had the privilege to speak with some very special bar mitzvah boys at a dedication ceremony in Sharon, Massachusetts. Together they had donated an ambucycle to United Hatzalah. One of the boys who made that dedication ceremony possible was Ezra Schwartz.

It hit me like a ton of bricks when I realized that the amazing young yeshiva student who was killed here last week in a terror attack in Gush Etzion, was Ezra from Sharon, and that his name had been riding on a United Hatzalah ambucycle here in Israel since 2010. Our volunteer medics responded to the attack but it was out of our hands.

My heart goes out to the Schwartz family. I have no words to express the loss I feel over Ezra’s being taken in this way. All I can do is echo the words of Lynn, one of the mothers of the bar mitzvah boys of 5 years ago, “It gives us such great comfort to know that Ezra’s name and neshama is riding through the streets of Yerushalayim saving lives”.

A couple of years ago, the volunteer who rides this ambucycle, was the first to respond to the 4 year old daughter of Yonatan Razel, who fell off a roof, straight on her head and helped save her life. Ezras ambucycle was the reason that he was able to get there so quickly. May Ezra’s memory be a blessing.”