בס”ד
ט”ז תמוז תשע”ז
July 10, 2017
To whom it may concern,
The rabbis and members of the Bergen County Jewish community take great pride in those among us who participate in their local Volunteer Ambulance Corps. The willingness of these individuals to serve as first responders reflects their deep commitment to the fundamental Jewish value of sustaining life. Additionally, these volunteers sanctify Shem Shamayim by working together with members of the broader community in the service of all Bergen County residents. We strongly encourage everyone to support the efforts of the various local Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and we certainly praise all those who can personally volunteer their own service to these Ambulance Corps.
It has come to our attention that some members of our community are seeking to establish a Hatzalah network for our area. We believe that introduction of such a project would create potentially damaging competition in the all-important arena of life-saving services. We also feel that this effort would undermine the wonderful sense of civic involvement fostered through the participation of the Jewish community in the existing Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
Sincere efforts, through a series of meetings, to incorporate aspects of the newly suggested Hatzalah project into our current successful model have, unfortunately, proven to be unsuccessful.
We, the members of the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County listed below, therefore cannot support this new Hatzalah effort and we reiterate our support for participation in the various existing Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
Rabbi Yosef Adler
Rabbi Shalom Baum
Rabbi Eli Belizon
Rabbi Aharon Ciment
Rabbi Tanchum Cohen
Rabbi Jeremy Donath
Rabbi Shimon Feld
Rabbi Daniel Feldman
Rabbi Daniel Fridman
Rabbi Menachem Genack
Rabbi Zev Goldberg
Rabbi Shmuel Goldin
Rabbi Nati Helfgot
Rabbi Beni Krohn
Rabbi Andrew Markowitz
Rabbi Yaakov Neuburger
Rabbi Chaim Poupko
Rabbi Larry Rothwachs
Rabbi Kenny Schiowitz
Rabbi Zvi Sobolofsky
Rabbi Moshe Stavsky
Rabbi Michael Taubes
Rabbi Benjamin Yudin
Rabbi Ari Zahtz