Catskills Hatzolah received calls at around 3:40PM Monday afternoon for reports of a child that fell off a cliff at the Minnewaska State Park in Kerhonkson, NY.
Paramedics rushed to the scene, and a Medevac was requested. The child suffered head, chest, and arm injuries.
The child was extricated by rescue personnel from the bottom of the cliff, and was flown by the chopper to the Westchester Trauma Center.
Please say tehillim for Yehoushu ben Alter Chaya Devorah.
Located in Ulster County, NY Minnewaska State Park Preserve is situated on the dramatic Shawangunk Mountain ridge, which rises more than 2,000 feet above sea level and is surrounded by rugged, rocky terrain. The park features numerous waterfalls, three crystalline sky lakes, dense hardwood forests, incising sheer cliffs and ledges opening to beautiful views, clear streams cut into valleys, 35 miles of carriage roads and 50 miles of footpaths on which to bike, walk, hike and simply enjoy.
Visitors to the Park also enjoy hiking, biking, swimming, picnicking, scuba-diving, rock-climbing, bouldering, boating and other activities.
Sam’s Point Preserve is located on the highest section of the Shawangunk Mountains, is the most southerly section of Minnewaska State Park Preserve.
We pray for the child's speedy recovery. That being said, has anyone noticed that every year frum kids get hurt in the woods or while hiking? It is a story that repeats and repeats year in and year out. The reason is that hiking requires a modicum of skill, fitness, and preparation. Many frum kids have no idea about these things. So they walk off into the woods with no idea how to dress, how to follow a trail, how to avoid dangers, etc. So year after year, in America and Israel, frum kids get hurt and lost while taking their annual hike. If only the yeshivas spent just a little time on physical fitness and outdoor activities. Such are not wastes of time, or "bitul Z'man" as we are told. They are important life skills.
ReplyDeleteThe only life skills these vacuous buchrim are taught are how to game the system for Medicaid, section 8 and food stamps.
ReplyDeleteBetter to join the Boy Scouts and learn a bit of useful outdoor survival skills than endlessly recapitulating Shod Shenagach Es Haparah.
This story involves a 9 year old child, not daring teenagers. This was a trip with adult supervision. Better to say a Kapitel Tehillim than to bring in irrelevant discussion on gaming the system for government benefits. This child participates in extra curricular activities involving outdoor activities, so please don't be so quick to judge. Refuah Shleimah!
ReplyDeleteWhere was the adult supervision? Maybe they need need to go to a few Boy Scouts meetings?
ReplyDeleteI was there at Lake Minewaska today and saw all the emergency personnel rushing up to rescue him. I hope he'll be ok ��
ReplyDeleteEvery year people of all ages get themselves into trouble, on the land and in the water. Some of them are frum. Most are not. Most are not even Jewish. They fall into holes, or off the sides of mountains, sometimes very high mountains. They get caught in riptides, some don't make it back out. To excoriate the Yeshiva educational system, or to point to bad financial behavior as, somehow, the province of religious Jews is a prime example of motzei shem rah. And here we are, Elul a few days out, and Tisha B'Av just past, and we still don't get it? For those who have a chip on their shoulders and want an excuse to point a finger at the frum olim, take a deep breath and let it out, slowly. Be silent and don't accuse. Only daven. A child is hurt and his family are in pain. Feel the pain. May HASH-M send a refuah shlaymoh, immediately, to Yehoshua ben Alte Chaya Devorah.
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