It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the sudden petirah of Rav Eliyahu Yisroel Abba Shaul zt”l, a 59-year-old resident of Bnei Brak, who suffered a fatal cardiac arrest while on a family outing in Ramat Gan.
Rav Abba Shaul was spending time with members of his family at a park late last night when he suddenly became separated from the group shortly before midnight. After relatives were unable to locate him, a missing-person report was filed, prompting an extensive search.
Volunteers from the ZAKA Tel Aviv Missing Persons Unit were immediately dispatched and established a command center after receiving indications that he had last been seen in the Ramat Gan area.
A short time later, search teams located Rav Abba Shaul unconscious in Wadi Kofar Park (Gan Yedidya) on Hatfutzot Street in Ramat Gan. ZAKA volunteers, many of whom also serve as emergency medical responders, examined him together with arriving medical personnel. Sadly, they were forced to pronounce him dead at the scene. Authorities said he had apparently suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and collapsed.
Following the declaration of death, members of ZAKA Tel Aviv’s Chesed Shel Emes unit responded to care for the deceased with dignity while assisting Israel Police and forensic investigators. His body was transferred to the National Institute of Forensic Medicine for further examination, in accordance with standard procedure.
Nati Czyszynski and Shmuel Ra’ani, overnight coordinators and volunteers with the ZAKA Tel Aviv Missing Persons Unit, described the search effort.
“Immediately upon receiving the report, we headed to the scene together with additional volunteers,” they said. “We understood that this was a sensitive situation in which every minute could be be critical. Sadly, during the search we located the avreich without signs of life.”
ZAKA volunteers Yossi Teitelbaum and Yossi Karkukli, who handled the scene, added, “As soon as death was confirmed, we worked with the utmost sensitivity and respect for the deceased. Together with the police and forensic teams, we carefully attended to every detail to ensure that the niftar would be brought to burial with dignity.”
Rav Abba Shaul was a son of Rav Mordechai Abba Shaul of Yerushalauyim, who served for many years as the librarian of the Porat Yosef Yeshiva in the Geulah neighborhood of Yerushalayim. He was a nephew of Chacham Ben Zion Abba Shaul zt”l, the renowned Rosh Yeshiva of Porat Yosef and author of Or L’Tzion.
Rav Abba Shaul learned in the Beis Shlomo kollel headed by Rav Shemesh in Tel Aviv.
He is survived by nine children.
Tehei nishmaso tzerurah b’tzror hachaim.
{Matzav.com}