Can any of us ever imagine what our lives would be like had we personally survived a terrorist attack? In this age of widespread terrorism, most of us only read about the horrific plight of victims of such attacks. We may sympathize, yet we can never truly understand the emotional and physical trauma that envelopes the lives of those who are fortunate enough to survive. So is the case of a young Israeli man, whose miraculous story moved him to become a strident advocate for the rights of survivors of terrorism.
Born and raised in Jerusalem to Sephardic parents of Moroccan descent, Shlomi Azulay is a 34-year-old Sabra, who is wise beyond his years. He grew up in a traditional home, but was very much a modern secular Israeli. He served in the army when he was 23 in the year 1997, and decided to come to the US for a short visit, perhaps two to three weeks, but ended up staying for six years.
While life in New York was exciting, he missed his family and friends in Israel. After not seeing his mother for six years, he decided the time had come to plan a trip back home. In 2002, Shlomi returned to Israel.
While in Israel, a friend invited Shlomi to join him and others for an evening out at a new coffee shop in Jerusalem. It was a Motzei Shabbat, and even though Shlomi wasn’t too thrilled about accepting the invitation, he nonetheless did so. “My friend was really excited about going to the Café Moment that happened to be located right across the street from then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s house. “I accompanied him because I didn’t want to disappoint him,” says Shlomi. What occurred on that fateful night would change his life forever.
When they arrived, the club was packed, literally wall-to-wall people, and the waitress told them they should come back later when perhaps the crowd would diminish. Shlomi’s friend knew several people at the club and stopped to talk with them. They were headed toward the exit when his friend spotted a young woman that he knew. He stopped to talk with her. When Shlomi realized that this was not going to be a brief conversation, he excused himself and told his friend that he would meet him outside when he was finished talking.
As he stood at the threshold of the door, he heard a huge blast. His ears rang from the loudness. A bomb went off three feet from where he was standing. When he turned around, he saw complete bedlam, total carnage, the likes of which no one could ever imagine. His friend and the woman he was talking to didn’t make it. If he had stayed in the club, he would have been killed, too.
Shlomi was treated for shrapnel wounds to his face, three broken joints in his lower back and an injured knee.
After that, he found it hard to function. He couldn’t go to work. He couldn’t deal with the nightmarish reality of what had occurred.
“The events that followed were orchestrated through the compassion and mercy of the One Above, by Hashem Yitborach,” said Shlomi.
Shlomi’s mother felt her son’s pain quite acutely, and one day through a chance meeting at her local JCC, she met a representative from Hineni, the internationally renowned Torah outreach organization under the leadership of Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis. Shlomi’s mother met Benjamin Phillips, the director of Hineni in Jerusalem who told her of Hineni’s programs for survivors of terrorist attacks, including the sponsorship of trips to Europe, the US and elsewhere. She urged Shlomi to contact Hineni, to speak with them about participating in their programs.
He had absolutely no interest in contacting Hineni or getting involved in such a program. He was quite cynical, finding it hard to believe that an organization would give away free trips to Europe or anywhere in the world. Soon after, Benjamin called Shlomi and asked him to join the Hineni group on their forthcoming trip to England.
Shlomi told him that he was not interested, but Benjamin persisted. He called again and again and again, and finally Shlomi relented. He agreed to visit Hineni for an interview. He just couldn’t believe that everything was absolutely free.
Benjamin told Shlomi that he would meet many other survivors of terrorism and that they would relax, have fun and enjoy themselves for a week. Shlomi was still very skeptical and extremely hesitant about making any commitments, but Benjamin assured him that the group would not go without him. Finally, Shlomi figured ‘Why not? What do I have to lose?’ So, off he went to England with Hineni. And it was the best decision that he ever made. During his week in England he met many wonderful and kind people who understood and related to his plight. Shlomi and the other members of the group shared their experiences of surviving a terrorist attack, explored their emotions and graciously supported one another. Shlomi felt as though he had found a new family with people who genuinely cared about him.
He also says that he will never forget the abundant kindness that was shown to him by the people with whom he stayed. “We all stayed with different families, who had been told our personal histories before we arrived. They were so understanding and exceptionally generous in every way. What really touched me in such a special way was our first Shabbat in England. At that time, I didn’t understand anything about Hineni or Rebbetzin Jungreis—yet the entire community came to see us on Shabbat and talked with us and provided us with every accommodation imaginable. “It was right then and there that my romance with Hineni began,” Shlomi said.
After returning to Israel, Shlomi became totally immersed in Hineni activities. At the Hineni Center in Jerusalem, he began to give lectures about terrorism to audiences from virtually every country in the world. He even traveled to Holland where he addressed a crowd of 1,500. Shlomi became a media spokesman for Hineni in Israel and slowly but surely found himself a chief advocate for Israeli survivors of Palestinian terrorism.
“I had the opportunity to meet and talk with Rebbetzin Jungreis on one of her trips to Hineni in Israel. We had a chance to go to the Kotel together and we talked on a deeper, more meaningful level. She really displayed such genuine empathy and inspired me to do great things for the Jewish people,” said Shlomi.
About two years after joining Hineni, Shlomi began to learn Torah on a regular basis. His inspiration to learn Torah was his friend Amichai, a yeshivah bochur (student) who he met at Hineni. He, too, was injured in a terrorist attack. They began speaking every week. It was a long process until Shlomi decided to wear a yarmulka, to pray everyday at synagogue, to put on tzitzit, but eventually he did and he feels indebted to Hashem for bringing Amichai and Hineni into his life.
Hineni provided everything from psychological counseling to complete medical care, free of charge.
Shlomi continues to forge ahead with his advocacy work on behalf of survivors of terrorism and is currently organizing a trip to the United States for Israeli soldiers and survivors of terrorism. “I am grateful to Hashem that I can participate in this great mitzvah and I hope that everyone reading this will want to participate as well,” said Shlomi.
Anyone who wishes to contact Shlomi Azulay to arrange for him to speak, or to contribute funds for the upcoming trip for survivors of terrorism, can reach him at: (646) 220-0826 or by email at hinenimiami@yahoo.com.
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Fern Sidman is a writer and freelance journalist for many Jewish publications.
