Devorah Levenberg and her daughter Aliza, 2, were not wearing seat belts when the car in which they were traveling crashed head-on into another vehicle.
The Levenbergs – Devorah, her husband Moshe, and Aliza – hitched a ride Friday morning from their home in Neveh Yaakov to central Jerusalem. The driver apparently took a curve on Uzi Narkiss Bridge, which connects Neveh Yaakov and Pisgat Ze’ev with Highway 1, too quickly, and slammed head-on into a car in the opposite lane.
Devorah and Aliza, who were sitting in the back seat, sustained massive injuries and died shortly after impact. Moshe Levenberg and the driver sustained moderate injuries.
"The mother and daughter died immediately," Zohar Lomar, a Magen David Adom paramedic who arrived at the scene, said.
"The father, whose injuries were moderate, was fully conscious the entire time. He spoke with us and didn’t stop asking about his wife and daughter. We told him they were being treated by another MDA team. We tried to ask him what had happened, but he didn’t remember anything about the accident," Lomar said.
I’m told the husband learned in Yeshiva Bais Yisroel in Jerusalem. She went to Bais Yaakov LA. The young couple lived in Neve Yaakov.
The Jewish Journal reported March 7:
Los Angeles Rabbi Yisroel Adelman, owner of La Brea Kosher Market near Hancock Park, lost his only daughter in a car accident in Jerusalem on Friday.
Devorah Levenberg (neé Adelman) and her one-year-old daughter Aliza were killed instantly in a head-on collision in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood in Jerusalem.
Her husband, Moshe, was taken to Hadassah Ein Karem hospital in critical condition. The driver of the car, who was giving the family a ride, was in moderate condition at Sha’arei Zedek hospital.
The funeral was held in Jerusalem Friday afternoon, as it is a Jerusalem custom to hold funerals the day of death. The Adelmans, who reside in Hancock Park, have asked the community to refrain from visiting for shiva on motzei Shabbat, or Saturday night.
Shiva will be held 331 N. Vista Ave; shacharis will be Sunday morning at 7:50, Monday – Thursday 6:15. The family will be resting from 2-4. Condolence emails can be sent to laadelman@yahoo.com.
(Click HERE for photos) Just one day after the shooting attack in Yeshivas Mercaz Harav, Hatzolah Israel members were called to another tragic scene this morning on “Uzi Narkis Blvd.” next to Pisgat Zeev in Northern Jerusalem.
A Frum driver that was giving a young Frum American Family a ride, collided head on with another car. Tragically, the 23 year old Mother and her 1 year old daughter were R”L pronounced dead at the scene from the extent of their injuries.
The driver and his passenger, who is the husband and father of the 2 victims, were also badly injured.
The Father was taken by Magen David Adom to Haddassah Ein Karem hospital, in very serious condition. At last report, he was unconscious with head and chest wounds, and was not informed yet of his tragic losses. (TEHILLIM: Moshe ben Faiga)The driver was evacuated to Shaarei Zedek hospital in moderate to serious condition with chest and head wounds.
Moshe Weissmandl, one of the first Hatzolah Israel volunteers on the scene, tells YWN: “as the teams were trying to resuscitate the baby, and the other victims were being prepared for transport, I leaned over into the car to turn off the engine and heard the cars stereo that was playing all the while. The words on the tape as I turned off the engine, were Mashiach Ben David”………….UPDATE 9:22AM EST: The Levaya of Devora Levenberg (Aidelman, maiden name) A”H from Los Angeles and her 1-year-old daughter, took place this afternoon at 3:15PM at Har HaMenuchos in Yerushalayim.
Hatzolah posts to TheYeshivaWorld.com: "The father was sitting amongst the wreckage, his daughter 2 feet to his left with cpr in progress, and his wife also undergoing cpr, two feet to his right…and kept on asking me, hows my daughter aliza..how is my wife."
Well posts to TheYeshivaWorld.com:
For those of you who were don’t know Devorah…
I went to school with her for twelve years. She was a grade below me, but we were always together as a school for events, assemblies and productions. She was beatiful inside and out. She was always with a smile. As I think about her now, in elementary school, highschool etc, in virtually every image, she is smiling. She was not just friendly, but she reached out to people as well. At school events, I felt like instead of being part of the center of the action, she would search out the girl who was standing off to the side, and introduce herself, talk to her, and make her feel included. She was part of almost every chesed organization in school, and voluteered for school events. Her decorum was incredibly refined. She knew how to have fun with her friends, enjoy school, but was never “loud”. Her midos were beautiful, as was she. Her kind and giving mannerisms must be hereditary…
Her father owns THE kosher grocery store in LA, and because of his boundless generosity literally hundreds of families are able to put food on their tables for shabbos and Yom Tov. A lot of these families are not desperate enough to qualify for other aid programs within the community, and he lets people buy on credit in his store, which gets many many families through Yom Tov etc. The amount of Chesed he and his wife do is remarkable. He is truely a pillar of the community.
My heart breaks for her parents, because on some level, I actually have a concept of what it is they lost. For the family- there really are no words, nothing that will or can make the pain better, so I won’t even try. All I have to say it is that on some level we all lost. We lost the ability to have someone we know who we can point to and say “be like her.”
To her brothers:
Keep your big sister’s memory alive, and never forget what you lost. May her good qualities inspire you to do chesed in her memory and give her neshama an aliyah. I’m so sorry for you…
May she be a melitz yoshor for all of us, and may she be reunited with her family when mashiach comes. Hamakom yenachem eschem be’soch she’ar aveilei tzion veyerushalayim.
