Top Doctor-Rabbi And Daughter-Bride Murdered In Attack

September 10, 2003
http://www.israelnationalnews.com

The tragedy of the Jerusalem attack was multiplied several-fold 
when it was learned that among the murdered were Dr. David Appelbaum 
and his daughter Nava. The former was the director of the emergency 
room of Shaarei Tzedek Medical Center, who dealt with hundreds of 
other victims of terrorist attacks and to whom his colleagues said 
"thousands owed their lives" - and the latter was to be married tonight. 
The two had gone to have a last pre-wedding father-daughter talk.

Dr. Appelbaum had returned just a few hours earlier from the 
United States, where he had spoken about how hospitals should prepare 
for mass terror attacks. 

Dr. Appelbaum's wife and five remaining children gathered in the 
Shaarei Tzedek emergency room - "their second home," some said - 
upon hearing the news, and Chanan Sand, Nava's intended groom, 
broke down, requiring medical treatment. Doctors and nurses stood 
around crying, even as ambulances continued to bring in other 
wounded patients. They were barely able to absorb the fact that 
instead of going to the joyous wedding planned for tonight, 
they would be attending the double funeral of the bride and her 
father.

Natan Appelbaum, the youngest son of the family, said that he 
had gone to sleep early "to be ready for the wedding," when he 
"suddenly awoke to the screaming sirens of ambulances, and I had 
a bad feeling." At those very moments, his father's colleague 
Dr. Yitzchak Glick, who arrived on the scene to deal with the 
wounded, was identifying one of the dead as Natan's father.

"He was one of the '36 righteous men' of the world," Natan said. 
"His whole life was dedicated to saving lives." Dr. Yonatan 
HaLevy, director of Shaarei Tzedek, said that the hospital had 
suffered a grave loss, while other doctors spoke of a "great 
Torah scholar," a "sparkling personality," and a "model family 
man."

Stories about Dr. Appelbaum began sprouting as soon as word of 
his death became known. It was said that he was always one of 
the first to go to an attack, and that he had developed improved 
methods for administering emergency treatment. He was also the 
founder of the Terem Emergency Clinic in Jerusalem, which now 
has chapters in Maaleh Adumim and Modiin.

Chaim Ben-Daniel, a Jerusalem acquaintance, told Arutz-7 that 
the doctor stopped trimming his beard after the signing of the 
Oslo Accords "as a sign of mourning for what he knew was a 
tragedy for the Jewish People." As busy as his schedule was, 
"Dr. Appelbaum told me that he set aside one night a week to 
travel to Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh [near Ashdod] to study with 
his son."

Prof. Moshe Spero, Dr. Appelbaum's brother-in-law, said, 
"Everything was ready for the wedding - and it turns out to be 
a mourning ceremony."

Thousands of people, many of whom had prepared to attend Nava's 
wedding that very night, arrived at the Shamgar Funeral Home 
for the double funeral. The two were first eulogized by Nava's 
grandfather, Bar Ilan Prof. Rabbi Shubert Spero, who cried and 
spoke about his "beautiful granddaughter who performed her year 
of National Service with the most severely ill children." 
He stated that Israel, Jerusalem, and his family had suffered 
a tremendous loss with the deaths of the rabbi-doctor and his 
daughter.

Rabbi Spero was followed by former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, 
who said, "When I saw Dr. Appelbaum and his teacher Rabbi Aharon 
Soloveitchik, I saw a perfect example of a student honoring and 
serving his master." He spoke about the way Dr. Appelbaum combined 
the best of Torah study and the best of medicine; the deceased 
in fact gave a weekly Torah class in Midreshet Moriah adjacent 
to the hospital. Rabbi Lau further said that he saw the faces 
of the wounded in the #2 bus bombing light up when they saw 
Dr. Appelbaum. Other speakers were Tzvi Sand, father of the 
would-be groom, and two sons/brothers of the two victims. 

Chanan Sand, who was to have married Nava tonight, took the 
ring he had intended to place on her finger, and placed it 
instead atop her shrouded body as she was lowered into the 
ground.