16 | JUNE 24 • 2021

OUR COMMUNITY

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spread around the world.
Today, Hatzalah is the largest
volunteer ambulance service
in the United States, with more
than 80 ambulances and almost
2,000 volunteer EMTs, as well as
dozens of branches throughout
the world.
Hatzalah MI executive board
member Nachy Soloff grew up
in Monsey, N.Y., and was accus-
tomed to the service. “It was sec-
ond nature. You had a medical
emergency, you called Hatzalah.
They would be there a minute
later, and you were comfortable
with the person coming,
” he
said. “When I moved here about
15 years ago, I saw the commu-
nity was missing that.
”
While Detroit has been home
to an Orthodox community for
over a century, it hadn’t been
until recent years that it grew
to some 2,000 families, finally
having the resources and call
volume to make a Hatzalah
feasible. So, in 2016, Hatzalah
executive board member Bentzi
Oseroff began the process of
bringing the volunteer emer-
gency service to Metro Detroit.
“I saw the need to provide a
link between our Jewish com-
munity, where some people
— because of cultural and lan-

guage barriers or because they
are Holocaust survivors — are
uncomfortable dealing with
outsiders and local emergency
service providers in Oak Park
and Southfield,
” Oseroff said.
Oseroff turned to community
leader Gary Torgow to help
bring Hatzalah MI to fruition.
Because it was a new con-
cept, leaders of Oak Park and

Southfield public safety, as well
as local municipal leaders were
not on board with the idea right
away. Torgow helped to arrange
a trip to take those leaders to
Hatzalah Chicago, which had
been operating in the city for 10
years. After listening to the fire
chief of Chicago and having all
their questions answered, local
city and public safety leaders

were convinced it could be done
in Oak Park and Southfield and
plans moved forward.
Oak Park Public
Safety Director
Steven Cooper had
the opportunity
to go to Chicago
and see Hatzalah
in action. “I had
questions I wanted
answered,
” he said.
“How was it going
to flow? What level of training
were the people going to receive?
Would Hatzalah respond to all
people in Oak Park? It was the
chance to talk to people who had
boots on the ground.
”
At the ribbon-cutting cere-
mony for the Oak Park head-
quarters of Hatzalah MI in
summer 2017, Torgow told the
crowd, “We have extraordinary
leaders and public servants in
our cities. Without them, we
would not have been able to
do this.
” Torgow
also singled out
Bentzi Oseroff for
his “vision and
dedication to the
community.
”
Southfield Fire
Chief Johnny
Menifee told the

Director
Steve
Cooper

Chief
Johnny
Menifee

“IT WAS SECOND NATURE. YOU
HAD A MEDICAL EMERGENCY, YOU
CALLED HATZALAH. THEY WOULD

BE THERE A MINUTE LATER.”

— NACHY SOLOFF

Rabbi Bentzy Schechter of Oak Park
addresses the Hatzalah EMS workers
at their offices in Oak Park.
BELOW: Mordechai Katz of Southfield
and Chaim Cohen of Oak Park go over
their radio protocol.

OUR COMMUNITY
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