 Yesterday, July 3, Ron Aaronson of Congregation Beth Messiah, Houston, and I visited Ami Ortiz at Tel HaShomer children's hospital in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv. His story is already well known. Back in March, someone left a gift basket for Purim, filled with food and goodies, on the Ortiz family doorstep. When Ami opened it, it blew up in his face, leaving his body torn open and filled with shrapnel. By a miracle he survived, and recovered much more quickly than anyone would have imagined possible, but months later he is still in great pain and undergoing extensive therapy.
Ron and I spoke with Leah Ortiz, Ami's mother, for a while, and then she called him on her cell phone to come meet us. A few minutes later, a tall (6' 2"), lanky, 15-year-old boy with a shy but pleasant smile walked through the door. He seemed glad to see visitors, but was clearly in pain from the way he moved and held his body. I presented him with a t-shirt that the youth at the UMJC conference had signed and filled with best wishes and prayers for Ami's recovery, and he was happy to receive that. (I'll try to send a photo later, but my computer is currently down, so I'm limited in what I can do). When Ron asked Ami how we could pray for him, he just mentioned the pain and his desire for a quick recovery.
Leah said that the attack had crossed a line that had never been crossed before in Israel--the attempted murder of a Messianic Jewish family. The bomb was strong enough and sophisticated enough to destroy the whole family, and only God's protection had preserved Ami. She felt that the response of the authorities has been slow and indecisive, and that this would not help in warding off future attacks.
We prayed together that instead this attack would turn out to be the high-water mark of violence against the Messianic community in Israel, that when the perpetrators see the strength of public outcry against them, and the growing sympathy for the Messianic community in Israel, they will realize that their plan backfired and has produced the opposite of what they intended. Instead of being weakened and intimidated, the Messianic community has grown stronger and more united from this attack. Even the broader Israeli community has expressed sympathy. Ami is a basketball player and fan. When the Tel Aviv Maccabee basketball team heard his story, the sent him a brand-new basketball that they had all signed, as one small sign of Israeli public concern for the Ortiz family, and opposition to the bombing.
We are circulating a petition in Israel calling on the department of public security to push forward more aggressively with this investigation. We are also sharing some financial support for the family, and Ami's future medical needs out of recent Shavuot offering. Please pray with me that the perpetrator or perpetrators will be swiftly found and punished. Pray that Ami will have relief from pain and will continue to recover at an amazing rate. And pray that God will continue to bring forth good out of what the enemy meant for evil.
RR in Tel Aviv
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