Hero Dies Rescuing Drowning Swimmer At Israeli Beach
Image by Getty Images
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli personal trainer drowned while attempting to save the life of a stranger struggling in the water off an Ashdod beach.
On Sunday, Yohai Elkayam was strolling down Citadel Beach with a friend when they heard a woman calling for help and he jumped in to save her, Israel’s Channel 10 reported.
“He did not think twice, a friend of his asked him if he knew how to swim and they just jumped in,” his friend Yaniv Rojevsky told the Israeli outlet. “They managed to get to the girl and save her, and the friend was lucky enough to sit down or stand on some sand hill, but Yochai was swept into a whirlpool.”
Elkayam, 30, had been planning on proposing to his girlfriend. His parents got the news of their son’s death while vacationing in Europe and flew back immediately for the funeral.
“I do not understand why his judgment led him to do this,” Rojevsky said. “I assume that the desire to save a person was stronger than the judgment – the desire to help and push. He was a strong guy who knew how to live life.”
This is Yohai Elkayam, a 28-years-old Israeli hero. Yesterday he saw a young woman he didn’t even know – drowning in the sea. He rescued her but paid with his life. Rest In Peace, Yohai. pic.twitter.com/0OnCmKXoQd
— Dani Dayan (@AmbDaniDayan) August 20, 2018
The post Israeli man, 30, dies saving swimmer off Ashdod beach appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Jewish students, alumni decry ‘weaponization of antisemitism’ across country
-
Fast Forward Brooklyn event with Itamar Ben-Gvir cancelled days before Israeli far-right minister’s US trip
-
Fast Forward Marco Rubio sits down with Michael Benz, Jewish former Trump official with an antisemitic online persona
-
Fast Forward Eyeing a new opportunity, Jewish settlers are positioning themselves on the Gaza border
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 4
Opinion What Jewish university presidents say: Trump is exploiting campus antisemitism, not fighting it
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Jewish students, alumni decry ‘weaponization of antisemitism’ across country
-
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history
-
Opinion Why can Harvard stand up to Trump? Because it didn’t give in to pro-Palestinian student protests
-
Culture How an Israeli dance company shaped a Catholic school boy’s life
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.