Skip to content

Where different views on Israel and Judaism are welcome.

  • Home
  • Subscribe / donate
  • Events calendar
  • News
    • Local
    • National
    • Israel
    • World
    • עניין בחדשות
      A roundup of news in Canada and further afield, in Hebrew.
  • Opinion
    • From the JI
    • Op-Ed
  • Arts & Culture
    • Performing Arts
    • Music
    • Books
    • Visual Arts
    • TV & Film
  • Life
    • Celebrating the Holidays
    • Travel
    • The Daily Snooze
      Cartoons by Jacob Samuel
    • Mystery Photo
      Help the JI and JMABC fill in the gaps in our archives.
  • Community Links
    • Organizations, Etc.
    • Other News Sources & Blogs
    • Business Directory
  • FAQ
  • JI Chai Celebration
  • [email protected]! video

Search

Archives

Recent Posts

  • Beth Israel celebrates 90th
  • Honouring volunteers
  • Race to the bottom
  • Celebrating Richmond
  • Poetry-art book launch and exhibit
  • Maus not too graphic
  • Honouring those who’ve died
  • State of Jewish media
  • Debating profit vs. nonprofit
  • Community milestones … B.C. lieutenant governor visits, Diamond invested into OC, Belfer a Star of Richmond
  • Opportunity to be healthier
  • Battling over-diagnosis
  • Bat mitzvah’s 100th birthday
  • שבע עשרה שנים בוונקובר בצל מותה של אמי
  • Celebrating 25 years
  • “Never again” still resonates?
  • Every person has a voice
  • The kill fee – and its fallout
  • Investing in the climate
  • Shalhevet honours Vivian Claman
  • Health workers’ courage
  • A grandfather’s story – available online to May 7
  • SFU students vote BDS
  • With a Song returns to forum
  • StandWithUs Canada course
  • Chance to meet local artists
  • Mixing global music, dance
  • Our relationship to objects
  • Orcas inspire creative music
  • A full life post-career
  • Mausoleum work to resume
  • רכישות צבאיות על ידי ממשלת קנדה
  • Helping Ukrainian refugees
  • The scarcity of water

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @JewishIndie
photo - Classmates congratulate Oz Attal, second from the left, after he completed Alyn Hospital’s Wheels of Love bike-a-thon

Fighting for a recovery

0 Flares 0 Flares ×

Classmates congratulate Oz Attal, second from the left, after he completed Alyn Hospital’s Wheels of Love bike-a-thon. (photo from Canadian Friends of BTJ)

This Chanukah, Boys Town Jerusalem is celebrating its own miracle. Student Oz Attal is taking an active role in the school-wide celebrations. Just over three years ago, the then-12-year-old boy was hit by a bus as he was coming home from day camp. With severe head and internal injuries, he was in a coma for six weeks. The moment he regained consciousness, he began an intense, painstaking struggle to regain his function and independence. Today, pushing a walker, 16-year-old Oz (Hebrew for “strength”) has rejoined his class at Boys Town.

photo - Oz Attal participated in the school’s Chanukah celebrations this year
Oz Attal participated in the school’s Chanukah celebrations this year. (photo from Canadian Friends of BTJ)

“There wasn’t a day that Boys Town wasn’t there for Oz,” recalled his mother, Yael. “Rabbi Meir Linchner, dean of students, and principal Rabbi Elimelech Yaakov were at our side in the hospital almost immediately after the accident. Once Oz was conscious, the school sent a steady flow of classmates to visit him regularly. Even when Oz entered the Alyn Pediatric Rehabilitation Centre for what would become nearly a three-year stay, several teachers voluntarily came each week to tutor him. Although he could barely communicate, Oz clearly felt strong and loved.”

Watching Oz dart through Boys Town’s halls – and stairs – his mother noted that, two years ago, the doctors declared that her son would never walk again. Although Oz needs a walker for support, he cuts himself no slack when heading indoors or outdoors with his class. “Yet, with traumatic brain injury (TBI), no one can know the extent of the permanent injury,” she said. “For now, Oz’s left side is weak, and his hand shakes. Sadly, he has no long-term memory and no control over what he may say, yet he understands the academic material quite well. Most crucial, he has iron motivation.”

Last year, Oz began coming to Boys Town several hours, one day a week, accompanied by his mother. At the start of the school year, Linchner informed her that, for the four days that Oz is not in treatment at Alyn Hospital, he can return to his 11th-grade class, where Linchner himself is the main instructor. The classroom was then moved to a lower floor. “At first, I stayed at Oz’s side in class and also helped him manoeuvre his way through the halls between classes,” she explained. “Very soon, Rabbi Linchner informed me that BTJ had made arrangements for a ‘shadow’ to accompany Oz for the year and relieve me.” (At home, Oz’s seven siblings await her.)

Tears filled Oz’s eyes when he first took his seat in class, Linchner recalled. “His 36 classmates received him with love and extreme patience. They are now learning an invaluable lesson in how to give of themselves.”

Recently, the entire class joined Oz in a moment of triumph when he pedaled to the finish line of Alyn Hospital’s Wheels of Love bike-a-thon. Waving signs that said, “Oz the King!” his classmates and teachers heartily cheered for him.

“Oz has been blessed with an extraordinary family and a fierce will to live,” Linchner said. “For us, his teachers and classmates, it’s an honor to be a part of the miracle of Oz’s life.”

Print/Email
0 Flares Twitter 0 Facebook 0 Google+ 0 0 Flares ×
Format ImagePosted on December 11, 2015December 9, 2015Author Canadian Friends of BTJCategories IsraelTags Boys Town, Jerusalem, Oz Attal

Post navigation

Previous Previous post: סערת דונלד טראמפ
Next Next post: Spreading the lights of Chanukah
Proudly powered by WordPress