On Monday morning, just after 7:00 a.m., Daniel Katzenstein, a United Hatzalah volunteer who works at United Hatzalah’s offices, was in his local synagogue in the Neve Ya’akov neighborhood of Jerusalem, when his emergency communications device began to ring. Just a block away, there was a violent interaction between an Arab road worker and a local Jewish resident. The resident accused the worker of stealing road materials from his property, and the argument quickly escalated into violence, resulting in an arm injury.

With no time to even remove his Tefillin, Daniel rushed out to his ambucar and arrived at the scene in under a minute, along with the local police. Daniel found the Arab worker, checked his vital signs, and bandaged his injured arm as the worker explained how he got his injury. 

The worker wanted to show the angry local that the materials were not his, and so the two went to his vehicle. The angry resident then proceeded to slam the vehicle door on the worker's arm, leaving a heavy dent and bloody wound. 

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Daniel affixed an arm bandage with a sling over the shoulder, and using his Psychotrauma Unit training, helped calm the worker. After a quick briefing with the police and making sure the man was at no risk, Daniel returned to the synagogue to continue his prayers.

The next day, before going to work, Daniel returned once more to the road construction site to see the Arab worker, who recognized Daniel despite not having his vest on. The two spoke for a while and Daniel made a point to reassure the Arab worker, that despite the attacker being an Orthodox Jew, he should not feel that all Orthodox Jews are against him.

“I have a pulse, and you have a pulse, we are the same. That is what I told the worker,” said Daniel. “I feared that in the aftermath of the violent interaction, the Arab worker might assume the worst. I was upset that the attacker had done injustice to the community. I came specifically without my vest to show him that although the attack came from a Jewish man, so did the help.”