I initially saw this news article on Mentalblog but it has appeared all over the internet. Apparently this 8 year old boy was forgotten by his father when visiting the Dead Sea with number of families from Meah Shearim. This poor young thing was floating for 6 hours until found by rescuers. Arutz Sheva has a version which is a little more "human" in its reporting.
This story reminded me of one my grandfather used to tell which still bothered him in his later years. When he was a young boy - possibly the same age as the boy in the above story - his father left him in shul after ma'ariv one evening. Fortunately the shammas lived upstairs from the shul and heard crying coming from the locked and empty shul. According to my grandfather his father only realised that he was missing when the shammas knocked on the front door with my grandfather in tow.
Some people have said to me that this "forgetfulness" results from having large families. Chas VeSholom! It comes of being self-absorbed and is certainly not a chassidishe way to behave. Boruch Hashem this story ended well.
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Zot Chanukah
4 months ago
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