Hasid defies death by jumping into steel Torah vault
Security box tips over on worker as he installs it at Borough Park rabbinical school — but he finds an escape hatch
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
A Brooklyn man avoided being crushed to death under a falling safe by quickly jumping inside, where he remained trapped with a Torah scroll until rescue workers set him free, the New York Post reported Monday.
The close call happened at the Rabbinical College Yeshiva of Machzikai Hadas in Borough Park as the man, who is Orthodox and was dressed in traditional hasidic garb, was installing a large steel security safe to store Torah scrolls.
According to the report, there have been several thefts in the Flatbush area, and the yeshiva had been a victim in the past.
As the worker installed the three foot by eight foot safe which was estimated to weigh over a ton, it began to tip over onto him.
Thinking quickly, the man sought safety in the only place within reach — inside the safe. He dove inside and found himself trapped alongside a large red-covered Torah scroll.
Firefighters arrived at the scene and after 45 minutes were able to prop it up enough for the smiling and relieved man to slide out to safety.
“Everyone was surprised at how it turned out, that this large safe fell on top of this person — and he literally came out of it safe and sound,” one police source said, according to the report.
Hatzolah paramedics took the man to the hospital for a checkup and he was found to be unharmed.
