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Back to Life: The Miracle of the ISM Warrior | Israel Today

2021-04-02T08:01:50.331Z


The fighter Assaf Turgeman was fatally wounded in a terrorist attack five years ago and has since lived with a bullet in his head, but proves every day that life is stronger than anything | You sat down


Assaf Turgeman, a YSM fighter, was fatally wounded in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem five years ago • He is left with a bullet in his head and suffers from severe post-trauma, but after a unique rehabilitation program at the Feuerstein Institute The Jerusalem Marathon

  • "My story is really a miracle, not at the level of human reason."

    Assaf Turgeman

    Photo: 

    Oren Ben Hakon

The kitchen in the

Cognitive Rehabilitation

Department

at the Feuerstein Institute in Jerusalem is small for Major Assaf Turgeman. Even before his injury, he treated cooking as therapy, after which the hobby only intensified. The small kitchen cabinets and the crowded work surface challenge the tall man to cook a meal for the staff. Thank them for the last four years they helped him recover. But after fighting for his life and winning, this kitchen is not what will stop him. 



We meet just before he ends the official rehabilitation period, exactly five years after the life-changing attack. A small elevator takes us To the fifth floor of the institute, to a place where staff members try to do the impossible and give new life to head injuries from accidents, attacks or operational activities.This is not about physical rehabilitation, but about trying to teach the brain to work again.



Turgeman, 35, a YSM fighter who was fatally wounded in March 2016, was able to restart his life here. “My two main injuries, the head injury and the post-trauma, are transparent injuries.

No one sees them, no one knows.

If I tell someone I have a bullet in my head, he will not believe me.

I am strong, big, speak well, do not show difficulties.

But there are a lot of difficulties, and there were very dark moments. "



He made the decision to be exposed after long deliberations," because it is not easy.

Even the people closest to me, including my wife and mother, do not know the whole picture.

But for me, it's a kind of mission.

It's enough for someone to read my story, know that I've been through so much and that I still see life in a positive way - and I did mine.

I have been to many bad places, I have become from a happy and happy person, really omnipotent, to a person who needs support.

I want to prove that it is possible to get through this and move forward.

Continue to live your life. "



He was born and grew up in the sun, and in 2003 enlisted in the Givati Brigade. When the disengagement was used fighter fourth circuit, the protection circuit operational. Shortly before his release from the army kidnapped Gilad Shalit, and Israel went into operation" Summer Rains "in Gaza.

"I went straight from Gaza for the liberation holiday," he says. 



After his release, he began working as a cook at the Dan Hotel in Eilat, then moved to the Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem, and later joined a catering company as a chef.

After four years in the field felt exhausted himself and began to look for another line of work, where he hoped to succeed in realizing the sense of mission that he felt IDF fighters. At this time already lived in Jerusalem, then made up his mind to join the special patrol unit of the police.



"I knew riot police From stories, and I saw the fighters on motorcycles in the city. I have always loved the field of security, for me it was a pride to wear the uniform with the Israeli flag. I knew the work was dangerous, it did not scare me. I was a fighter, I saw things. We hijacked missiles in both Gaza and the Second Lebanon War "My friend snatched a bullet in Gaza. I always said that if I donate, I do it to the end. I learned from friends' stories that it is a challenging and interesting job, and one that is like family."



In September 2012, a month before he joined the YSM, he married Rona, after four years together. "I was supposed to start the YSM before that, but I postponed the recruitment a bit because I wanted to get married first. I knew that once I joined the unit, I would actually marry The system ". 



Assaf was not satisfied with service in the unit: he wanted to serve in the prestigious motorcycle unit, mounted fighters who are called to every incident and arrive within minutes, armed with M-16 rifles.

Their daring activity in the second intifada, in terrorist attacks and in many events gave them a reputation as "super warriors" in the city.



"Even before I enlisted, I knew that was what I was aiming for," he says. "Every time I stood with Rona at an intersection in the city and saw a motorcycle of the ISM, I would tell her: one day I will be there."



At the end of 2014, he was accepted into the motorcyclist unit. For the Jerusalem police, after the abduction of the three boys in Gush Etzion and the wave of violence in the capital.



How did your wife accept the fact that you were suddenly at the front?



"It was certainly easier for her before the wave of terror, when work was 'calm', as far as demonstrations and clashes are concerned.

When the tension and risk go up, you feel it at home too.

She always worried about me, and whenever there was a news report of an attack she called because she knew I was in the area.

But she also knew it would do me good to do this job. " 

* * *

In September 2015, on Rosh Hashanah, Alexander Leblowitz was assassinated near the Commissioner's Palace after stones were thrown at his vehicle, and Israel sank into a new wave of terror.

On Sukkot, a terrorist entered Hagai Street in the Old City and stabbed four family members with a knife.

Father Aharon Bennett (Benita) was murdered, his wife and two-year-old son were injured.

Rabbi Nehemiah Lavie, who came to their aid, was also murdered.

Assaf was one of the first to arrive.



"We were outside the walls, on a routine shift on the motorcycle, when the attack on Hagai Street was reported. We advanced on the motorcycle towards the Nablus Gate, and from there we started running on foot. When we arrived, the terrorist was already neutralized. We saw the wounded evacuated, the blood. I remember the little baby, "Only two years old, who was lightly injured and evacuated while covered in blood."



The next day, a boy was slightly injured near the Nablus Gate, three days later another Israeli was moderately injured near the Lions Gate, and a day later an Israeli was seriously injured in a stabbing attack at the light rail station at Ammunition Hill.

In many cases, the target of the terrorists was police and soldiers, with the Nablus Gate and the light rail stations in the Sheikh Jarrah area and Ammunition Hill becoming a real war zone. 



“Every day there were a few events, and you find yourself running from event to event,” he recalls.

"It put us on high alert. We knew we were going to a very sensitive place, a battlefield. Any person with a slightly unusual shirt aroused suspicion, because you do not know who an innocent person is and who a terrorist is. You do not know who will be the one to surprise you."



Did you think something could happen to you too?



"I saw my friends get injured, and deep down you know it could happen to you too, especially when the car bombings started. No one prevents a terrorist from bumping into you when you'm on the motorcycle, enough that someone gives you a boost when you drive fast - and you fly. But you do not let fear take over. You have to, otherwise you can not function. " 



One of the incidents that was specifically engraved in his memory was a shooting at a YSM force that arrived in Jerusalem as reinforcements from another city. “Two or three terrorists lurking in the Old City tried to open fire on them late at night.

Apparently the terrorists had a stop after a few shots, and they opened on the run towards the new gate.

I was with another team of YSMniks in the area of ​​the IDF tunnel, a short distance away, we stopped to drink water.

We tossed the glasses we were holding, jumped on the motorcycles and galloped there.



"On the way we realized in the connection that they were running in our direction, so we stopped, got off the motorcycles and started running towards them. Because of the darkness we did not know where they were, we saw only fire and smoke from the exchange between them and the reinforcements. At the last second we shouted at each other to stop , We enter the crossfire of the fighters in front of us.



"After 20 seconds, the terrorists were neutralized.

We survived the shooting at the last minute. "



What goes through your mind a moment before you enter such a scene of a rolling attack? 



" You put a black screen in front of your eyes.

You can not say to yourself, 'If I get hurt, what will happen to my wife?'.

You just can not, because once you start thinking, you will run away.

You will want to save yourself.

The thinking is where to look and how to take care of yourself in order to return home in peace. " 



Sunday, March 8, 2016, was no different from any other day during that difficult period. In the weeks before, three Israelis were killed in terrorist attacks, and tensions in Jerusalem were at their peak. The only question was where and when.



Assaf says that despite the tension, he was actually in a good mood. Of the friends.



"On Sunday afternoon I did a fitness workout, like before any shift, and then I got on the motorcycles with Nati Bitton, my partner, and we went downtown.

At exactly 5:00 PM, we received a call on the radio: a report of a shooting on Saladin Street in East Jerusalem.



"We turned the bike and we raced there. When we arrived, we saw a policeman on the ground, wounded with, and we heard shooting. We realized that the terrorist came walked toward the structure of the IEC, and began to paddle to the touch. It's money time ours, for that Htamno.



" We got motorcycles and started searching the bomber .

Nati went down to the parking lot in the area of ​​the Flower Gate, and I followed him.

As we descended the stairs, we came under fire.

The terrorist apparently heard the contact voices from our helmets and ambushed us.

I snatched a bullet to the head and fell about eight steps down. " 

Nati continued to move forward, along with other teams that came to the arena.

He knew that Assaf had been wounded, but he understood that without neutralizing the terrorist, he and the other police officers would be in danger.

The terrorist grabbed the parking lot, and tried to fire at the police officers who surrounded him.

They fired at him and killed him.



"After a few months, I told Nati that if he had taken care of me again and been injured, and I had survived, I would not have been able to forgive myself," says Assaf.

As soon as the terrorist was eliminated, Nati hurried to Assaf.

"He took off my helmet and blocked the hole through which the bullet penetrated my head, from behind. I'm sure it was not an easy sight for him. I was covered in blood, with rolling eyes, I did not react. He later told me he thought he had lost me."



An intensive care unit rushed Assaf to the trauma department of Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, in critical condition.

He suffered significant blood loss to his head and a gunshot wound to his leg.

For hours, doctors fought for his life, draining blood from the brain to relieve intracerebral pressure.

"My story is really a miracle, not at the level of human reason," he says.

* * *

The "Israel Today" issue on Monday, March 9, dealt with the visit of the then Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, to Israel and noted that the reception was a day of terror - the attack in Jerusalem, another attack in Petah Tikva and a terrorist attack in Jaffa, in which a tourist was killed 11 people were injured. "A terrorist with a motorcycle and a submachine gun," shouted the headline of the attack in which Assaf was injured.



When did your wife hear about the injury?



"My mother heard it was an attack, and she had a bad feeling.

We moved in with her at her age two weeks before the attack, to save money for the apartment.

She called me and I did not answer, then asked Rona, and she replied that she had heard nothing from me. 



"A few minutes later they called Rona and told her to come to the hospital because I was injured in the leg. She took my mother and they flew to the hospital. At the entrance to the ward they saw my friends standing, broken. And these are strong YSM fighters, each man-man.

They immediately realized that it was something much more serious than a bullet in the leg. "The 



doctors were able to stabilize Assaf's condition, but decided not to remove the bullet from his head, because it got stuck between the first vertebra of the spine and the top of the head, close to the main artery and nerves." 'Two millimeters from death.' "Is the



bullet still there?



" "Yes, they do not know if it will endanger me later.

I follow up, do CT every year.

It makes me a little angry, because I want to know what my condition is, but I understand that it is a rare condition, and there is simply not much information about it. "



For the courage he showed in the attack, Assaf received the police masterpiece decoration, six months after the attack.



You feel lucky to stay Alive?



He's silent for a long minute. "Yes and no.

On the one hand, it is not obvious that I function as I do today.

On the other hand, I have been through and I am still going through so many not so simple things, that I do not know if it is such luck.

I have already said 'it would have been better that day', because the difficulties I am going through, and what my environment is absorbing from me, are things that are not taken for granted.

It is not easy to suddenly meet a person completely different from what you knew.



"On the face of it I look like any other person. But I have a lot of nerve and physical injuries in the body, and pains every day. I have a head injury, which is one of the hardest injuries there is, and something that will accompany me all my life. I sometimes have memory difficulties, and nervousness that was not there before Therefore, the last gift I received was the post-trauma. "

* * *

The physical recovery was relatively rapid.

A few days after the injury, Assaf regained consciousness, and after a month and a half of hospitalization, he returned home and began rehabilitation at the hospital and at the Warrior's House in Jerusalem.

This rehabilitation will take a year.



A few days later he had already attended the wedding of his partner in the unit, Nati.

"Until that moment I had not left the house. But I was not ready to give up this wedding, also because Nati was a good friend of mine, especially since he saved my life. Friends from the unit came to my house and helped me down the stairs and out." 



Two months later he wore the YSM uniform again, this time as a worker in the unit's sewing room. "I lived in illusions.

I thought the pain would pass and I would return to the job.

Today I can say that I came back too fast.

It was a kind of escape.



"Because I was home and could not go out, my head started to fool me. All sorts of thoughts started. I would sit on the porch, watch the guys on the motorcycles ride, understand that they are running from place to place, but do not understand why they do not stop for coffee.



" Goes into action, tells you that you are no longer interested in them, that there is no point in life.

I wanted to get away from that feeling.

Not to reach a low point, not to do something for myself, God forbid.

I decided that I refuse to let the terrorist complete the work he failed.

I do not want to give anyone this victory. "The



attack near the national police headquarters, on October 9, shook his world again. A terrorist resident of Silwan opened fire on civilians at the light rail station and killed her 60-year-old son Malihi. Sheikh Jarrah shot another woman and wounded her, and when he noticed a team of ISM motorcyclists, he opened fire at them.

One of the fighters, Maj. Gen. Yossi Kirma (29), was wounded and died on the spot. His friend, Maj. Gen. Sergei Butzikin, was moderately injured. 



"Fate wanted it, and at the time of the attack I was driving a car on the way out of the parking lot of the national headquarters," says Assaf.

"Then I started hearing volleys of fire. I will never forget those moments. I heard about reports of an attack, I recovered and started driving, I pulled out the gun. I press the gas, but I can't move forward. As if time has frozen. A meter travels, and stops. Passes and stops. Can't move.



"It took me a long time to get out of the gate.

At the end I managed to activate the siren and advanced towards the direction of the terrorist's escape, as reported in the connection.

I reached the intersection and got out of the car with the gun in my hand.

It seems to me that I did not even step on it, because of the confusion.

And suddenly - I found myself in our offices.



"I have no idea how it happened. My mind told me I was a warrior and that I should strive for contact, but the mind said, 'Honey, you're not going anywhere, a moment ago you were almost killed.' And so I actually turned around and came back, without feeling.



" That moment was very Hard.

The understanding that I will not return to what I was, and that I cannot return to the unit, even if I really want to. "In



this attack, did you internalize the fact that you were injured?



" To this day, I have not internalized that I was injured.

Five years have passed, and I still haven't dropped the token.

I'm obviously aware of what happened, but it still does not sound realistic to me.

It does not make sense to me that I was injured like that and that I am behaving the way I am - getting up in the morning, going to work, as if nothing had happened.

If I have to tell someone about my limitations I tell them, but not wholeheartedly, because after they know, they see me differently. "



What do you say?



" That I do not sleep well at night, that I have physical pain and cognitive problems, that I have difficulty remembering or learning.

But with all the problems, I function like any other human being. "

* * *

A year after the attack, Assaf completed his physical rehabilitation.

But the mental rehabilitation was only in its infancy.



"I complained that I have memory problems and that I suffer from difficulties in daily coping, such as memory impairment and nervousness. The Ministry of Defense sent me to all kinds of diagnoses and found that I have many cognitive problems. In the end I was recommended the Feuerstein Institute, which deals with" brain rehabilitation ". The



institute, which specializes in special education and cognitive rehabilitation, was founded by the late psychologist Reuven Feuerstein in 1965.

Today it is headed by his son, Rabbi Dr. Rafi Feuerstein. It is the only center in Israel that performs brain rehabilitation in this way. The treatment does not include hospitalization, but participation in groups and individual sessions, and there is no end date: whenever the patient needs to study another area of ​​the brain, he can return to the car to another series of treatments.



"the people in the rehabilitation Department head injuries, as gathered, are often people who have lost their whole world," said Rabbi Feuerstein, "my father was the first in taking the human potential to change and turned it into a worldview.

The greatest innovation in his conception was that stimulation changed not only the function but the brain itself.

He claimed 60 years ago that parts of the brain can be taught to compensate for other parts that are sick, and that's what we do here. "



Hava Dardik, the department's director, explains:" Here we do not do the crazy work of physical rehabilitation, but the delicate work - finding the The meaning of man.

Assaf was in intensive care at the hospital, but the medical system that saved his life did not recognize that he needed rehabilitation like the one he is receiving here.

Once he faced not being able to return to serve as a warrior, he began working on the next step - how to maximize his abilities as a human being.

How to learn, how to solve problems, how to conduct oneself strategically.

Not just a classic restoration. "

These days, Assaf is completing his rehabilitation at the institute, at least temporarily.

He will be able to return whenever he wants, if faced with a new challenge.

At the same time, he works at the Jerusalem District Control Center, the national police headquarters, and with his wife is raising their daughter, Hoodia, who was born a year and nine months ago.



"I guess she will experience things that will be caused by my injury, like impatience and anger.

When the time comes when I will have to explain to her why I behaved a certain way, why I was not calm or why I preferred to leave the house, I will explain.

But I can also tell her that I have something to be proud of.

I acted against a terrorist to prevent him from murdering innocents.

I am proud of what I did. "



Rona (31) works as a kindergarten assistant, and accompanied him all the way." She took care of me all the time, bandaged my leg, took showers for me.

This is not something I would have expected from her at such a young age, she was then 26. It is not obvious.

She knew a strong husband, a kind of omnipotent one, who became someone who walks in and out of the hospital, and can’t clear his plate from the table because he has dizziness.

I was indignant, very nervous.



"Sometimes I ask her why she stayed, why stay with someone like me. It's not easy to stay with a head injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. Apparently she really loves me."

* * *

The Corona period only increased his sense of loneliness.

"Suddenly I found myself alone. Some of the friends left me and preferred to continue their life. This is human nature. It can also be difficult for them with the change I went through. It is not always pleasant to be by my side, I am not with the same joy of life I once had, I am not the same person It's causing a kind of isolation, not voluntarily.



"Sometimes it hurts me that people do not understand me.

Even if they do not say it, there are those who think I take advantage of the situation and play.

I can not explain, because no one will really understand what a head injury is, what a post-trauma is.

There are many things that there is no way to put into words.

If anyone understands me, it means unfortunately that he is like me, even if he does not know it.



"On the other hand, I make every effort not to see my difficulties. I do not want a situation where I am told I am poor and pity me. I do not need pity and I am not poor. I am in a pretty good place, albeit far from what I would like - to be as I was before the attack and move forward "In life - but quite good. I see life in a positive light and look forward. Of course there are crises and difficulties, but there is also a lot of good, and I try to take the good and move forward."

Dealing with post-trauma is also evident in simple, everyday moments.

"When I go out to the mall, I am constantly looking for where the attack will come from, what will hurt me. Many times I tried to understand why I was injured, checked and investigated where I went wrong and what I did wrong. Professionals from the unit, who know the incident, told me I made no mistake. And that they show the videos to the new guys, who will learn how to behave, but that does not give me peace. "



If you could go back to the day of the attack, would you do anything else?



"No. I would do everything the same. I would not give up anything. That's what I enlisted for, that's what I trained for. Even if I died in a terrorist attack, that's the job."



Have you ever visited Saladin Street?



"No. I'm afraid of what will happen to me."

* * *

Some people survived the attacks and say that on the day of the attack they were reborn.

Do you mark the day of the attack?



"This is not a landmark in my eyes. For me it's another day in life, where I have less patience, less concentration and less power to speak or hear people. I know there are people who say they were reborn when they survived the attack, and it's really kind of accepting life again, but not in my eyes. .



"I try to live my life like that.

I am not a religious person, but I do keep a tradition and take it upon myself to do a little more, because it all starts and ends up.

He decides what will or will not be. "Does the



fact that the ball is still stuck in your head affect you?



" I hardly bother with it, preferring to suppress.

I have migraines, in the winter it's a little more noticeable, but usually it's like wearing a mask during the corona period, and not remembering that it exists.

I do not want the injury and difficulties to run my life.

They're there whether I want to or not, but I refuse to let them take over. " 



Did you come to terms with the fact that the terrorist cut off your dream of serving as a warrior? Are you still angry?



" No, I'm not angry and I do not know if I ever got angry .

There are a lot of good things that have happened since then.

The terrorist may have stopped much of my progress, aspirations and dreams, but I refuse to give up, and bottom line, he did not stop me.

He might have changed the route for me.

Some of the things I wanted I might not be able to do because of the injury, but I will do other things.

He will not defeat me. "



Are you still living in Jerusalem, and still serving in the national headquarters. Isn't that mentally challenging?



" To tell you that I do not feel more relaxed when I leave Jerusalem?

I am.

The only times I sleep relatively better are when I'm out of town.

If I was thinking of leaving?

Yes, but in the end, leaving the city is a victory for terrorism.

Once I get up and leave, the terrorist who tried to murder me wins. "



What is your dream now, what would you like to achieve?



" I have two dreams.

The first is to reach a learning ability that will allow me to study for a bachelor's degree, and the second is to run the Jerusalem Marathon.

I signed up for the marathon in 2016, but was injured a few weeks before.

Now I am striving to get back in shape, with all the limitations, and succeed.

It will be a big V for me. " 

shishabat@israelhayom.co.il

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2021-04-02

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