Passaic, NJ – Rabbi Interrupts Prayer to Rush to Help Man Injured by Falling Tree

Passaic, NJ – A rabbi didn't think twice about interrupting prayer to rush to help a man struck on Katherine Avenue by branches of a fallen 40-foot tree.

"I don't understand why people shouldn't help another human being," Rabbi Yehoshua Kaganoff said. He was praying in a home on Katherine Avenue shortly when the tree came crashing down.
"I don't understand that. I really don't," he said. "If a person is hurt, why shouldn't we help them? It's beyond me that someone should just walk away."

The injured man, whom police identified as Thomas Painter, 59, suffered a dislocated left shoulder and a cut to the back of the head, he was conscious at the scene, and was taken to St. Mary's Hospital.
Painter was standing outside of his silver 2003 Toyota Camry when he was struck by one of the tree's branches. The car sustained extensive damage to the rear windshield, and part of the roof caved in as a result. [northjersey]