David OhanaA 22-year-old Israeli resident of Jerusalem, who traveled to Colombia with his friends, died yesterday (Monday) in the capital Bogota as a result of a milk allergy. The Israeli embassy in Colombia has been accompanying the family in recent days. The young man’s body will probably be flown to Israel on Thursday.
The young man apparently suffered from an acute allergic reaction to lactose, after being exposed to dairy products at a local restaurant last Tuesday. He was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition, but the medical staff was unable to stabilize his condition and he died after a few days. His family managed to get to Colombia and be by his side in his last hours.
Rabbi Levy and Nono, originally from Kiryat Gat, who founded and run the Chabad House there for six years, said that “we knew him, such a special, cordial, happy guy that everyone fell in love with. He told me he was proud he did not miss a single day of putting on tefillin throughout his long trip to South America. “He added,” Shocked that this is what happened. Lost his life so tragically. We prayed. We believed. It is sad that this is how it ended. “
“My message to travelers is to be careful where you eat, it is very difficult to trust locals who will understand all the limitations of everyone. You have to be very careful, you have to make sure and it is very desirable to eat in places of Israelis who understand your language and the truth is that training “This is the first time throughout my mission that I have heard of such a tragedy here. There have been car accidents here, people have fallen off cliffs, but there has never been a case like this that I remember in the Columbia area.”
“We were privileged that David would be an instructor in his final year at our preparatory school,” wrote Benny Madzhinsky, head of the “Shachar” preparatory school in Tel Katzir, where Ohana was the instructor. “Our revered, beloved and funny guide. Who chose before his great trip, to give his soul in the education of the next generation and prepare them for meaningful service in the army. An uncle who was connected to wherever he went.”
“David who is a soul actor,” he added. “A big soul in a small body. A man of giving and doing, goes down to all the little details and everything quietly, quickly and behind the scenes. David with the best eyes in the world. In a short time he instilled in trainees values that will never be forgotten. “I mean, he means it. We are missing, broken and overwhelmed. Rest in peace on your bed, the boy who dreamed of being Minister of Education and changing the world.”
The young man attended high school in a yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. His mother runs a post office and his father runs a store, even with three brothers. “On the trip, for many months, he was careful because he knew about this sensitivity, and even carried an epinephrine syringe with him for self-emergency treatment, which this time unfortunately did not help,” said a family neighbor, Baruch Fishheimer, who has known the young man since childhood. “As far as we know he was with a friend at the guesthouse and asked for a milk-free omelet and they made it with cheese. He lost consciousness, but after a prolonged resuscitation they returned his pulse and breathing.”
“There was a very special child,” the neighbor added. “I met a lot of people in life but he was dripping with honey, it was impossible not to fall in love with him, to want to hug him. There was a soul. He was a leader. But then they overcame this shortcoming and sent him to a back position, which he also filled with all his heart. “
Elhanan Avitan, the young man’s friend, paid tribute to him on Facebook. “You told me: you must fly here, to South America, to the East, what a world it is you do not understand. Then you said to me: ‘I flew alone in fruit style, and I always find great guys to travel,’ “You will find friends wherever you are, because you are the most sociable and fluent. I knew you would make this post-military trip, I knew you were always connected to it, to the scenery, to sit with the cigars in front of the whole world and be blown away by it.”
Bogota, Colombia (Photo: Use under Section 27A)“He carried a syringe to such a situation, but it did not help”
“As far as is known, he ate at a hostel that many Israelis go through and said he was allergic, and was assured that everything was fine – but they gave him something with lactose. He carried a shot with him to such a situation but it did not help,” he told Walla! Israel Bichler, 27, from New York, who travels in South America and knows the case. “He started to get foggy and one who was with him got out of the place and supported him on his shoulders, and couldn’t stop a taxi so he started walking with him towards a hospital. At the end he just stopped a car, put it in and told the driver to take him quickly to the hospital.
Bichler, who now volunteers at the Chabad house in the city of Medellin, says he remembers well the guy who did the Shabbat about two weeks ago at the Chabad house, was very kind and volunteered to help. “One has to be very careful in Colombia with the food, not only regarding lactose but also salmonella, and everything. This is true for all of South America and maybe in general,” he added.
In 2018, Oranit Menachem, a 25-year-old Israeli woman from Bat Shlomo, died during a trip to the city of Dharamsala in northern India, apparently from an acute allergic reaction to milk. Apparently, she ate something containing lactose, without knowing it. She turned with shortness of breath to a Chabad house located in one of the villages near the city. After talking to her family they tried to activate the insurance and medical assistance arrived – but apparently late. She was evacuated by ambulance but died on the way to the hospital.
Food allergy is an overreaction of the immune system, and is defined as a failure syndrome of the body’s immune system. Food allergy exists in 3-2% of the population and is common in exposure to several foods – milk, eggs, soy, peanuts, wheat family, walnut family, sesame seeds, fish, celery, mustard and lupine.
The most severe allergic reaction, known as an anaphylactic reaction, can cause severe breathing difficulties, loss of consciousness and even death. This severe reaction can be treated with an adrenaline-containing epinephrine syringe. The injection of the substance into the thigh relaxes the respiratory muscles and narrows the blood vessels and allows a time interval until receiving treatment at the hospital. This is a life-saving operation that must be performed in the field and immediately, as the deterioration of allergy symptoms to a state of suffocation and death may continue for a few minutes.