New York – Orthodox Jewish Woman Becomes Social Media Sensation After Soothing Autistic Boy On Overseas Flight

    38

    New York – A Chabad emissary to North Carolina defused a tense situation on a flight from Belgium to Newark last week, using her instincts to soothe an autistic boy who was creating a disturbance on a trans-Atlantic flight.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    Rabbi Bentzion Groner and his wife Rochel, co-directors of The Friendship Circle in Charlotte, were on their way back from chaperoning a Birthright trip to Israel when they experienced a three hour stopover in Brussels last Friday.

    Passengers were already feeling restless when they finally boarded their Newark-bound flight, but approximately an hour after takeoff stress levels rose when a young passenger began to have a meltdown.

    “It was clear that it wasn’t a baby crying,” Mrs. Groner told VIN News. “It was obviously someone with special needs who was non-verbal. The noise continued and it was getting louder and you could feel the tension in the cabin was getting worse and worse.”

    The Groners were seated by the bulkhead and could hear that the disturbance was coming from behind them but were unable to see what exactly was happening.

    Summoning up her courage, Mrs. Groner, 33, walked down the aisle and saw two flight attendants kneeling next to a woman who did not appear to speak English in the aisle seat. Seated next to the window was a young boy who had tears streaming down his face.

    “I’m pretty shy but I asked the flight attendants to move,” said Mrs. Groner. “I had no idea what to do so I just put out my hands. He stopped crying for a second and then he looked at me and put his hands out to me.”

    Mrs. Groner walked with the boy back to the bulkhead where she sat down on the floor with him next to the aircraft door. Giving the boy a firm hug, Mrs. Groner rubbed his back and spoke softly to the boy, despite the obvious language barrier.

    “Sometimes the words aren’t everything,” observed Mrs. Groner.

    Using a pen borrowed from a flight attendant, the 33 year old Mrs. Groner began coloring on motion sickness bags with the boy, drawing pictures and tracing the outline of his hand. A fidget spinner borrowed from another passenger also helped keep the boy at peace.

    “We seemed to connect in that way,” noted Mrs. Groner. “It might have been an hour or maybe even two hours that I was entertaining him, rocking him, hugging him and keeping him happy and calm, but it kept all of the other passengers happy and calm as well.”

    Mrs. Groner, who has no official training in special education but works with the special needs population both at The Friendship Circle and its associated thrift shop, Zabs Place, noted that the rigid environment of an airplane can be extremely trying for someone with special needs.

    “People need to understand that for better or for worse, we have more and more special needs children in the world and we need to support them and understand them and learn from them,” said Mrs. Groner. “Most importantly, we need not to judge the people who are tasked with raising them. They need our love and support, not our judgment.”

    While Rabbi Groner’s Facebook posts sharing his wife’s deeds on the flight have been viewed by thousands, Mrs. Groner downplayed her actions.

    “For me, this was just two hours of my life,” said Mrs. Groner. “For this boy’s mother, it is her entire life and it is exhausting.”


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    38 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    6 years ago

    Mi keamcho yisroel!!!

    Frish
    Frish
    6 years ago

    Wheres our PR machine
    No jews r not about welfare fraud etc.
    Jews are about helping another human being
    Especially Lubavitch

    utazoy
    utazoy
    6 years ago

    maybe #1 is not so educated
    kol hakovod rochel she made a big kiddush hashem
    may #1 NEVER NEED SUCH CHESED DONE FOR HIS CHILD

    DovidT
    DovidT
    6 years ago

    Guys there’s a concept called a troll. They’ll comment just to incite controversy. Just ignore #1 ..

    May we only have positive news like this to report!

    6 years ago

    The yeshiva system should follow the advice of the friendship circle and extend a hand to our children in need because before you know it they will be teenagers. I would love to mention which girls school in Brooklyn I’m talking about but the mods won’t show my comment. And #1 you disgust me!!!

    6 years ago

    Kudos to Mrs Groner for displaying kindness,compassion, and sensitivity. Unfortunately for the African American Community, there is a significantly higher rate of Autism in African American males who receive their vaccines according to the CDC schedule. The CDC covered up this data and it has now been exposed to all the world in the documentary vaxxed. This information was provided by the lead CDC researcher turned whistle blower Dr William Thompsom to Dr Brian Hooker and the nearly 4 hours of conversation regarding the corruption in the CDC between these two scientists can be heard in its entirety online. Furthermore Robert Kennedy JR. has pointed out hundreds of Pub Med studies that have shown a causal relationship between vaccines and other neuro-developmental disorders as well such as ADHD,anxiety,depression,etc. Our own community is not immune. Write your congress people and demand that congress subpoena Dr Thompson to testify publicly in an open hearing and demand that the FBI investigate the CDC.

    MyThreeCents
    MyThreeCents
    6 years ago

    She made a kiddush Hashem. A child was in distress and she calmed him – that’s a real chesed.

    6 years ago

    Very nice, but does every little incident need to be posted on You Tube, which is rife with anti-Semitic videos and comments.

    6 years ago

    Mumps and Measles were considered to be mild childhood illnesses until vaccines were invented for them when they were turned into scary illnesses by marketing departments in order to drive vaccine sales. There is a great deal of published evidence that historically, wild type Measles infection actually benefitted the growth and health children in the US. There is evidence that wild type varicella (chicken pox) has a protective effect against brain cancer which is lost with the vaccine.In addition with the introduction of varicella vaccine and the reduction in circulating wild type varicella which caused natural boosting in older children and adults, we now have increased rates of shingles in older children and adults. So no coincidence that drug companies are now pushing adult shingles vaccines. The biggest tragedy though are the families who have severely autistic children as a result of vaccine induced brain damage. Their lives are indeed a living hell.

    4 years ago

    I apologize for pretending I didn’t write #1 . it was babiesh.