A hero firefighter was honored Thursday at the FDNY’s first official Passover Seder, where agency brass and religious leaders shared a feast and celebrated department diversity.
Firefighter Andrew Scharf was honored for his March 5 rescue of Ubeaka McKinney, 39, from the third floor of 241 Rockaway Ave. in Brooklyn. Scharf, of Ladder Co. 176, was lowered from the roof by Firefighter Todd Brenner of Ladder 120.
“That kind of rescue does not happen often and it’s for good reason,” Chief of Department James Leonard said during a ceremony at the department’s Brooklyn headquarters. “It’s a last resort when there is no other way to save a life, and he did it. In the Jewish community, they say when you save one life, you save the world.”
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik of the New York Board of Rabbis and Cantor Eric Freeman of Yeshiva University’s Belz School of Jewish Music led the Seder service, which included reciting and singing biblical passages from the Torah.
Scharf, who is Jewish, advised new recruits to keep on training.
“You can never know too much,” Scharf said. “The more you train, the better you’ll be.”
Source: NY Daily News
