Dr. Larry Kraut was walking home from synagogue on a Friday night in 2018 when despite “having the right of way,” he told JNS, “I was struck by an SUV.”
“The injuries were severe and required spinal surgery,” he said, noting that it “came close to being beyond disastrous, with total paralysis from the neck down.”
Following his accident, Kraut and his wife, Evelyn—both physicians—began funding reflective yellow belts that synagogue-goers can wear over their clothing. The Orthodox Union’s community projects and partnerships division distributes the belts free of charge to all synagogues that request them.
In the past six years, the OU has distributed more than 65,000 belts, it told JNS.
Kraut told JNS that he and his wife have funded the initiative out of hakarat hatov, or a sense of gratitude, that his injury didn’t prove disastrous.
“We have received tremendous feedback from communities about how much safer they feel walking home from shul at night wearing these reflective belts,” he told JNS. “No one should have to feel like going to shul, God forbid, puts them at risk of an accident.”
“This is truly a life-saving initiative,” he said.