Miami Proud: Police chaplains stood with affected families during Surfside tragedy - Part 2
MIAMI - Police chaplains with the Miami-Dade Police Department stood with the families the entire time of the search and recovery in the wake of the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in June 2021.
They led prayers, calmly providing information between the first responders and the anxious families, and just being there for them.
Rabbi Mark Rosenberg was one of the first on the scene and will never forget how different this was from anything he had encountered.
"It's easier to accept when a car crash happens, and somebody passes away in a car crash versus a building collapse and there are so many possibilities for survivors no families going to accept."
Many of the families of the 98 victims built a bond with these volunteers and have stayed in touch. Just this Mother's Day, Rabbi Yossi Harlig got a call from one of the women who lost her mom.
"She said, 'last year Mother's Day we were at the apartment at Surfside and I can't even look at the pictures,' ...they still call us because we're part of the circle."
Rabbi Rosenberg says they were tightly connected. "To be in the room with all the families they know you by their first name, you know them by their first name, you know everything."
There was one young man who lost his father, who is about the age of Rabbi Rosenberg's kids.
"He called me and said, 'I don't have my father this year Yom Kippur- I don't know where to go- it's the most important day.' And I said, 'you want to come to me?' and he came to us."
The relationship born during unspeakable pain led the rabbi to meet with this young man again, on a recent trip to Israel where he is a student. The role of chaplain is complex.
"Sometimes they ask us to officiate at their weddings, they call us for friendship, or going through divorce or when a family member passed away," said Rabbi Harlig.
They are involved in police memorial ceremonies, and graduations, arrive on homicide scenes, or when police officers are in trouble. It is less about the religion and more about support. There is a network of them in the team of 13 volunteer chaplains for the Miami-Dade Police Department.
"We have Jewish chaplains, Christian chaplains, Catholic chaplains, and we all call upon each other. If I can't make it to a hospital in another area, I will look at my database and see what I have, and that Christian chaplain will be very happy to go out and bring kosher food to someone in the hospital. We always look out for each other."
The spotlight was on them during the tragic building collapse in Surfside a year ago.
"The world was watching, departments were watching, agencies from all over came down here and people said 'wow it's amazing what chaplains do'," Rabbi Rosenberg said.
Pinecrest Police department chief reached out to enlist Rabbi Harlig. He said to him, "God forbid there is a challenge. I want my officers to have that experience."
Beyond the catastrophes, many departments recognize that having chaplains at the ready is valuable to police work.
"Instead of escalating the situation, it usually prevents a situation from happening."
-- Andi Phillips, CBS Producer, contributed to this report.
