Teen’s journey home from Israel took him by bus, cab and foot through 3 countries
By Christine Sloan
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NEW JERSEY (WCBS) — A New Jersey teen is back home from Israel after a journey that took him through three countries, at times on foot.
Ephy Carlebach, 18, attends yeshiva school in Beit Shemesh, one of the first Israeli cities Iran attacked during the war.
“Nine people were killed, 20 were injured. We felt the impact of that missile,” he said. “When you see other Jews in Israel were killed, it really, it hurts.”
He added, “Every day was a life and death situation. There were rockets falling from the sky.”
Carlebach recorded a video of a missile in the sky as he ran to a shelter.
“It was pretty intense, looking up and seeing ballistic missiles, cluster bombs, rocket shrapnel falling from the sky,” he said.
Carlebach’s plan to return to New Jersey to spend Passover with his family was snarled when his original flight from Tel Aviv got canceled. His father, Rabbi Mendy Carlebach, came up with an alternative travel plan – a three-day journey taking Ephy Carlebach through Israel, Egypt and Greece.
“I called some friends of mine in Israel and I asked them about the safety aspect of it, and they reassured me, yes, it’s safe,” Mendy Carlebach said.
It started with a five-hour bus trip through Israel.
“There was two or three alarms, I think, while I was going, which is pretty crazy ’cause you’re not in a shelter,” Ephy Carlebach said.
Then, he took a cab ride to the Egyptian border and crossed on foot to the other side, where a vetted taxi driver took him to a Sinai Peninsula airport for a chartered flight to Athens, then to Newark on Thursday.
“It was hectic because a lot of people were taking the same route that I took,” Ephy Carlebach said.
“I tracked him. I asked him to send me his live locations,” Mendy Carlebach said.
Ephy Carlebach said he was in a shelter almost every day and the experience taught him Israelis are unified, especially during war.
“War or no war, I am having a great time in Israel,” Ephy Carlebach said.
He plans on going back.
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