The Angel with the Canoe

A former Golani solider who sails for fun Tayar who davens with Gonik at Houston’s Torah Vachesed shul set out to rescue his friend in his canoe.

A lex Gonik a resident of the Meyerland neighborhood of Houston — one of the city’s Orthodox hubs — will never forget the night that Hurricane Harvey came knocking.

“I thought I was going to die” Gonik told Mishpacha. “I was driving home and the water began to rise. I thought to myself that I’d wait in the highest area there and everything would be fine because I had enough gas and it would be better to stay inside with the air conditioning.”

But as the hours passed the water kept rising. When morning came and the water started to cover the wheels of Gonik’s car he could feel his vehicle being pulled into the current. He knew he was in trouble so he abandoned his car and floated in the surging floodwaters until he bumped into a tree. He hung on for dear life.