Forged by Fire

“As the window slides up, we both stick our heads through to get some air. Our feet are starting to burn so we climb up on the window sill. Looking up, the sky is black, and looking down, it’s a pit of fire as the flames are shooting out of the building right under us. Gross and I look at each other: What are we going to do? Meanwhile the whole yeshivah was already on the ground below and they could see us in the window (we couldn’t see anything), and they’re screaming ‘Gross! Jump! Sabo! Jump!’

“I’m a scrawny little kid, I’m standing there just in my underwear and it’s freezing. Gross was a big, strong guy. So he says, ‘Victor, I‘m jumping!’ ‘Okay,’ I said, ‘I’m right behind you!’ So he jumps, but I can’t see if he landed. All I know is that he jumped through the fire. Then I hear more screaming: ‘Sabo! Jump!’ So I just closed my eyes and let go. It was a long trip down. Crash. I landed on a piece of ice and cracked my heel bone. Suddenly I felt someone grab me: it was another bochur, David Tropper — today he’s a rabbi in Los Angeles — and he dragged me away from the burning building, but not before I turned around and screamed ‘Gluck! Jump! Gluck! Jump!’ But it was too late. We watched in a haze as the whole second floor came crashing down into the first floor in a burst of flames.”

Victor Sabo was the only witness. He had just watched his two roommates perish.

Meanwhile, a bochur from another dorm, 15-year-old Avraham Satz, ran outside and heard Victor scream “Gluck! Jump!”  He knew someone was still in the burning building, and frantically approached an officer (“or maybe it was a fireman, but I don’t remember, it all happened so fast,” says Satz today) to rescue whoever was still trapped inside. The officer refused — he said there was no chance — but that didn’t stop Satz, who raced toward the inferno.