Yitzhak Weingot, the father of 15 month-old Eliya who died this week after being forgotten in a hot car, spoke in an emotional interview with haredi radio station Kol Hai about his ordeal. 

Weingot noted he begged to be able to hold his son one last time, and he “would not wish upon any man in the world the troubles I have been through.” 

“God comforted me, God sends me a thought which comforts me – when a father slaps his child, he then gives him a caress with love,” he continued. 

The father added that, oddly, hundreds of people passed his vehicle in the 3-4 hours in which his infant son was left outside, but no one noticed him. 

He said that God “blinded hundreds of people” to the fact that his son was there, so that it was he who had to hold him for the last time. 

“I cannot describe what happens to a person at that moment,” he said. “I also remember hearing about cases like this and warnings against it, and I said it would never, in my life, happen to me.” 

“I always said, ‘that poor father – how can he live with himself?’ but today I know the father is not pathetic, as it’s not related to him. And even when it is, it’s not – all there is is that he doesn’t have his child he loved so much.”

Weingott tearfully called Eliya a “special child,” saying that his first words were “thank you.” 

“He was the light of our home. He was a boy genius. It’s hard for me to say more.” 

Weingott concluded by noting he believes car manufacturers should install a warning system for children left in the back of cars. 

“They install sensors for every small thing when there is a problem [. . .] but why are they not worried about human lives?” he asked. “Why shouldn’t there be a buzzer installed if the child is a certain weight? I call on decision-makers to advance the issue.”