Rabbi M.W. relates:
I was walking near Tel Hashomer hospital. A Yid came out and saw me with my beard and peyos. It seems he was looking for someone like me. “My son is injured,” he told me. “He is hospitalized here, and he has something to say that will be of interest to you.”
I went in to the injured man. He was in pain, but he was emotional. It was obvious that he had endured a far-from-simple experience. It sounds strange to talk about a serious injury as an “experience,” but that is exactly what he wanted to talk about.
“I was called to a specific place in the South,” he said. “A difficult battle was raging there, and they called me to come in and help. I came to the place, close to one of the settlements. There is a memorial monument there on which is written, “It’s not the tanks that will win, but only Hashem.” There were four of us up against 12 terrorists. I fought like a lion, under fire from close range. Suddenly, there was a bullet in my back. It had hit a main artery, and I lost tons of blood. I recalled that in my left pocket I had a tourniquet, but because the injury was on the left side, I couldn’t reach that pocket. I lay on the ground and quietly rolled in the direction of the monument, so that no terrorist would notice me. Let them think they had finished me off...
“The monument was round, and I was able to find shelter underneath it. When I got there, I lost consciousness. During those moments I was not in this world at all. Blue, pure skies spread over me. I felt enwrapped in a profound love, the likes of which I had never felt in all my life. ‘I am not so perfect!’ I thought. ‘Why am I so beloved? What have I done, that this is how I am being embraced?’”
When he related this, tears flowed from his eyes, and he continued:
“I felt myself disconnecting, and I understood what was happening, ‘I have a family,’ I said. I sensed that someone was listening to me, ‘I need to go back.’
“‘You can go back,’ they told me, and then I regained consciousness on the hard concrete under the round monument. New strength and vitality rushed through me, and I managed to pull out the tourniquet and stop the bleeding. I felt a tremendous thirst, and in order to survive, I imagined myself taking up a canteen and drinking more and more water. It was clear to me that I’d be saved, since I had received permission to come back.
“Along with some friends who were also hurt, I lay in total silence so that the terrorists would not notice us, and we anticipated yeshuas Hashem.
“Eight hours of lying there with the tourniquet, and then a helicopter landed 300 meters away from us. How could an injured person like me traverse this distance? I have no idea, but it’s a fact. I got up and ran toward the helicopter, and there was...water!!
“My life was saved. Everyone who was in that structure with me survived.
“I am pained at how I led my life to this day. I did not believe in Hashem enough, but today, I believe in Him completely. There is a G-d! Yesh Elokim! He causes people to die and revives them, He watches over me in the most personal and exacting way. Do you see me now? Today, I am a believing Jew.”
