Last Shabbos in Sydney , in our suburb, in a Westfiled Shopping Centre , 6 people shopping , were killed in a knife attack with another 8 wounded. It happened around 3.20pm Saturday afternoon.
I arrived at shul that morning and saw a good friend, whom I shall call Wilbur ,just for this article. As I often do, I asked Wilbur if he would like to come for lunch, after a bit of a struggle he said okay. I brought Wilbur home , we had other guests , we ate , we shmoozed and we all had a great time. As usual, Wilbur was the life of the (party) shabbos lunch. Not long after shabbos ended we began to hear of the horrific tragic events of the day at Westfield. Wilbur called me soon after Havadala telling me that he doesn't want to sound too dramatic but I probably saved his life on Shabbos. Asking him to explain himself, Wilbur said that after Shul that day he was going to head off to Westfield. I explained to Wilbur that I didn't save his life but Shabbos did.
