Not a single Tiberian was free of fear following that
terrible Shabbos when a missile rammed into an apartment
building on Rechov HaRav Werner in the chareidi neighborhood
of Kiryat Shmuel there. Several more missiles struck the
city, but for chareidi residents the missile that landed
right in their neighborhood was more real. On Motzei Shabbos
many residents were already fleeing the city. One local
business owner told Yated Ne'eman that in his building
only one tenant stayed put. His family went to Jerusalem, but
he had to stay behind to tend to his factory.
The Daf Yomi Shiur That Saved Lives
Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Pinchos, 1:00 p.m. At the Friedman home
in Tiberius the siren sounded in the middle of their
seudah, bringing their oneg Shabbos to an abrupt
end as the Katyushas started to land.
Four hours later R' Yosef Friedman was getting ready to go to
his regular Daf Yomi shiur at Beis Knesses HaShloh on
Rechov HaRav Werner. But this Shabbos, as can be expected, he
was not feeling well. Thoughts on what had transpired and
what was liable to transpire weighed heavily upon him. Had he
known what awaited him, he might have felt even worse.
The maggid shiur, HaRav Meir Pinto, was scheduled to
give a shiur on Yuma 38. R' Yosef looked at the
daf and found it fairly straightforward. A series of
incidents and the unusual circumstances led him to the
decision he would not attend the shiur this time. He
told his wife he could learn the daily daf later. If
another volley of Katyushas fell he ought to be home with his
family, he added. But she wouldn't hear of it.
"You shouldn't break your routine," she said. "You are so
conscientious about going. It's enough that Nasrallah,
yimach shemo, ruined our Shabbos meal. Let's not let
him ruin the shiur for you, too."
He heeded his wife's advice and went to shul. At 6:00
p.m. his house took a direct hit.
HaRav Yitzchok Dovid Grossman, the rov of Migdal Ha'emek,
also experienced a personal miracle during the course of the
chessed activities he performs in communities around
Northern Israel through his institutions. "During one of our
visits in the North, we went from one bomb shelter to the
next, handing out gifts to boost the children's spirits. We
were standing outside near Acco when suddenly the siren
sounded. I ran for shelter and a Katyusha fell right where I
had been standing. This was an instance of Hashgochoh
Protis, clearly showing how everything is directed from
Above in detail."
HaRav Grossman relates another miracle that took place when a
Katyusha fell at Kfar Giladi at the beginning of last week,
exacting a high toll. When thousands of children residing all
year at his Keren Ohr institutions in Migdal Ha'emek were
sent to dormitories rented in the Central Region, HaRav
Grossman offered to make their dorm rooms available to
soldiers summoned for combat duty in Lebanon. A group of
soldiers arrived in the North to prepare to roll out and were
supposed to be in Kfar Giladi along with their fellow
soldiers. But because of the invitation some 600 soldiers
went to his dorms instead.
We spoke with HaRav Grossman as he was busy making the rounds
of the bomb shelters in the North, starting in Marom HaGalil
and working his way south, handing out supplies. "We have 250
fans, Mei Eden water coolers, Materna and gifts to distribute
to those staying in bomb shelters," he says. "People don't
know what northern residents are going through. They are
spending weeks in stifling, crowded bomb shelters in
extremely trying conditions. It's horrendous and it's a
mitzvah to help them and offer them encouragement."
When the war broke out in the North, Rav Grossman organized a
chain of sleep-away summer camps for 6,000 children living
within range of the Katyushas. "The financial burden is
beyond our ability to bear," he said.
Due to the financial strain, gedolei Yisroel issued a
special kol korei calling on the public to support this
tremendous project. "Almost every child has a story about
being saved and of Hashgochoh protis," says HaRav
Grossman.
A Missile in the Bedroom
HaRav Avrohom Tzvi Margalit, the rov of Carmiel which has
absorbed several barrages of Katyusha attacks, told Yated
Ne'eman that he saw miracles on a daily basis. "There were
many instances of Hashgochoh protis," he says.
When the war broke out he told the avreichim to leave
the city, but meanwhile made sure a minyan remained to
preserve it spiritually.
Just days after sending off the students at the local
yeshiva, a missile fell on the roof and shrapnel hit the
students' beds.
"One Shabbos I asked an avreich who lives in the city
to stay for Shabbos so we could organize a minyan to
hold tefillos in a certain neighborhood. The family was
very hesitant to agree to my request. Eventually the
avreich agreed to stay. On Sunday morning a Katyusha
fell in their yard while the avreich and his wife were
in their home. Through chasdei Shomayim nothing
happened to them. Immediately afterwards he told me he was
sure he was saved from the missile in the merit of staying in
the city to preserve the ruchniyus of the place."
Yeruchom of Moshav Meron fled his home towards the beginning
of the war after a Katyusha rocket struck the home of his
neighbors, the Itzkovitzes, killing a woman and her grandson
visiting from Nahariya Hy"d. Yeruchom stayed with his
family in Kfar Avraham in Petach Tikva at a huge guest
facility Ezer Mitzion rented for northern refugees.
"We were walking to the Shabbos night tefilloh at
Rashbi's gravesite in Meron," he recalls. "Walking down the
road we passed the Itzkovitz home and a minute and a half
later heard a whistling sound and the tremendous noise of the
Katyusha falling. We were saved miraculously. Just a minute
and a half earlier we were right beside the house. Just from
the shock waves the inner doors of an adjacent building were
torn off their hinges and a tractor tire burst. On Motzei
Shabbos we fled along with many of the other moshav
residents."
Everyone seems to have a story of Hashgochoh protis to
share. Sholom of Tzfas also stayed at the guest facility in
Kfar Avraham. "I live in very close proximity to Ziv
Hospital," he told Yated Ne'eman, "and I saw the
missile flying close overhead toward the hospital. When the
missile struck it, our whole building shook. After two weeks
in bomb shelters, and after seeing the missile go right by
us, we fled the area.
"Prior to this an incident of Hashgochoh protis
happened to me. I was looking for an open gas station where I
could fill up. I chose a certain gas station that was open,
at the same time a missile fell at the nearby gas station. It
was a miracle I didn't go there."
Sholom says his children have been traumatized by the war. "I
have a three-and-a-half-year-old daughter and just at the
sound of a shell she starts screaming in fear."
Rabbi Yitzchok Reich, head of the Rechasim City Council, told
Yated Ne'eman about an enormous miracle that happened
to him. "On Motzei Shabbos, a baal teshuvoh who lives in
the city called me, brimming with excitement. He told me his
sister lives in Kiryat Yam. At 8:00 on Shabbos morning
northern residents were awakened by a blaring siren. His
sister bolted upright and woke up her husband. `The siren!'
she shouted hysterically, telling him to come into the
reinforced room. `Leave me alone,' he replied. `Let me
sleep.' But his wife insisted, dragging him into the
protected room. As soon as they closed the door a missile
landed in their bedroom.
"If that's not a miracle, what is?" says Rabbi Reich, who was
overcome with excitement as well.
Saved by the Handout
A week-and-a-half ago a Katyusha rocket landed on an
apartment. Through chasdei Shomayim nobody was hurt.
When we looked for the apartment owner, it turned out he had
just left to help Chasdei Naomi hand out food to needy
families. His life was saved in the merit of chessed.
"With mesirus nefesh the volunteers go from house to
house and from bomb shelter to bomb shelter," says a Chasdei
Naomi representative. "At the beginning of the war the
chairman of the organization, Rav Yosef Cohen, gave orders
not to send workers to the North until they were outfitted
with shrapnel vests and protective gear we did not have.
"One day one of the truck drivers did not answer any of the
phone calls the organization placed to him. We thought he was
at home. At the end of the day we found out he had gone to
the North to hand out foodstuffs to families all day. `I got
a `Tzav 8' [the designation of an army order to report for
duty immediately] to hand out food to needy families,' he
said."
During the course of the distribution the sirens sounded. The
truck driver and the other volunteers ran for cover. The
missile fell nearby, sending one of the volunteers flying
onto a bed of tomatoes. At first his fellow workers were
alarmed, but when they saw the red juice they realized no
harm had been done -- except to the tomatoes that had
been squashed.
Well before the cease-fire was announced, Chasdei Naomi was
already busy working with the local authorities on efforts to
rehabilitate families that sustained damages during the
attacks.
Another remarkable incident transpired in Tzfas last week
when a missile landed on the building at Rechov Tzahal 9. A
woman who lives in the building told Yated Ne'eman that
the tenants were given a special warning to go down into the
bomb shelter just minutes before the missile struck. "On many
occasions we stayed in the building rather than going down to
the bomb shelter, but this time we received a special
warning," she said.
All of the tenants went down and about ten minutes later a
missile fell on the building. "Everyone in the bomb shelter
burst into tears. It was really scary. People who don't live
in these places don't know what residents go through. Right
after the incident we fled from the city. I have a two-year-
old daughter suffering from trauma. Even when a door slams
she runs and shouts that she heard a boom. It's really
frightening and we witnessed one of the miracles of this
war."
Workers at Tzohar recall another miracle experienced by
dozens of northern residents attending a seminar that the
outreach organization hosted in Jerusalem. A bus of
participants traveling from Haifa to Jerusalem passed through
Nesher to pick up additional families, including some who had
seen missiles fall near their home. Just moments after the
bus pulled out, the sirens blared.
Following the ordeals they had gone through and weeks of high
stress most of the passengers went into a state of panic.
Some passengers whisked out Tehillim and together began
to recite Tehillim as missiles fell in open areas
nearby. "We were saved through the merit of Tehillim,"
one of the passengers later said.
*
These are just a few the many instances of Hashgochoh
protis and miracles that took place on a daily basis in
the North.
One instance of Hashgochoh protis was even reported out
of range of the rockets.
A call came into the office of Modi'in Illit Council Head
Rabbi Yaakov Guterman, saying that a local host family that
took in a displaced family from the North lacked the means to
feed them. "The refrigerator is empty," a neighbor reported
worriedly.
Just then a call came in on the other line. "I'm an elderly
woman and live alone, so I can't host a family from the
North," said the caller, "but I really want to take part in
hosting the families. I'd like to donate NIS 3,000 to a
family of limited means that is hosting a family from the
North . . . "
Truly a zivug min HaShomayim.
