A Miracle in Israel of a Young Intended Abortee Saviour

The Efrat organization, dedicated to preventing the number one cause of death in Israel-abortion, continues to register successes. In 2004, Efrat saved the lives of 1,658 Jewish children in Israel by providing social and financial support to mothers who had planned to abort for socio-economic and related reasons. The number of successes in 2003 was 1,448.

Recently, a story was publicized in a work entitled Aleinu L'Shabe'ach (We Must Praise) by RabbiZilberstein of Bnei Brak. Though the names have been changed, the facts are accurate, as testified to by more than one person. The incident occurred as follows:

Yoav, a young IDF (Israeli Defense Force) soldier was stationed in the city of Chevron. Suddenly, he was shot by an Arab sniper and left for dead. As it was four o'clock in the morning and no imminent attack was expected, no one was awake to hear the shot and rush to his aid. It appeared as though Yoav was doomed to bleed to death before anybody would ever find him. His short life would come to a tragic silent end.

One other soldier, however, did happen to hear something. Though not totally sure, he suspected itmight be a rifle shot, so he went to investigate. He spotted Yoav, who was lying on the ground, bleeding to death. He immediately began to stabilize Yoav's wound and arrange for emergency transport to a medical facility. It took time for help to get to the scene, so he needed to apply manual pressure and any other trick he could think of to keep Yoav alive in the interim - he was literally holding Yoav's life in his hands.

Eventually, Yoav arrived at a proper medical facility where he was treated by surgeons. Yoav's parents were notified and rushed to the hospital. The doctors told them that had it not been for the immediate and appropriate actions of the other soldier, their son Yoav would definitely not have survived. It was indeed a miracle that the other soldier heard what no one else heard and managed to locate Yoav as quickly as he did. They went to thank him, but he had already left the hospital.

After Yoav was home recuperating, and everyone was settled, they called the army to find out the name of the other soldier so they could thank him personally. Unfortunately, the other soldier's name had not been recorded in the incident report, so they now had no way of ever contacting him.

Yoav's parents owned a makolet (small grocery store) in Kiryat Malachi, so they put up a poster in their store, describing the miracle that occurred and asking if anyone knew the identity of Yoav's saviour. They figured that Israel is a small country and someone might know someone who knows something. Months passed with no response. Finally after a year, a woman entered the store and saw the sign. She was positive that her son Doron had mentioned such an account. She took out her cell phone and called Doron on the spot. Sure enough, he remembered the incident quite well -he had saved Yoav's life.