Local rabbi recalls survival miracle in Israel

Reporter: Claire Galt
Published: Updated:
rabbi

A local rabbi flew to Israel to experience the horrors of war firsthand, and during his trip, he saw the miracle of survival with his own eyes.

An Israeli police officer was hurt badly. He had bandages over his eyes and an IV in his arm, but rabbi Yitzchok Minkowicz said that it was a miracle that the police officer had not died.

“He got a bad blow. A grenade threw in his face, shot twice in his chest,” Minkowicz said.

Rabbi Minkowicz of Chabad Lubavitch of Southwest Florida went to Israel after the war with Hamas started. He visited temples, soldiers and hospitals.

That’s where he met Shelly and her brother-in-law.

Shelly calls the day the war started Black Saturday: Oct. 7. This was the day Hamas crossed the Gaza border into Israel and butchered hundreds of Israelis.

She said this was the day her brother-in-law stood up for the innocent.

“They call them at 7 a.m., him and all his unit, to get up and get to the south. They go to rescue people. It’s exactly like it is. They go from house to house and try to save as many people that they can do, 10 hours of fighting,” Shelly said.

Shelly said her brother-in-law fought until he could not fight anymore.

A rescue crew rushed him to a Tel Aviv hospital, where Shelly sat by his side every day. Shelly said he lost his sight in one of his eyes.

She admits her faith’s been tested in the last month, but her brother-in-law’s recovery gives her hope.

Her husband has also been called to fight.

Shelly now knows the difference between the terrorists and the soldiers. She knows why her husband and her brother-in-law must fight.

They believe their faith, their way of life and their homeland are worth fighting.

Israel has vowed to remove Hamas from power and, once and for all, crush its military capabilities.
Hamas said its goal is to obliterate Israel from the face of the earth.

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