Recently, our 25-year-old son told us what happened to a good friend of his in Hadera this past April 2022.
As our son's friend (let's call him David) walked down the street with his brother and their aunt, the boys saw a couple of men wearing large white knitted kippahs with beards and acting strangely.
"Hey, look over there. Who are those weird Breslovers?" one brother said to the other.
Only the weirdoes weren't Breslovers.
Religious Muslim men also wear beards and large white knitted head-coverings.
To the untrained eye, the appearances seem similar.
Suddenly, David found himself face-to-face with one of the "Breslovers," who also looked right at David while shooting a barrage of bullets from a fully automatic machine gun.
David just stared in shock while being shot at from close range, then passed out.
Later, he discovered his brother also passed out. And while their aunt did not pass out, she went into shock and lay on the pavement catatonic except for her uncontrolled shaking.
When the rescue services arrived, they saw David & his brother lying unconscious on the ground, so the brothers were among the first swept into the ambulances and taken to the hospital (along with the aunt).
David drifted in and out of shocked consciousness until his arrival at the hospital.
With everything happening so fast (including the rescue services, baruch Hashem), no one knew what had actually happened.
Seeing David awake with all these injured & shocked people coming in, the ER staff asked him, "What's going on?! What happened in Hadera?!"
"I don't know!" David gasped. "These Breslovers just started shooting at us in a terror attack!"
Then he passed out again.
Later, everyone found out what really happened.
David still suffers PTSD and takes prescription medication to sleep at night.
As our son's friend (let's call him David) walked down the street with his brother and their aunt, the boys saw a couple of men wearing large white knitted kippahs with beards and acting strangely.
"Hey, look over there. Who are those weird Breslovers?" one brother said to the other.
Only the weirdoes weren't Breslovers.
Religious Muslim men also wear beards and large white knitted head-coverings.
To the untrained eye, the appearances seem similar.
Suddenly, David found himself face-to-face with one of the "Breslovers," who also looked right at David while shooting a barrage of bullets from a fully automatic machine gun.
David just stared in shock while being shot at from close range, then passed out.
Later, he discovered his brother also passed out. And while their aunt did not pass out, she went into shock and lay on the pavement catatonic except for her uncontrolled shaking.
When the rescue services arrived, they saw David & his brother lying unconscious on the ground, so the brothers were among the first swept into the ambulances and taken to the hospital (along with the aunt).
David drifted in and out of shocked consciousness until his arrival at the hospital.
With everything happening so fast (including the rescue services, baruch Hashem), no one knew what had actually happened.
Seeing David awake with all these injured & shocked people coming in, the ER staff asked him, "What's going on?! What happened in Hadera?!"
"I don't know!" David gasped. "These Breslovers just started shooting at us in a terror attack!"
Then he passed out again.
Later, everyone found out what really happened.
David still suffers PTSD and takes prescription medication to sleep at night.
3 Points to Take Away from This Incident
(1) These are the silent victims of terror.
They received no physical injury and saw no gore or trauma on others.
We don't hear much about them or from them.
But just finding themselves face to face with an armed terrorist and seeing bullets flying out in their direction is traumatic enough, as anyone can understand.
(2) First reports aren't automatically reliable.
A lot of people think first reports of an incident stand as the most accurate, but the above demonstrates the problem with that assumption.
It all depends.
Mistaken perceptions combined with shock and trauma don't make the best witnesses.
(3) Let's not overlook the open miracles Hashem gifts us, even along with the trauma.
Finally, the open miracle occurring here must be publicized.
David, his brother, their aunt, and several others were mere feet away from the rampaging terrorists, with at least one terrorist shooting directly at them.
In addition, David, his brother, and their aunt stood as unmoving targets.
How did every single bullet completely miss them?
Chasdei Hashem, yishtabach Shemo.
And so...
May all those injured and/or traumatized merit a complete refuah.
May Hashem avenge the blood of our brothers & sisters.
And may Hashem please bring Mashiach soon b'rachamim.
They received no physical injury and saw no gore or trauma on others.
We don't hear much about them or from them.
But just finding themselves face to face with an armed terrorist and seeing bullets flying out in their direction is traumatic enough, as anyone can understand.
(2) First reports aren't automatically reliable.
A lot of people think first reports of an incident stand as the most accurate, but the above demonstrates the problem with that assumption.
It all depends.
Mistaken perceptions combined with shock and trauma don't make the best witnesses.
(3) Let's not overlook the open miracles Hashem gifts us, even along with the trauma.
Finally, the open miracle occurring here must be publicized.
David, his brother, their aunt, and several others were mere feet away from the rampaging terrorists, with at least one terrorist shooting directly at them.
In addition, David, his brother, and their aunt stood as unmoving targets.
How did every single bullet completely miss them?
Chasdei Hashem, yishtabach Shemo.
And so...
May all those injured and/or traumatized merit a complete refuah.
May Hashem avenge the blood of our brothers & sisters.
And may Hashem please bring Mashiach soon b'rachamim.
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