Another heartbreaking and inspirational story.
Ariel Zohar, age 12 , from Nir Oz, is the only survivor of his family. He went out for a run on that Shabbat morning, a run which saved his life. His mother, father and two sisters were murdered by the Hamas terrorists. Ariel’s bar mitzvah is in just one week.
Ariel had one request from the ZAKA volunteers. He asked them if they would go to his home and rescue his father’s Tefillin. Now, Ariel had been given a brand new pair of Tefillin for his barmitzva. But his father’s tefillin were special. They had been given to his father by his grandfather, who survived the Holocaust as the sole member of his family.
But Nachal Oz was still under regular rocket fire from Gaza and is a closed military zone. The IDF gave the ZAKA “head of special operations,” Haim Otmazgin, just 4 minutes to locate the Tefillin. He entered the house, and indeed recovered them, and brought them to Ariel and his 90 year-old Holocaust survivor grandfather. Ariel was overcome with emotion to receive the Tefillin.
The grandfather said: “When I was 14, my parents were murdered. I survived, and today I have a grandson. They have done this to you at age 12. You will also survive and have grandchildren in Eretz Yisrael.”
Haim Otmazgin said: “This is after 10 days in which I have needed to be involved with the identification and burial of 700 of the victims of this massacre. But this is the first time I have been brought to tears. Because a child who wants his father’s Tefillin represents continuity and a tradition that cannot be broken.”
And at that point the grandfather asked Haim to stand, and he stood as the grandfather, a 90 year-old Holocaust survivor saluted him.
Ariel Zohar lost his entire immediate family in the Hamas attack. All that remains of his family is his grandfather, a Holocaust survivor. The grandfather told Ariel “I survived and you will survive.” Ariel’s bar mitzvah is approaching and he wanted so much that his grandfather’s… pic.twitter.com/YkCisO0JrX
— David M Friedman (@DavidM_Friedman) October 20, 2023
Source: Toviyah Ben Yehuda
Wow! Hashem runs the world!