Miraculous Rescue from a Stabbing Attempt of a Shuvu Banim Community Member

On the morning of Thursday, Parshat Vayigash, December 13, 2018, while the Nation of Israel was enduring another murderous wave of terror, a stabbing attempt occurred at Damascus Gate in which an avreich, a student of the tzaddik Rav Berland shlit"a, was saved by a great miracle. The avreich is David HaLevi, who belongs to the Breslov 'Shuvu Banim' community, and he was on his way back from the 'Shuvu Banim' yeshiva located on Ma'aleh HaHaladiyah Street in the Old City of Jerusalem.

These are the words he said in an interview with the Global Breslov Hotline: "Early in the morning, I was at the yeshiva; I studied and immersed in the mikvah. When I left the mikvah, a young man approached me and asked for tzedakah. I had never found it so difficult to give a few shekels for tzedakah, but in the end, I overcame it and gave him the last ten shekels I had in my pocket. In retrospect, the teaching of our Sages became clear to me: 'Tzedakah saves from death' (end of Masechet Shabbat). I truly felt how I had a test to give the tzedakah that ultimately saved me."

"I left the yeshiva (on Ma'aleh HaHaladiyah Street) toward the Third Wall Street via Damascus Gate at approximately five in the morning. I was alone on the way and was reciting Tikkun Chatzot while walking. After the Lions' Gate plaza, two Arabs were walking in front of me, and suddenly the terrorist emerged from behind them. I still see before my eyes the sight of the blade of the knife that he drew against me and with which he tried to stab me."

"The terrorist jumped on me with the knife, and from the force of the blow, I was pushed downward. From the ground, I looked at him and he looked at me, and even now I do not understand why he continued to run toward the soldiers and left me alone. A few minutes later, I heard six or seven gunshots and understood that they had killed the terrorist. I was bruised from the fall, but he did not succeed in stabbing me with the knife."

"Everything we do, walking through Damascus Gate and in general, is by the power of the words of our teacher, Rav Berland shlit"a, that faith is greater than fear. We believe in all the words that the Rav has taught us throughout the years, and with this, we walk—faith in Hashem. I will continue to walk through Damascus Gate because the terrorists are only there to awaken us to teshuvah (repentance)."

"Certainly, the prayer rally in Hebron that the Rav shlit"a organized contributed to the miracle I experienced, but ultimately, the merit of our teacher, Rav Berland shlit"a, is what protects us all."