Sometimes we see that, sometimes we don't.
But here, it happened again and again.
Having said that, we don't know everybody's story.
But so many people saved themselves from the slaughter at the party near Gaza simply by not attending because of Shabbat or leaving before Shabbat.
Here's another story of a young woman who planned to attend the party, but changed her mind when she chose to be with her Orthodox family over the chag/Shabbat:
https://www.ajc.org/news/podcast/mai-gutman-was-supposed-to-be-at-the-music-festival-idf-lone-soldier-recounts-harrowing-week
In the following link, you'll read true stories (including of Perach Filo) of people who saved themselves either by performing a mitzvah or promising to commit to a mitzvah or full teshuvah:
https://breslev.com/4064147/
Here's an excerpt of the above link from Rav Shalom Arush:
The first story – My daughter told me this story, she knows the girl personally and the girl told her this story:
This girl was at that party on Simchat Torah, but she was dressed modestly.
The terrorists surprised the party and started shooting.
The terrorist saw her covered properly, STOPS SHOOTING and yelled – “Get out of here! You don’t belong here!”
He stopped shooting!
Editor’s Note – This girl not only saved her life with her modest dress, but she surely saved the lives of others, since the terrorist stopped shooting, giving time for others to run away.
I also heard the story of another girl from the party not dressed properly.
She was forced to walk two hours to the border of Gaza to be a hostage.
As she saw the wall and understood what was about to become of her, she said to God, “If You will save me, I promise to start dressing modestly!”
Suddenly the terrorist turns towards her and says, “Get out of here!”
She started running, afraid he would shoot her. She made it all the way home safely.
It's clear at least some of these people weren't even shomer Shabbat. But the minute they took one step toward Hashem, He saved them.
The above two girls actually at the party clearly transgressed Shabbat (along with a whole slew of other prohibitions, if you know anything about that party), but one recently took on the mitzvah of tsniut (dressing with dignity & modesty) and the other merely promised in her head to do so — and they were saved.
The Long-Lasting Protection of Mitzvat Sukkah
Despite the kibbutz being very secular and Leftist, this man fasted on Yom Kippur and built a sukkah.
The terrorists came and burned out their home, but this man somehow survived.
He said, "In the merit of fasting and building a sukkah, I was saved."
Just Supporting Shemirat Shabbat Saved Lives
Early erev Shabbat, he announced his readiness to head out toward Afula to make it before Shabbat.
(It takes several hours to drive from the Gazan border to Afula.)
His friends protested and tried to convince him to stay.
He declared he was going to the expense of ordering a minivan to come pick him up to get back home to Afula before Shabbat, and urged them to join him.
Ultimately, his friends felt bad about abandoning their friend, so they all joined him in the minivan and made it to Afula before Shabbat.
In this case, his friends weren't even shomer Shabbat, but just supporting someone who was shomer Shabbat.
And that saved them from horror.
Even a Partial Commitment Reaps Benefits
After speaking with a rabbi for whom the young man drove, the young man committed to keep Shabbat just for the Hebrew month of Tishrei — just 4 Shabbats.
That young man was at that party.
He left on Friday in the merit of his commitment to keeping Shabbat for the month of Tishrei.
How Shabbat Preserved a Kibbutz
I heard that wasn't atypical for kibbutzim in that area.
What differentiated Kibbutz Sa'ad from the others lay in its commitment to Shabbat and how that affected the gate.
No guard stood in the booth on Shabbat.
So no one could open the gates.
(In the case of an emergency, the residents could access the gate-control to let out a car carrying a woman in labor or to let in an ambulance.)
My understanding is that at the secular kibbutzim, the terrorists managed to overpower the guard, thereby gaining control of the gate.
Photos and videos show terrorists attempting to break into Kibbutz Sa'ad.
But they don't manage it. At one point, gunshots are heard — the security force or residents shooting at the terrorists, who then flee.
Providing a Kibbutz with a Kosher Shul (UPDATED!)
As customary, the kibbutz needed to vote in order to proceed with building the shul.
Agreement to build a shul in Kibbutz Be'eri passed — just barely.
This dream developed into a driving passion, and in consultation with knowledgeable rabbis (including a chief rabbi), Rachel invested her all in creating a lovely & inviting shul.
In Rachel's merit, there was davening in a shul on Yom Kippur in Kibbutz Be'eri. They often had a minyan for the chagim of Tishrei, but not a daily minyan.
The Friekers also created a spacious light-filled sukkah attached to an outside wall of their home. They used white material for the other walls of the sukkah and ornamented it with shiny, colorful decorations and sukkah-oriented art.
The Friekers lived in a lovely 2-story home they had custom-made, including using good-quality stone.
The mamad (specially reinforced safe room used a bomb shelter) was downstairs.
On Shabbat morning of October 7, air-raid sirens went off just before terrorists invaded the kibbutz.
Hearing only the sirens (and very habituated to them), 70-year-old Rachel and her family made their way downstairs toward the mamad room. Passing the kitchen window, Rachel and her husband heard shots and voices shouting in Arabic, and spotted armed terrorists running past their home.
The entire family now raced to the mamad, slammed shut the heavy door and the iron window cover, with her husband and married son holding the handle of the door in closed position.
In addition to her husband and married son, the room also held the Frieker's adult daughter, plus a pregnant daughter-in-law only 1 week shy of her due date.
The Friekers, not yet Sabbath-observant, brought their cell phones into the mamad with them, but nothing else — not even water.
As Rachel explained later, they only even made sure to bring their cell phones with them because the rocket attacks usually lasted on a few minutes before they were free to come out again.
When they realized a terrorist invasion was in progress at the same time, there was no time to grab anything, just to shut themselves in the mamad.
While in the mamad, they received message after message of people pleading for help. One (in a different city) messaged the Friekers about his relative, a close neighbor of theirs. This relative lived alone and had become hysterical with fear. The caller begged the Friekers to pull him into their home.
(The homes kind of connected, so they were able to pull him in to their home and their mamad. I'm honestly not sure how they managed that in this situation, but it clearly demonstrates great courage and compassion.)
Because the Frieker home overlooked the kibbutz, the terrorists honed in on it as a strategic position, so the monsters remained in the Frieker home for the next 11 hours with the Frieker family sheltering in their mamad the entire time.
The Friekers heard everything going on.
They heard the shooting, the screams for help outside, and the terrorists constantly running through their home.
Terrorists also flung hand grenades at the iron cover of their mamad window. The barbarians set the home on fire, causing the door of the mamad to heat up.
Rachel's husband and son held on to the door handle the entire time even though they themselves did not believe they could hold the handle in position against powerful terrorists trying to open it from the outside.
Yet, in an obvious miracle, the terrorists never even attempted to open the mamad room nor did they succeed in burning the family out.
While inside the mamad in what literally had become a house of horrors, Rachel said Tehillim from her cell phone. When the battery ran out, Rachel spoke to Hashem in her own words.
For reasons she still cannot explain, she felt calm and sure throughout the horrific ordeal.
Like so many other stories, it seems like Rachel's dedication to create a kosher shul, the rescue of their desperate neighbor, and her prayers during the attack seem to have played a part in their survival.
At one point, things became quiet. Then the family heard voices speaking Hebrew. After listening for long enough to make sure these voices belonged to Israeli soldiers who were in the clear (i.e., not in the middle of battling terrorists), the Friekers and their neighbor left the mamad.
The Friekers welcomed their first grandchild a week later.
And somehow, despite the burned apocalypse on the outer walls of their home surrounded by ankle-deep debris, their fragile sukkah remained pristine and untouched.
In recent interviews with Rachel, you can see video clips and photos of their home, including their sukkah, after the invasion.
UPDATE: Rachel's shul was also not harmed during the invasion. You can see a photo of the shul and read more about it here:
The Shul in Kibbutz Be’eri is Open Again with Davening Soldiers
You Don't Need to Have Made It. You Just Need to Try.
He just wants us to take at least ONE sincere step in the right direction, each person according to his or her level.
He wants us to turn toward him and take a toddling step toward closing the gap between us and Him — a gap that exists for us only in our minds, not His.
- how-a-commitment-to-shabbat-during-the-rave-party-saved-one-jew-from-terror-slaughter-during-the-horrific-invasion-from-gaza.html
- how-expressing-gratitude-to-hashem-sustained-an-older-woman-throughout-the-brutal-terrorist-attack-on-kibbutz-beeri.html
- another-true-account-of-shabbat-saving-a-life-plus-a-message-from-the-next-world.html
For Rav Avigdor Miller's take on how & why this works, please see: