Modern Day Miracle Saved Tel Aviv

Original article which appeared in the British newspaper, The Jewish Telegraph, reported a miracle of a rocket which changed direction.

By Shira Sorko-Ram

Every December the children of Israel remember the miracle of Hanukkah.

Some 160 years before Messiah Yeshua was born, a tyrant king from Damascus ruled over the Jews and forced many to worship Greek gods. For three years a Jewish rebellion led by the Maccabees fought against this tyrant. They finally drove him out and then began the work of cleansing the Temple from all the abominations that had gone on there, including sacrifices of pigs to the god Zeus.

To rededicate the Temple, the Jews needed to relight the Menorah and keep it filled with oil so that the light never went out. But among the rubble, they could only find a single container of oil left – enough for one day – that had been sanctified and sealed by the High Priest. According to tradition, they lit the Menorah and it miraculously burned for eight days – long enough to have new oil pressed and sanctified.

Hanukkah is all about miracles. The very presence of the Spirit of God is represented in the anointing oil that lit the Menorah in the Holy Place of the Jewish Temple. But to take back their Temple, the Maccabees had to fight the Syrian enemy for three years. The victory of the Jewish people over this vicious enemy was a great miracle in itself.

Twenty-five miles from the ancient hometown of the Maccabees is the city of Tel Aviv. Last summer during the war with Gaza, a story was broadcast on Israeli TV and appeared in numerous newspapers and blogs with the headline, “Their God changes the path of our rockets in mid-air, said a terrorist.”

At the time, I thought the story was fascinating, but because I did not see any thing written about an eye witness account, I didn’t repeat the story. But not long ago, I was at a Messianic function where I visited with an old acquaintance. She began to tell me that her daughter – whom I shall call Shelly – was stationed in the Kiriyah military headquarters in downtown Tel Aviv – the equivalent of the Pentagon.

The Kiriyah is located a few meters next to our iconic three Azrieli towers which include a mammoth mall. My friend said that on July 17, Shelly was working in the Kiriyah when the sirens went off and every one quickly headed for the bomb shelters. The siren alerts throughout Tel Aviv had become quite common last summer. But usually, after a minute or so, the all-clear signal would sound; people would climb out of the bomb shelters and return to their work.

But this time Shelly remarked about how the sirens at the Kiriyah continued for “a very long time,” with the loud speaker repeating, “Incoming Rocket. Incoming Rocket.”

Finally, the all-clear sign was given. But the soldiers, including Shelly, didn’t know at the time what was going on.

Shortly after that a Rabbi of a yeshiva [Talmudic school – and whose name I will leave anonymous] sent this email out which was received by the father of the soldier:

“One of my students whom I haven’t heard from in many years contacted me today to ask where I teach Torah. I was surprised by his question, since I know for sure that he is not observing Torah and mitzvoth [commandments]. So, I asked him why he wanted to know, and this was his response:”

Azrieli Towers, Tel Aviv

“‘I observed the hand of G-d today with my own eyes. Now I know FOR SURE that there is a G-d!! No one told it to me…I didn’t hear it from someone else…I saw this happen with my own eyes.

“‘I am an integral part of the Iron Dome operation. What we do here is an exact science and I cannot give many details of what we do. The other day we knew that a missile was headed directly for Tel Aviv…aimed at one of the three big [Azrieli] towers. We sent up one missile to intercept it, and we missed. We sent a second one, and we missed. We sent a third one to intercept…and we missed.

“‘Something even remotely like this has only happened one other time ever that I am aware of. We are very exact and very good at what we do. We do not miss. So to miss three times is not possible.

“‘By this time, disaster was eminent. Their missile was only seconds from detonation. We began the procedure of sending off one final missile to try and intercept it just before it came down, but we knew that casualties would still be imminent.

“‘Now, you must understand, our calculations based on physics and aerodynamics and weather (wind, atmosphere, humidity) are complete…there is NOTHING we don’t take into account. This is how [the Iron Dome] is able to work so precisely.

“‘But all of a sudden, as we were scrambling to do anything and everything we could to save Tel Aviv, all of a sudden OUT OF NOWHERE came up a huge wind… one that was not on the radar…one that DID NOT EXIST before…and blew the missile from over Tel Aviv all the way into the sea and dropped it off exactly safely into the water where no one was injured!!!

“‘You must understand…there was NO WIND…and then there was A HUGE WIND. This is not a couple of inches of a “move” that any gentle breeze could influence…this is MILES. It was nothing other than the hand of G-d!! I saw it with my very own eyes!!! The wind was not there before and it was not there after. It didn’t come from somewhere, it came from NOWHERE.

“‘And after it moved the missile to the sea, the wind disappeared! So, after seeing this, I can no longer deny the existence of G-d. I took upon myself to keep Shabbat. Yesterday was my first Shabbat to keep and it was the best Shabbat of my life.’”

So that’s the story. Such a hit would have been catastrophic beyond imagination for the state of Israel.

Shelly’s father wrote me the following: “I didn’t know that our daughter was in the area that the missile was heading toward! I began to share the Rabbi’s email at our family Shabbat dinner. Since our daughter was at the table (I hadn’t a chance to talk to her much since she arrived home that afternoon from the army), I asked her if she knew about this and did it really happen. It was at that point that she said, “Yes, it did happen.” But she hadn’t heard how the missile was deflected. She only knew that she was in the safe area of the building, waiting for the sirens to stop. It lasted a long time, and then ended. Our daughter never heard what happened until then at our dinner.”

The father continued, “I was so thrilled to hear how God was protecting our daughter, even when I didn’t know about it. (I was also glad I didn’t know about it until after it was over!) When I was back in the U.S. this summer I met with a lot of groups that love Israel and pray for Israel and our family. I know many people were excited to hear how their prayers are making a difference here on the ground in Israel. It really was a great miracle; that event could have been the Israeli equivalent to 9/11 in the U.S. We can say with grateful hearts, the famous Hanukkah blessing: ‘A Great Miracle Happened Here!’”

I spoke with Shelly who affirmed the story of the unusually long sirens in the Kiriyah beside the towers. Because as a Messianic believer she is still serving in a responsible position, and because of the sensitivity of the Iron Dome system, she must remain an anonymous source. But from all the information I have received, this is a true story and a true miracle. The God of Israel has not forgotten His chosen people.

I truly believe that as Israelis become increasingly aware of the mortal danger facing the Jewish state, they will call out to the God of Israel. And since the Scriptures foretell that as Israelis open their hearts to God, they will meet “Him whom they pierced.” The day is near when the Scripture will be fulfilled: “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will answer.” (Isaiah 65:24)