I thank You
MIRACLE STORIES
MIRACLES
Hashem is in charge of everything I BY ESTHER GLUCKMANN
I have been blessed by being the recipient
of Hashem’s miracles. I think that I am all
the more blessed for being able to recognise them.
In this article, I would like to highlight
three.
The first is my birth, in 1963. I was
born 12 weeks early and weighed a few
hundred grams. Medical technology was
not what it is today, and the doctors told
my parents I wouldn’t survive. I was in an
incubator for a long time and had two
blood transfusions.
I grew up, went to school, qualified as a
teacher, got married and then in 1991
gave birth to a beautiful 4.38kg baby boy
with the most beautiful red hair. (My husband and I both have pitch-black hair.)
When he was five months old, I was
wheeling him home across a busy intersection during peak hour traffic. The robot was green and I proceeded to cross
the road. A skip anti-waste truck was
turning the corner. I didn’t worry as a pedestrian has the right of way and I as-
34 JEWISH LIFE
ISSUE 82
HODU LADOSHEM
KI TOV. KI LEOLAM
CHASDO. GIVE THANKS
TO G-D BECAUSE HIS
KINDNESS ENDURES
FOREVER!
sumed the driver would wait. I was
wrong! The truck bumped me and I fell,
letting go of the pram as I did so. I landed
underneath the truck, which stopped as
the back wheels hit my arm and back.
When I realised that I was still alive, I
crawled out from underneath the truck
and saw the pram, lying broken in the
middle of the road. I started screaming
like a demented woman. “My baby! My
baby!” Someone came to tell me that he
was fine. I hadn’t strapped him into the
pram, and as the truck knocked into it, he
was flung onto the grassy pavement on
Why not commit yourself to starting
each day by thanking Hashem for the
miracle of life itself: on awakening, say
the following words: “Modeh ani lefanecha melech chai vekayam, shehechezarta bee nishmati bechemla rabba
emunatecha.” Thankful I am before
You, Living King, who mercifully returns my soul to me, how great is Your
faith in me!
Keep the positivity pouring in! Share
your personal miracle story in Jewish
Life by emailing miracles@jewishlife.
co.za or send an Israel miracle story in
honour of our Israel issue!
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Recognising
the other side of the road. He had minor
scratches on his head which healed in no
time. Today he is, Baruch Hashem and bli
ayin hara, a happily married man.
The third miracle happened in January
2013. My husband came to wake me up
for work in the morning and couldn’t
wake me. Thinking that I was exhausted
and feeling bad to wake me, he thought
he’d give me more time to sleep. Half-anhour later, he came back to wake me and I
was turning blue. My daughter phoned
Hatzolah, which arrived in no time at all.
I was intubated in my home, without me
even being aware. All I remember is waking up in ICU with pipes and tubes all
over and not knowing what was happening. Hatzolah told a rabbi that they would
have put a million dollars on the table
that I wouldn’t survive, and the physician
at the hospital told my husband that if I
survived, I’d be brain damaged! Apparently what had happened is that I have sleep
apnoea, but didn’t sleep with a machine. I
had taken a sleeping tablet the night before, and when I stopped breathing, instead of waking with a snore, the sleeping
tablet kept me sleeping till the oxygen
levels dropped lower and lower. I really
don’t understand it all 100 percent. What
I do understand, though, without any
doubt, is that Hashem is in charge and
that, as all these miracles have shown,
Hashem wants me in this world. I pray
that I can adequately fulfil the purpose
for which I am here. JL