He Almost Canceled His Torah Class. Minutes Later His House Caught Fire

In the magazine Hashgacha Pratit, a kollel scholar shared a dramatic story that took place in his home and the remarkable twist that followed.

This is how he tells it.

“I live in a mixed city in central Israel,” he begins. “There are many teenagers here from families that are not observant, but they are thirsty for even a small connection to Judaism. Some of the kollel men in the city dedicate their time to reaching out to these precious teenagers and bringing them closer to Hashem.”

“I am one of them. Every Monday night I teach a Gemara class for a group of teens. The class runs from eight to nine in the evening, and thank Hashem I have been teaching it consistently for several years.”

A Difficult Decision

“The incident I am about to describe happened about four years ago, on a Monday. My wife and I had traveled to Bnei Brak to do some shopping. From time to time we need to go there because the stores in our city do not have everything we need.”

“My wife asked her younger sister to babysit our five children, who were between the ages of two and seven, and we set out.”

Shopping took longer than expected.

“Suddenly I looked at the clock and realized it was already seven in the evening. We were not even close to finishing our list.”

That meant there was very little time left before the Gemara class was supposed to begin.

“I began thinking about calling someone to take my place for the class that night,” he recalls. “I was trying to decide who I could ask to fill in for me.”

His wife noticed he seemed distracted and asked what he was thinking about.

“I told her I was worried about the class,” he says. “At eight o’clock I am supposed to be teaching in the synagogue, and I was considering asking someone to replace me.”

Her response surprised him.

“Why should someone replace you?” she asked. “It is your class. It is your mitzvah. Why should you give up that merit? I think we should head home right now.”

She spoke with determination. She truly cared that he would not miss the opportunity to teach Torah.

“I realized she felt it would be a real loss if I skipped the class,” he says. “So we quickly finished what we could in the store and started the drive home.”

A Race Against Time

The drive went smoothly. There was no traffic and no delays.

“Ten minutes before eight we were already close to our house,” he recalls.

There was no time to waste.

“I did not even go upstairs. I headed straight to the synagogue, which is two blocks away.”

The teenagers who arrived for the class had no idea how much effort it had taken for their teacher to get there on time.

“I prepared the room, the boys gathered, and we began learning.”

Then something unexpected happened.

The Sirens

In the middle of the class they heard sirens in the distance.

“At first we did not think much about it,” he says. “Our synagogue is near a main road, so ambulances and fire trucks pass by often.”

But then someone entered the study hall and mentioned that several ambulances were near his street.

A few minutes later another person rushed in, clearly alarmed.

“Rabbi,” he said urgently, “your house is on fire.”

At that moment the teacher realized something was terribly wrong.

“I ran home as fast as I could.”

A Terrifying Scene

When he reached the building, police officers were standing in the stairwell.

“Who lives here?” one of them asked.

“I do,” he replied anxiously. “What happened?”

“A fire broke out in the apartment,” the officer told him. “The firefighters already put it out.”

“And my family?” he asked desperately.

“They got out safely.”

He rushed outside and soon saw them.

“My children were sitting on the sidewalk across the street,” he recalls. “They were barefoot, shaken and frightened. But thank Hashem they were completely safe.”

What Really Happened

His wife explained what had taken place.

“When we arrived home around ten minutes before eight, I sent my sister on her way,” she told him. “Then I suddenly noticed thick white smoke coming from under the closed living room door.”

She acted immediately.

“I gathered all the children from their beds and rushed outside with them. I also warned the neighbors and called the fire department.”

The father stood there stunned.

At that moment a thought crossed his mind.

“What would have happened if I had canceled the Torah class?”

Most likely, his young sister-in-law would have been alone in the apartment with the children.

“She might have opened the door to see where the smoke was coming from,” he says. “She could have been overcome by the smoke. And who knows if she would have had the strength to get all the children out.”

A Miracle in the Merit of Torah

That night the family witnessed a miracle.

“Hashem saved my children from death to life,” he says with emotion.

The apartment itself was completely destroyed. What the fire did not burn was damaged by smoke and water.

“We were left with nothing,” he recalls.

“But we were all alive and healthy.”

He pauses before adding his final words.

“A whole family was saved in the merit of learning Torah.”