They Thought He Was Dead: The Moment Faith Took Over

As Lag BaOmer approaches, hundreds of thousands prepare to travel to Meron, drawn by tradition, prayer, and a sense of connection.

Alongside the joy, the music, and the light, there is also memory.

Not long ago, on this very night, a tragedy unfolded that left an entire nation shaken. For those who were there, the experience remains vivid. For many others, it is a moment that reshaped how we think about life, faith, and what truly matters.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Moskowitz, a father of six, arrived in Meron on that tragic Lag BaOmer night.

Years later, he shared a candid and deeply moving account of what he experienced during those unbearable moments, including lying beside Yosef David Elhaddad, of blessed memory, and reciting Shema with him until his final breath.

Caught in the Crowd

“We arrived with my wife and my 13 year old son, hoping to take part in the bonfire lighting,” Rabbi Moskowitz recalls. As they moved along the narrow path, they suddenly heard shouts: “Careful, people are falling.” There was no way to turn back or move aside. Within seconds, everything changed.

“I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a pile of people on the ground,” he says. He was swept up by the crowd and thrown onto his back as more and more people fell on top of him, pressing him down with unbearable force. “I cried out with everything I had, ‘If not me, at least save him.’”

No Way Out

At first, there were attempts to pull him free. Someone grabbed his hand, then his leg, but nothing worked. “There were people piled on top of me, and I could not move even a millimeter.”

Cries for help filled the air. People screamed and begged to be saved, but gradually the noise faded into a terrible silence. In those moments, he says, it became clear that there was no natural way out.

A Moment of Faith

Lying there, he found himself beside a young man, Yosef David Elhaddad. “I cried out, ‘Why are the rescue teams not coming?’” Then he heard a faint voice beside him whisper, “Thank You.”

The words shook him. “Where is my faith?” he asked himself. “Everything Hashem does is for the good. No evil comes from Above. Where am I in all of this?”

In that moment, something shifted. A calm settled over him, a quiet inner acceptance. He describes it as a feeling that he was being told: I know your pain. I know your life, your family, your struggles. I am the Creator, and I know what I am doing. Do not resist. Let Me lead.

Saying Goodbye

He stopped fighting and surrendered. “If this is what You want, I accept it,” he thought.

Then the young man beside him spoke again. “Let’s say Mizmor LeTodah.” Together, they recited the psalm, the words taking on a new and powerful meaning: “Give thanks to Him, bless His Name, for Hashem is good; His kindness endures forever.”

Moments later, the young man asked him to say Shema with him. “I was shaken,” Rabbi Moskowitz says. “I said it slowly, with intention. Hashem is One. There is nothing else.”

Yosef David Elhaddad passed away beside him.

Between Life and Death

Rescue teams eventually arrived, but by then Rabbi Moskowitz had no strength left. After attempts to revive him, he was declared gone and moved aside. “They placed me in a nearby room,” he recalls.

Then, in what can only be described as a miracle, a paramedic recognized him. He hesitated, then decided to try again. “How will I face his children if I do nothing?” the paramedic thought.

He performed CPR once more, and this time, a pulse returned.

A New Perspective

Rabbi Moskowitz was rushed to the hospital, placed on a ventilator, and later transferred for intensive care. He survived.

Looking back, he speaks about what he learned. “We need to thank Hashem for the simplest things,” he says. A place to sleep, water to drink, the ability to breathe. “Thousands upon thousands of kindnesses happen to us every day,” he reflects.

He adds, “If I feel pain, it means I am alive.”

A Lasting Message

“It is a mistake to waste energy trying to understand everything,” he says. “We will not understand.”

Instead, he focuses on gratitude. “Gratitude is surrender. I am not in control. Everything comes from Hashem.”

When a person lives with that awareness, he says, difficulties take their proper place, and a sense of calm can begin to settle within.