The Kibbutznik from 'Hashomer Hatzair' Who Experienced a Near-Death Encounter

Meet Tirza Harel, a former resident of Kibbutz Tel Amal under the 'Hashomer Hatzair' movement. She opens up about her kibbutz life, her near-death experience, and her unexpected spiritual awakening from a place seemingly far removed from faith.

"Hashem had no presence there," she recalls her kibbutz days. "It was really tough, but looking back, I realize Hashem did me a favor by keeping me disconnected, so I didn't receive the same educational imprint as everyone else."

Due to a specific medical condition, Harel found herself in a coma, receiving nourishment intravenously for a week, during which she experienced a clinical death. "Leaving my body was a matter of just two minutes," she recounted. "But two minutes here is not the same in other realms. I lived through thousands of years within those two minutes, and only after waking up was I told it had been just two minutes."

In her account, after detaching from her body, she saw herself from a distance, something prompted her to glance back, where she observed her lifeless shell. "It felt like I had no attachment to it," she said. "I knew it was mine, but I simply didn’t care. It was like walking from one room to another."

Reflecting on her experience, she concluded that "death is not what it appears to be. The soul lacks nothing without the body."

At one point, Harel heard voices of people debating over her fate in a heavenly tribunal, suddenly recognizing them as individuals she knew from various life situations. "They were discussing my merits and faults, debating my fate, whether for good or bad, grace or punishment. Then came a great fear - they took me to my home library and pointed out: 'This book she borrowed and never thought to return,' 'She borrowed that one - and intentionally forgot.' Slowly, I looked over my shelves and realized maybe five of the books were truly mine. And I was once considered a good person, not religious but decent. A good girl."

In those moments, Tirza experienced an overwhelming sense of fear and shame, as her books seemingly vanished from the shelves. 

When she raised her hand to cover her face, she discovered her hand did not exist. "You are still accustomed to the laws of the body and don't grasp that you lack one. You are seen not just through eyes you can shield, but through your entire self. You're fully accountable even without a body. You're entirely there, because the body is not something missed there."