Shalom Rapaport’s Near-Death Story: A Visit to the World of Truth

Shalom Rapaport, a resident of Netanya and distribution manager at Yediot Achronot, never imagined he would one day draw close to Judaism. But after a powerful near-death experience and a surprising encounter in the Heavenly Court, his life took a completely new turn.

It happened during a massive heart attack. Shalom, who had been living a secular life, suddenly found himself standing before a Heavenly Court he hadn’t even believed existed. But the most astonishing moment of all was when the defender who stood up to speak for him turned out to be none other than a soldier whose life he had saved nearly thirty years earlier during the Lebanon War.

Back during that war, Shalom had been part of an armored unit when a Syrian shell hit a nearby tank. That tank, commanded by a soldier named Shimon Ben Zion, went up in flames. Shimon lost consciousness, but Shalom, with incredible strength, pulled him out and rushed him to safety. That heroic act saved Shimon’s life.

After the war, their lives went in completely different directions. Shimon returned to the yeshiva, eventually becoming a Torah teacher and later a lecturer at Machon Meir. Shalom, meanwhile, resumed his secular life and career in the newspaper world. The two had no further contact.

Until 2010, when everything changed.

In the middle of a regular work meeting, Shalom collapsed from a severe heart attack. He was without a pulse for ten minutes before paramedics managed to resuscitate him and rush him to Ichilov Hospital. Doctors told his family that his chances of surviving the night were close to zero. Even if he lived, they said, he would be severely damaged. “He doesn’t need luck,” one doctor said, “he needs a real miracle.”

Shalom’s wife came into the hospital room and whispered to him, “If you’re comfortable there, I release you. You don’t need to struggle to come back.”

While unconscious, Shalom experienced something he remembers to this day in vivid detail. He described passing through a corridor filled with bright white light. He saw souls of people who had already passed away, his late mother, fallen soldiers he once knew, and others he didn’t recognize.

Then he entered what felt like a courtroom with about twenty people. They told him to sit and introduced his defender. Though they didn’t say the man’s name, Shalom immediately recognized the face. It was someone he had once known, now older.

The court began listing his deeds both the good and the not-so-good. When it came time for the defense, the head of the court said, “Shimon, it’s your turn to speak.”

Shimon spoke with great warmth and conviction, listing the good in Shalom’s life and why he still had purpose in this world. After some time, the head of the court spoke again: “You have merits that make you worthy of continuing your life. You’ll be granted a full generation of life in good health, without illness. But we leave the choice to you. You can stay with us in peace, or return to complete your mission.”

Shalom answered, “I want to go back. I want to fix what I need to in this world.”

And with that he woke up.

After heart surgery, Shalom recovered quickly and began trying to identify the man who had stood up for him in the Heavenly Court. The face was familiar, and he knew the name was Shimon but from where?

In conversation with his wife, a memory sparked. “Do you remember that soldier named Shimon the one whose life you saved?” she asked. And it all clicked. Yes, that was the face he had seen.

Later, a friend of Shalom’s, deeply moved by his story, contacted a well-known Kabbalist. The Kabbalist gave a message: “Shalom must meet with Shimon Ben Zion from Kiryat Arba.”

Shalom found Rabbi Shimon Ben Zion’s phone number and reached out.

Rabbi Shimon was shocked to hear from him after 28 years. When they met, Shalom trembled from head to toe. He saw the exact face from the Heavenly Court and knew without a doubt this was his defender.

Rabbi Shimon responded with awe. “I don’t remember being in any court. I was sleeping peacefully that night. But maybe the good deed you did so long ago created a spiritual presence in my form that came to speak for you. It’s deeply moving.”

The two men began meeting regularly to learn Torah together. As promised in the court above, Shalom now lives with renewed health and a strong, clear connection to his Jewish roots.

What Do They Judge in the Heavenly Court?

After the passing of Rabbi Yitzchak Blazer, he appeared in a dream to Rabbi Chaim Berlin, son of the Netziv of Volozhin, and told him:

“The judgment above is far more serious than people realize. Only now, on Shabbat, a day of rest, was I allowed to visit you. On weekdays, it wasn’t permitted. The Heavenly Court is very strict especially about speech. They take the sin of lashon hara (speaking badly about others) very seriously. Even blessings over food and enjoyment are judged with great care.”

(From the book Mishnat HaChalomot)

The Power of Guarding Our Speech

The Vilna Gaon wrote in a letter:

“It’s impossible to imagine the suffering a person causes himself in the next world with even one careless word... But every moment that someone holds back from speaking improperly, he earns a spiritual light so powerful that even angels can’t fully understand it. Woe to the person who harms himself through speech. Everything can be repaired except for what comes from the tongue.”