Hashem Gave Me Back My Life: A Child’s Story

Miracle stories are all around us. Almost everyone has one big or small. But when a miracle is wrapped in simple faith, it leaves a lasting impression. This short story is one of those rare moments that makes us stop and reflect. And the more we think about it, the more we can learn from it.

Children love to play freely, without fear or concern. In today’s world, filled with screens and technology, it’s hard to imagine the kind of games kids once played. But in the 1950s and 60s, one unusual “favorite” hiding spot for children was the refrigerator. Thankfully, children today have no idea what that even means.

Hagit, now 48 and living in central Israel, discovered this hiding place when she was just two years old. One day, while her mother was cleaning out the family’s refrigerator, she removed all the shelves and left the door wide open. No one was watching. Curious little Hagit climbed inside to hide, and then without warning, the door swung shut behind her.

Locked inside, with no air and no way to escape, Hagit lay quietly in the dark. Minutes passed. Her mother, busy in the kitchen, didn’t notice. But her father became uneasy. The house had suddenly gone silent. “Where’s the baby?” he asked.

Her mother hadn’t seen her go into the refrigerator. Just then, as Hagit’s mother remembers vividly to this day, they began to hear strange sounds, faint, muffled cries, as if from far away. The family kept chickens in their yard, and at first, her father feared they might be hurting her. The parents rushed outside.

But there was no sign of her.

Panicking, her father ran down the road, even fearing the worst. And then, something sparked in his memory. The refrigerator door. It had been open.

He turned around and raced back to the house. He pulled open the refrigerator and there was his daughter, barely conscious. She had almost run out of air. He scooped her up and held her tightly, tears of gratitude in his eyes. A religious man, he lifted his eyes to Heaven and thanked Hashem for the miracle that had just taken place.

Years later, at her Bat Mitzvah, Hagit’s father told the story to the guests with great emotion. “If Hashem decides that a person should live,” he said, “then that person will live no matter what.”

Even as a little girl, Hagit says she somehow knew deep inside that someone was watching over her. “With the simple thinking of a two-year-old,” she recalls, “I just believed someone would see my will to live and come save me.”

Today, Hagit is a mother of five and raises her children in a Torah-observant home. Out of gratitude for the life she was given, she works hard to raise them with strong values, plenty of love, and yes lots of thoughtful, safe games.