Stranded at Sea, Saved by a Miracle—and a Promise to Hashem

When Amit Mandel, a young artist from Jerusalem, set out on a boat journey around the world, he imagined adventure, freedom, and open horizons. He never dreamed that his greatest adventure would come not from the ocean—but from the kindness of strangers and a deep inner awakening.

About four months into his travels, Amit found himself in the West Indies, hitching rides between ports. In Martinique, he met an Italian sailor who offered to take him to Cuba. It sounded perfect—but that’s when the trouble began.

A fierce storm overtook their small boat, and it quickly became clear that the Italian sailor didn’t know how to handle it. Miraculously, they managed to reach Cuban waters—only to discover that the country had closed its borders because of COVID-19. They weren’t allowed in. They weren’t allowed out. They were completely stuck.

Amit tried sailing to the Dominican Republic next, but the response there was even worse—armed soldiers on the shore aimed their rifles at him, forcing them to turn back.

Now stranded at sea in the Caribbean on a broken boat, life became more difficult with each passing day. Their food and water ran out. They approached local police for help, but without functioning credit cards, they were turned away. No money, no supplies.

That’s when something incredible happened.

One night, weak with hunger and desperation, Amit spotted a small, uninhabited island nearby. Somehow, their boat had drifted toward it. He swam ashore and discovered that the island was full of coconuts, bananas, and mangoes. He gathered as much as he could, returned to the boat, and shared the food with the Italian sailor. Every day, he built small rafts out of branches to ferry more fruit. The little island saved their lives.

And in those long, quiet days at sea—between foraging for food and surviving the heat—Amit had time to think. That’s when an idea came to him: “I’m Jewish. Maybe someone from the Jewish community can help.” He asked the local police to reach out to the Chabad rabbi in Jamaica.

Though Rabbi Yaakov Raskin was stuck in New York at the time—also because of COVID travel restrictions—he didn’t hesitate. He reached out to friends in Jamaica and arranged for food to be delivered to the stranded travelers.

Back in Israel, Amit’s family was desperate with worry. Passover was approaching, and their son was still lost at sea. They contacted everyone they could: Israeli diplomats, the Foreign Ministry—no one could do much. Finally, they begged Rabbi Raskin to do whatever he could to save their son.

Rabbi Raskin got in touch with a lawyer in Jamaica who managed—after weeks of effort—to convince the authorities to allow Amit and the Italian sailor onto land. From there, they were placed in isolation and eventually permitted to fly back to Israel via New York.

When Amit finally arrived in New York, he insisted on meeting Rabbi Raskin in person. He wanted to thank the man who had helped save his life. And during that emotional meeting, Amit did something more: he put on tefillin for the first time in a long time.

With tears in his eyes, he told Rabbi Raskin, “I want to commit to putting on tefillin every day—from now on. It’s my way of thanking Hashem.”

Amit set out looking for freedom. What he found—through struggle, prayer, and the kindness of his fellow Jews—was something deeper: a connection to Hashem, and to his own soul.