Two Words That Saved a Life

It all started one Shabbat morning in Haifa.

David, a young man who lives in Bnei Brak, was spending Shabbat at his parents' home. On his way back from synagogue, he noticed an elderly man sitting alone on a bench. He wasn’t wearing a kippah and didn’t look religious.

David hesitated. Dressed in full Chassidic attire—shtreimel, bekeshe, white socks—he wasn’t sure how his greeting would be received. “Will he even want me to say 'Shabbat Shalom' to him?” he wondered. “But we’re taught to greet every person with kindness, even a non-Jew in the marketplace—how much more so a fellow Jew!”

He gathered his courage, approached the man with a smile, and warmly said: “Shabbat Shalom.”

The elderly man looked surprised, then smiled and replied, “Shabbat Shalom!” After a brief pause, he added, “If you took the time to greet me, you must be a kind soul. I’m not feeling well. I live on the next street. Would you mind going to my home and asking my wife to come help me?”

David quickly agreed, got the address, and rushed over. But when he arrived at the building and knocked, no one answered. He knocked again—louder this time—but still, silence.

Worried, he began pounding on the door.

Just then, a neighbor came out and stared in confusion at the sight of a young Chassidic man banging on the door of an elderly, non-religious couple. “Can I help you?” he asked.

David explained what had happened. The neighbor listened, then nodded. He had a spare key to the couple’s apartment, as he often helped them out. Together, they opened the door—and what they saw stunned them.

Lying on the floor just inside was the elderly man’s wife, struggling to breathe, in the middle of a severe asthma attack.

They quickly called emergency services, who arrived in time to treat both the wife and her husband—one helpless in the house, the other waiting in pain out on the street.

Two lives were saved… all because David didn’t hold back from saying two simple words: “Shabbat Shalom.”