Remarkable Divine Intervention: Saved from the Mahane Yehuda Attack - Thanks to a Coin

Often Hashem acts in ways that seem contrary to our benefit, yet sometimes the concealment turns into revelation, revealing how everything is indeed for the good, even events that seemed to distress us. The things we were sure were to our detriment.

Such is the story of Daniel Gil from Jerusalem, who miraculously survived the attack in the Mahane Yehuda market about 11 years ago. According to him, he would typically visit the Haba Bakery in the market during his lunch break from work and buy 3 pitas at 30 agorot each.

Every day he would buy pitas totaling one shekel, giving the remaining 10 agorot to charity. He would then continue to the 'Hedvat Chaim' kollel in Nachlaot, eat his pitas, and study Torah until it was time to return to his job at the 'Bezeq' building. According to him, he resolved to say the Tikkun Chatzot and laments according to the Ari's tradition that Sabbath, as it was the week of 'bein hametzarim'.

And so, on one of those days, as he was making his way to Haba Bakery, he discovered that the shekel had vanished from his pocket. "I reached into my pocket and it was not there. I turned everything inside out, and the shekel was gone," he recalls.

"Suddenly, a massive explosion was heard, followed by another blast"

Since it was the only shekel he had with him, he had to continue his day at the kollel without passing through the market. "That day I was especially hungry, and I was very upset - but I did not give up on studying at the kollel and saying the Tikkun Chatzot".

A few minutes after he started reciting the Tikkun with his friend, a massive explosion was suddenly heard, followed by another blast – seemingly coming from the market's direction. "We didn’t understand what happened, so we continued saying the lamentations," says Gil.

Amid prayers, great commotion erupted outside: Gil and his friends heard the sirens of ambulances, police, and helicopters flying overhead, realizing something terrible had happened.

Gil and his friends went outside and began to inquire with a passerby about what happened – it was then that the great divine intervention revealed itself to Gil: "This person told us that one of the terrorists exploded himself very close to the stall of Haba Bakery, and it happened exactly when I was supposed to be there buying my pitas. Instinctively, I reached into my pocket again, and suddenly – against all odds, I found the shekel".

The shekel was hidden inside the lining of the pocket, and only then did Gil realize the great miracle that had been performed for him. "Hashem hid the shekel from me so that I wouldn’t buy pitas that day and would not get hurt. When I returned to the kollel, overwhelmed with emotion, I began to say the blessing for safety," he concluded.