Blue, Quiet, and Dangerous: The Beautiful and Treacherous Sea of Galilee

You wrote about summer safety, one reader told me, let's call her Ditsa. You mentioned different incidents that could happen, but reality is much scarier, and we must be extremely cautious.

To explain her point, she shared their story, which occurred a few years ago.

"We went for a vacation during the Bein Hazmanim period in Tiberias," she starts. "The vacation was pleasant. We prayed at the grave of the righteous Rabbi Meir Baal Haness, went to parks, shopped, and mainly enjoyed the sea on the shores of Tiberias - the Sea of Galilee.

"This was the routine until the day I want to tell you about. One day we sat by the shore of the Sea of Galilee to enjoy the clear, cool waters that look so innocent and blue. None of us expected what lay hidden beneath and the frightening minutes that would follow due to those treacherous waters.

"The kids wanted to get in the water, and I sat to wade with them in the lake's shallow waters. Meanwhile, my husband went to study in the car and rest in the air conditioner's shade since it's very hot in Tiberias this time of year. I went with the kids to the shallow waters.

"So we could settle comfortably without getting too wet, my son went and got a nearby foam raft about one meter by one meter without sides. I sat with my two-year-old daughter on the raft, and we rocked on the calm waters. My daughter is energetic and active, and during the vacation, I was occupied with chasing after her, always fearing she might get lost. Now she sat next to me on the edge of the raft, relaxed, and captivated by the sight of the large, blue sea.

"The water was shallow, half a meter deep. Nearby, unsupervised children played in the water. I was the only adult around. Was I worried? Not at all. Watching the children's joy was delightful.

"A gentle summer breeze began to blow. Although my son held the raft, it started to drift diagonally away from the children. I asked my son to hold the raft and bring me back. He did, and we continued enjoying the water's coolness."

Mom is Coming

At this point, something began to happen.

"Suddenly, we felt another warm gust, and the raft drifted again. My son grabbed the raft, shouting: 'Mom, the raft is drifting again.' I jumped off the raft. As I jumped, in a split second, the raft began drifting away with my daughter on it. I was near the shore, and the raft started sailing quickly. I tried to extend my hand, but the raft with my daughter kept moving farther, and I was powerless to help."

A seemingly innocent occurrence, right? A mother with young children wading in the shallow, cool water on a warm day. What could be better? But here the situation begins to take a wrong turn, in a way Ditsa never imagined could happen. She continues to tell her story in the present tense, even though a long time has passed.

 "I started running in the water toward the raft, and the more I ran, the farther the raft drifted, just like in a bad dream, when you're chasing someone, and they just move farther away. I started swimming, trying to reassure my daughter and myself, saying: 'Sweetie, mommy is coming, mommy is coming.'

"The more I swam, the farther the raft drifted away. I stopped swimming. I was the only mother around. Not far from me, little children played in the water. I started shouting: 'Save my baby, save her, the baby is drifting away!' I started screaming. I wasn't used to swimming a lot. I had no mental or physical strength. Meanwhile, the raft kept drifting farther away."

"The men's section was far. Someone heard the screams and jumped into the water. I pointed to the raft, and he started swimming towards it but couldn't reach due to the current."

A Small Dot in the Sea

Ditsa stops to catch her breath, and I feel the intense pressure and helplessness with her.

 "They called the coast guard, but they didn't arrive. Meanwhile, the kids and I were hysterically crying. My baby is in life-threatening danger. Who knows if she can maintain her balance and remain stable on the raft? One slight movement and she would plunge into the deep waters of the Sea of Galilee. People arriving at the scene began to panic, offering advice. Someone passing by suggested: Donate to charity. Charity saves from death. Hearing this, I began to cry.

"Meanwhile, I sent my son to fetch my husband from the car. My husband started racing towards the shore, mumbling: 'Father in Heaven, I am donating to the community fund, Father in Heaven, save my daughter.' He dived into the Sea of Galilee and began swimming toward the baby."

The little one continued to sit on the raft, traveling a vast distance, with all those on the beach seeing her as a tiny dot in the sea.

"We found a man in the water who had a small rubber boat. My husband took the boat and began rowing. Meanwhile, overwhelmed with indescribable fear, I knew all I could do was pray. I gathered my children and tried to recite Psalms with them. In my distress and emotional turmoil, I couldn't remember any chapter. I only remembered the first word of Psalm 1—'Ashrei'.

 "I asked someone present to say a Psalm, and I repeated it with the kids word by word. On the shore of the Sea of Galilee, a small Psalms prayer group was formed with cries and sobs. After finishing one chapter, I remembered someone suggested donating charity fifteen minutes ago."

Miracles Wrapped Her

Meanwhile, deep in the Sea of Galilee, Ditsa's husband advanced toward the baby.

 "Just as I said I was donating money to charity, a motor boat arrived at the beach, someone summoned it by cell phone. 'Now I understand why everyone is pointing me towards the water and directing me to the tiny raft drifting away,' said the boat owner. 'I didn’t know there was a baby on it. We thought it was a coast guard boat'...

The boat owner jumped into the sea, trying to reach the raft where the two-year-old calmly sat.

 "Meanwhile," Ditsa continues, "my husband approached the raft in the depths of the Sea of Galilee with the rubber boat. He noticed the raft with our little girl stopped moving and ceased to drift into the sea's depth. He paused about twenty meters away, gazing at her in horror. My daughter, who usually runs and plays, quietly lay in the raft's center, as if aware of the surrounding danger. This was an enormous and incredible miracle. She didn’t cry or scream or try to move. When I left her on the shore, she sat on the raft’s side. Seeing me drift away, she didn’t try to get off the raft. Miracles enveloped us in those moments. Praise and thanks to Hashem."

(Illustration Photo: shutterstock)

The little girl saw her father. She called to him and wanted to rise and move towards him. The father was scared she would flip into the water if she moved. He shouted to her: "Sweetie, don't move. Daddy is coming, daddy is coming!"

"As my husband got closer," Ditsa explains, "the little one tried to rise to a standing position. My husband froze. These were indescribably fearful moments. One careless move on his part, and the little girl would flip with the raft into the water. He looked into the water and saw a kind of slope, like the altar ramp in the Temple, which the baby’s raft had stopped over."

The Rescued Ones

Meanwhile, the coast guard personnel still hadn’t arrived, even though they called them repeatedly.

"My husband was beside the little girl, yet afraid to get too close. Any careless movement on his part might frighten her, causing her to recoil and tilt the raft to one side... The waters are very deep, with strong currents and whirlpools.

 "The motorboat from the shore approached the baby, but my little one was afraid of the roaring boat with strangers. She wanted to reach her daddy and tried to move towards him. My husband still feared that the raft would flip from unnecessary movements, yet he could only pray and whisper to her, repeating: 'Daddy is coming, sweetie, daddy is coming. Don’t move, here comes daddy.'

The father was in the deep sea with the little girl, and people on the shore cried out in prayers, trying to tear the heavens. The roaring motorboat was close to our baby girl.

Then the great drama ended.

Two righteous women descended from the motorboat with life vests, swam quietly to the raft, and approached the baby from behind without her noticing. They grabbed her and lifted her onto the motorboat. Cheers erupted from the onlookers watching from the shore. The baby was saved from drowning.

"I cannot describe the screams I let out from relief and release. My husband, who was on the verge of fainting from the latest minutes of tension and fear, was also taken onto the boat and the exhausted father and daughter were returned to the shore."

We have no one to rely on except our Father in Heaven.

Learn from Experience

"A few hours later, we recited Nishmat Kol Chai with immense emotion and enthusiasm. People gathered, excited to discuss the miracle that unfolded before their eyes. In this setting, we began hearing miracle stories about people, women, and children saved from drowning in the Sea of Galilee. It's so misleading. Beautiful and tranquil, it doesn't reveal the dangers lurking beneath the calm waters, and that's why I want to share our story.

There on the shore, amid a huge crowd witnessing the drama, a woman talked about her husband and nine-year-old son who were swept away the day before, drifting three kilometers from the shore, and only after an hour and a half of survival attempts were they rescued by the coast guard. A family from Jerusalem shared that the day before, the father was swept on a water mattress, and in the end, abandoned it and somehow managed to return to shore.

"On this occasion," Ditsa uses the opportunity given to her, "I want to thank everyone who helped save the baby. May Hashem bless you. To all the fathers and yeshiva students who tried to swim towards the baby. To everyone who prayed on the shore for her rescue. Anyone who recited Psalms. All the women who strengthened me in the hard moments. The righteous person who first swam and began the effort to save her. The dear boat owner who eventually saved the baby and the two assistants on the boat with him.

"Our story ended, thank Hashem, well. I publish the story to give praise and thanks and also to warn and caution: the Sea of Galilee is very dangerous. Every year it claims victims. It looks shallow and innocent but hides strong currents. There are whirlpools. There are height differences. After walking in water at a depth of half a meter, the water suddenly becomes deep at a meter and a half. I reached shoulder height; a child can't stand at that depth.

"Please, be careful not to go to the beach without a lifeguard. Although I was close to the baby, she drifted in seconds. Please, learn from our experience."

Life-Saving Rules

A few words about rip currents and what to do when a person is swept away in front of your eyes.

Rip currents pose a great danger to those who cannot swim and even to experienced swimmers. 80% of drowning cases are due to being swept away by these currents into the sea. The speed of a rip current can be about a meter per second in calm seas and up to 3 meters per second in stormy seas! A speed that can overwhelm even a professional swimmer.

Here we reach the most important point. You don't have to, and indeed, you must not resist rip currents! A person's immediate instinct when feeling swept into the sea is to return the same way they entered - and this is a mistake! Since rip currents are usually too strong, the desperate attempt usually accompanied by panic and loss of composure only causes a loss of strength, muscle cramps, irregular breathing, and finally drowning.

(Photo: shutterstock)

The most important thing to remember is not to resist rip currents. In a current, it is advisable to conserve strength, stay calm, try to float, and keep your head above water. The sea has a rhythm, an inbound current, and an outbound current - always remember this. When the current sweeps you beyond the wave-breaking line, you can "cut" left or right, swim parallel to the shoreline, and return in a circular route with the breaking waves moving with the current to the shore.

If you see someone else being swept away, you must call for help from lifeguards or surfers, shout to the person what to do, and if possible, throw them a float (even a cooler or a piece of polystyrene). In cases where there is no access to the person due to rough sea conditions and/or strong currents, do not hastily jump into the water. A significant portion of drowning cases are of people who jumped to rescue others without understanding the action of the currents, despite being fit or experienced swimmers. Keep eye contact with the person in distress, show them you are aware of the problem, and only if you have a float and have taken a course in saving someone from drowning, attempt to make contact.

Originally published in the weekly "HaDerech". For a beneficial subscription, call *8427