From Terror Survivor to Life Saver: Shimon Levi’s Miraculous Full Circle

When Shimon Levi entered the hospital room of Eliyahu Dahan at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, there were hardly a dry eye. Dahan, who had been seriously wounded in a stabbing attack only a few days earlier, lifted his eyes toward Shimon — the good angel who happened to be there at exactly the right moment, pulled the knife from his back, and managed to stop the bleeding.

Shimon hesitated for a moment at the doorway, then approached the bed and gave Dahan a strong, heartfelt hug. A moment later, he took out the guitar that accompanies him everywhere and began to play the song “Nothing Bad Comes Down from Heaven” — a song he composed together with singer Yaakov Shwekey, which has accompanied him for several months. Its meaning had become especially powerful and chilling now, given that Shimon himself had once survived a terror attack, and now found himself on the other side — saving a life.

(Photo: Elisaf Cohen)

One Picture, a Thousand Words

Shimon’s story begins about two decades ago, when, at just six months old, he miraculously survived one of the deadliest terror attacks in Israel’s history. The attack took place on a Saturday night, when a car bomb exploded near the Machaneh Yisrael yeshiva, where two families were celebrating their sons’ bar mitzvahs. The outcome was devastating: ten civilians were killed, including six children.

Oren Levi, Shimon’s father, was one of the organizers of that Shabbat event. He himself survived the attack by a clear miracle, but his wife was injured, and their six-month-old son Shimon was thrown through the air, landing on the pavement beneath the burning car.

The image of baby Shimon being held in the arms of rescue worker Bentzi Oiring became one of the most iconic photographs symbolizing that horrific wave of terror. Shimon, of course, does not remember the event in which his life was saved, but throughout his childhood his parents repeatedly told him about the miracle of his rescue and the rescue forces who pulled him out from under the burning vehicle.

“From that day on, the rescuer and I became family,” he says. “There isn’t a day when I don’t thank God and feel that my life was given to me as a gift. More than once I’ve passed by the place where the attack happened and recited the blessing, ‘Blessed is He who performed a miracle for me in this place.’ More than 20 years have passed, but I can’t forget it. I constantly ask God how I can repay Him for all this goodness.”

At the Right Place, at the Right Time

Recently, however, Shimon’s story took a remarkable turn. One Saturday afternoon, a stabbing attack occurred at a playground in the Givat HaMivtar neighborhood of Jerusalem. Eliyahu Dahan was stabbed by a terrorist and critically wounded. The attacker fled, leaving Dahan bleeding on the ground.

At that very moment, Shimon Levi happened to be passing by with his wife and their baby daughter. “I saw with my own eyes the terrorist fleeing while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar,’” Shimon recalls. “At first I didn’t fully understand what was happening, but as we continued along the path, I saw a young man collapsing on the ground, covered in blood.”

Shimon did not panic. He immediately ran to the wounded man. “I did what I knew had to be done,” he says. “I helped him lie down, took off my jacket, and placed it on his back to stop the bleeding. Since it was Shabbat, I didn’t have a phone with me and couldn’t call emergency services, so I shouted at the top of my lungs, ‘Help! Help!’ After a few minutes, a Border Police vehicle happened to pass by, and soon after, medical teams arrived and began treating him.”

Shimon says he was deeply worried about the victim’s condition and sought updates immediately after Dahan was evacuated. “I was told he was seriously injured,” he says, “but that his condition was stable. A few days later I learned that he was recovering and even wanted to meet me. I wanted to meet him too — to tell him what a living miracle he was, because when I first saw him after the stabbing, it looked as though there might be no one left to save.”

Everything Has a Purpose

Their meeting was deeply emotional. As Shimon recounts it, his voice breaks. “It felt like we’d been friends for years, not like we’d only met once,” he says. “It was also an opportunity for me to understand what had really happened. Eliyahu told me that he felt himself being stabbed, and when he tried to pull the knife out of his back, he felt only the plastic handle — because the blade was fully embedded inside. He said he tried to run and didn’t even attempt to fight the terrorist, but he couldn’t escape.

“That’s when I fully realized how privileged I was to have saved a life,” Shimon says. “There was also clear divine assistance when I realized the cry I heard was a real call for help. At first it wasn’t very loud, and I thought it was just children playing.”

“I also filled in my side of the story,” he continues. “I told him that when I arrived, I saw the plastic handle of the knife lying on the ground — the blade had broken off. That’s probably why the terrorist fled and didn’t continue stabbing others. The terrorist actually passed right by the path where I was walking with my wife and baby, but he went past us without harming us — simply because he no longer had a knife.”

Shimon adds that this extraordinary encounter felt like a kind of personal closure. “Suddenly I understood how God orchestrates everything from above, and how He merited me — specifically as a terror-attack survivor, to be the one who saves the life of another Jew. I feel it’s an immense privilege to be an agent for something like this, and I’m deeply grateful to the Creator.”

“I was given my life as a gift 20 years ago,” he concludes, “and ever since, I’ve felt that I’m living a miracle and constantly searching for my mission in this world. That’s why I try to strengthen and uplift the people of Israel — to inspire as many Jews as possible, through singing, music, and songwriting. Now I understand that God prepared another purpose for me: He wanted me to sanctify His Name by saving a life. That’s also why I’m sharing my story publicly — so people can understand the magnitude of divine providence and know that ‘nothing bad comes down from Heaven.’ Everything has a purpose, a meaning, and a goal.”