Alon Paz and His Fiancée on Their Against-All-Odds Wedding: "Never Despair, Hashem Can Do Anything"

In recent years, the story of Alon Paz has gained significant attention: a young man whose life took a dramatic turn 13 years ago at the age of 33, when he suddenly became paralyzed in all parts of his body due to a severe car accident. Since then, he returned to religious faith and decided to dedicate his life to two purposes: studying Torah and encouraging others. Through the years, his videos flooded the internet with uplifting messages of faith, all revolving around a single theme: Paz doesn't harbor anger or question the situation he found himself in; instead, he strives to remain grateful and strengthens the belief that everything happens for the best. In each video, Paz declared that he is seeking his match to establish a Jewish home rooted in Torah and kosher values. Thus, for 13 years, he continues to wait and hope for the day it will happen.

"For 13 years now, I have been in a nursing hospital in the same room, closed in, barely going outside, and not even seeing the sky and earth, trying to sit and study Torah, and thank Hashem, not complaining," Alon describes. "No complaints, it’s all tests and atonements from the Creator, who knows what's best for me. I don't ask why, I just say thank you to the Creator. I have a computer in my room that I operate with my nose, and that's how I control, write, post, communicate, and spend my time."

Yafit Yamit Koralkar is a 45-year-old divorcee and mother of a 19-year-old soldier living in Dimona. For 16 years, she has been searching for the man with whom she would establish a second home, with blessings. Three years ago, she returned to religious practice, and over the years, she has been serving devotedly in her profession as a caregiver in the nursing field.

Last Lag B'Omer, Yafit Yamit watched a video that deeply moved her, in which she saw Alon giving words of encouragement for the first time. "I immediately told myself that I want to meet him," she describes with excitement. "I felt a real connection, something internal, in my soul. I felt he was real, pure."

From words to actions: that very day, she reached out to a friend who appeared with him in the video and asked to be introduced to him. The friend gave her Alon's personal number and suggested she make contact and try. "I wrote to Alon that I wanted to meet him and that I would be happy to meet him, it was on a Friday. By the following Sunday at 10 AM, I was with him."

Were you not hesitant or scared? After all, he is completely paralyzed. There are many implications...

"No, the Creator had already prepared me for this in advance. I worked in nursing for a long time, in hospitals and with various types of patients, so I am familiar with this world. When I saw him, I didn’t see the body – I saw his soul, so it didn’t scare or deter me, I looked for what was inside, the soul. The body is nothing, it's not something we're with forever."

And if you think this Cinderella story begins and ends here, you might be mistaken. Although Yafit Yamit was very enthused, Alon, on the other hand, was cautious and decided not to give the connection a chance, and contact was severed for six months. "I had a previous relationship that hurt me a bit, so I felt I needed to be careful and consider well whether to get into this," he explains.

Throughout the months of separation, Yafit Yamit was in distress and could not forget Alon. "I cried, told myself, 'What, not even a paralyzed person wants me? What is it about me?', and since then I wasn't interested in any other proposal I received and didn't want anyone else. I didn't understand why I wanted to talk and hear only him, as if something in my heart closed down, everyone who approached me was blocked and canceled, I felt I wanted to talk only with Alon. I kept fighting this feeling, trying to tell myself, 'He doesn’t want you, so why insist?'"

Last Chanukah, six months after their relationship ended, Alon celebrated his birthday. Yafit Yamit remembered the date well and decided to surprise him. "I came to him with a cake and balloons, and told myself: 'Even if he doesn't want me as a partner, at least I was able to bring joy to a fellow Jew'." But in this meeting, something opened in Alon's heart, and he decided to give their relationship a chance.

"Two weeks after his birthday, he began calling me, and we reconnected. Three months later, he asked me to come over, and when I arrived, I noticed something different in his eyes, something else in the air. He said he wanted to advance the connection to something more serious, and later we would marry, and that I should move to Petach Tikva, to the apartment he built especially for the stage when he would marry."

Shortly after, Alon surprised Yafit Yamit with a particularly emotional marriage proposal. "We went on a trip to Jerusalem, and I didn’t know anything. I guessed there was something, but I didn’t know when and where and how it would be, and he surprised me on a grand scale. It was perfect and exciting, and afterward, I couldn’t stand, I had to sit from all the excitement. He took me to the Hurva Synagogue area, which I wasn’t very familiar with. We got off the ambulance, I heard music and people cheering in the background, saw photographers, and I was looking and telling myself 'How cool', and it wasn’t until I saw the red carpet that I understood this commotion was about me.

"I was in shock," Yafit Yamit continues to describe with excitement. "I never imagined he would do something so amazing for me. It’s beyond expectations. It's really amazing, I feel like I'm in a fairy tale."

Soon, the two are expected to marry and move to live together, with a caregiver for Alon, in an apartment adjacent to the hospital where he was hospitalized all those years, in Petach Tikva. "I plan to move to the house I built. I am a calculated person, always looking ahead, so years ago when I started looking for a match, I built a house suitable for two, a couple, with a kitchen, closets, an oven. Everything a woman needs, I prepared it in advance so that when she arrives, everything will be ready for her. And so it was, it came."

Did you meet with other women before her?

"Yes, there were matches, but none were like Yafit Yamit. I entered this cautiously, quietly, decided not to reveal it to anyone, and until there were engagements, I decided to keep it very quiet and only those close to me would know. From the beginning, I knew she was a good woman, but I didn’t initially connect, and I don’t know what suddenly happened, and the Creator arranged it. A person plans one thing, and Hashem arranges another."

Yafit Yamit, how did your parents and daughter react to your match with Alon?

"My daughter received it with love, she is happy. My parents, on the other hand, had a hard time. My family did not initially accept it, asked many questions, and found it difficult to accept. Today, they are more accepting and are already helping me with the wedding preparations."

Alon, where did you find the strength to keep hoping all these years that it would happen? Did you never despair?

"I have been searching for a match and praying for years, but there was never despair, I am a strong person. There are ups and downs, but to despair? No. There's faith, and because of the faith and strong desire, one does not give up, they keep going even when hurt or falling."

In conclusion, it's no secret that there are many singles among us, who have been waiting for their match for many long years. Do you have a message for them from your journey?

"Personally, there were many prayers and tears, especially about Alon," Yafit Yamit describes. "I thought to myself: 'Not even a paralyzed person wants me? What will be? What's wrong with me?', Hashem didn’t allow me to disconnect, made me wait for him, I couldn’t talk to anyone else, and in hindsight, I know how that wasn't for nothing. When it comes – it comes in a big way, there’s no despair in this world at all, for both of us it’s a miracle.

"You must not despair, that’s the evil inclination, trying to prevent us from establishing a faithful home, but Hashem can do anything. I never believed it would happen, but when it did – I see Hashem before me all the time. Today I understand everything I went through was for Alon. Even when I studied and it was not easy, and later, when I devotedly cared for patients and they ended up passing away and I had a lot of sorrow, I always asked myself 'Why did I choose this field at all?'. I never had a clear answer for myself, today I understand. Everything was just for Alon, that’s how Hashem led me, and today I know how to care for him, and I understand why and what kindness Hashem did for me.

"Don’t despair, Hashem is with you. Yes, it's easy to say and hard to do, but everything is possible. If Alon, ventilated and paralyzed, and despite everything is getting married – then anyone can find their match. And may Mashiach come, and may we be strong with Hashem. It's all about faith."

And Alon adds: "You must believe, desire, it will come. The Creator of the world did not leave and does not leave anyone. According to the size of the faith, so is the size of the salvation, that's how I've been in my situation for 13 years, and I don’t despair. People told me, 'In your place, I would have despaired and wanted to die,' but I want to live, to establish a home of Torah and commandments, with children, a home of hospitality with the help of Hashem. I feel that I have received a truly wonderful woman with a wide heart, very giving, very sensitive, giving wholeheartedly, quiet, good, a woman of old. I feel that after all this waiting, I was rewarded with a righteous woman."

Alon Paz and Yafit Yamit Koralkar were interviewed for the program "Oded on the Road", hosted by Oded Harush. The full interview will be published soon