An incredible neis occurred during the deadly terror attack near the Kosel on Sunday morning when the life of Rabbi Ze’ev Katzenellenbogen was saved due to a bullet striking the exact place of his Tefillin shel Yad, saving his life.

Rabbi Katzenellebogn, 46, a father of 8 and a resident of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, was on the way back from Shacharis at the Kosel, still wrapped in tallis and tefillin, when he heard the sound of shooting.

He later told Channel 13 News from his bed in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital: “I was going home from Shacharis, still wrapped in my tallis and tefillin. I heard gunshots and chaos. I didn’t really understand what was going on but I realized that there was an incident. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my arm right at the place of my tefillin. When I realized what happened, I immediately returned toward the Kosel plaza so I would be in a safe place.”

“I understand what a great neis I experienced. I could have lost my life in a second. The tefillin is opposite the heart, there’s a connection to Hashem and you feel protected. It was an extremely powerful experience.”

Rabbi Katzenellenbogen said that his day-to-day life in the Old City feels completely normal. “I haven’t felt that there’s more tension than usual,” he said. “Life is normal. We hear about things but we don’t feel anything unusual day to day.”

Fortunately, Rabbi Katzenellenbogen was only lightly injured but the public is asked to daven for his full recovery: Reb Dovid Ze’ev ben Yehudis Perel b’toch shaar cholei Yisrael.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)