During the war with Iran, stories circulated among religious communities about prolonged rainstorms that caused muddy ground conditions, absorbing part of the blast of Iranian missiles and significantly reducing the level of destruction, including in Dimona and Arad, where missiles fell on a Motzei Shabbos after it rained the entire Shabbos.

Now another firsthand account has emerged — this time from Gaza — about “a mud miracle” and its connection to tzedaka.

Shlomo, a reserve soldier, shared a special story with Kol Chai on the virtue of tzedaka, saying that since the beginning of the war, he has been carrying around a small tzedaka box, distributing coins to soldiers and encouraging them to donate for protection.

During preparations for entering Gaza, he met an officer who donated some money to his tzedaka box and then asked what the significance of tzedaka is. Shlomo replied: “Great is tzedaka, for it hastens the Geulah.” The officer, who did not come from a religious background, was moved and asked to donate again. “Suddenly his eyes were opened,” Shlomo said. “I felt that he truly connected to what I said.”

A few days later, the soldiers entered combat in Gaza. Shlomo said that just before the operation began, he put on tefillin in the middle of the street in Gaza, and later, other soldiers joined him. “They asked to don the tefillin one after the other,” he said.

And then came the dramatic moment: they heard an announcement over the radio – “We were hit by an RPG.”

Their hearts skipped a beat, but after many long moments, they heard a second calming announcement: “The entire force is fine.”

Shlomo discovered only later that the same officer who gave him tzedaka twice was the commander of the force that was hit by an RPG.

When he encountered the officer, again, he asked with a smile: “Tzedaka helped, huh?” The officer replied, “It helped immensely, you saved us.” He explained that the ground was wet due to the rain, and the RPG missile fell into mud, which absorbed the explosion.

Shlomo described the event as a true neis. The shrapnel remained in the ground, with the soldiers only feeling the force of the blast. Since then, he said, that officer continues to encourage him to carry the tzedaka box even on the battlefield.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)