The Matzah Miracle that Saved the Residents of Kibbutz Sufa
This article by Avi Jacob (and translated by Rivka Friedman) appears on the site of Radio Kol Chai One of the things I love most about this story is the life-saving connection between the ultra-Charedi Jews in the story and the non-religious kibbutznikim. Yet another reminder that deep down, no matter how different we look and even act, we are one family.
Three weeks ago a group of residents came from Bnei Brak to harvest wheat for Pesach. They harvest the wheat every summer when the sun beats down on the fields, thoroughly drying the wheat. The wheat is then stored until the winter when they start the production and baking of matzos.
Aharon Samet, owner of the “Samet” factory producing “tzitzis” fringes, is the Badatz community supervisor for the wheat harvest. On a radio program today with Rabbi Moshe Ben Lulu, Samet told the story of the great miracle which occurred for the people of Israel thanks to this year’s wheat harvest.
“This year we are getting ready for the Shmitta agricultural sabbatical year, so this summer we harvested wheat grain for two years. We searched the whole country, looking for wheat which was sown late in the season and needed rain which fell late. At Kibbutz Sufa right next to the Gaza border we found an entire field sown in mid-January, which was considered very unusual, so we found 2000 acres of green wheat which was just right for us, “said Samet.
“We harvested the wheat,” said Samet, “and we ran into military police, as well as undercover and regular police who came to check out who we were.” The Gaza air campaign was already underway, and Samet and his colleagues saw the smoke clouds over Gaza, and heard the sirens while they were busy harvesting and transferring the wheat to trucks and moving them towards the cleaning plant near Masmiya for cleaning the wheat, fumigating and tithing it.
Two days later 13 terrorists came from Gaza out from the tunnel which opened into the fields near Sufa. The terrorists had been planning a big attack, and had been counting on hiding among Sufa’s giant wheat field–which the matzah makers had just chopped down in its entirety. The terrorists couldn’t understand how their camouflage had disappeared.
The empty field enabled military observers to easily spot and identify the terrorists and open fire on them. Many Jewish lives were thus saved by the grace of Heaven.
Wow! what an incredible story.
This weeks Parsha (Devarim) ends like this:
“Do not fear them, for it is G-d, your G-d who is fighting for you”
This story is an example of that!
Wow Hashem is showing so many revealed miracles! Baruch Hashem!!
Wow! Kimei tzeischa maiEretz Mitzrayim arenu niflaos!
Wow. That just floored me. I shared with all my children. Just amazing. HaShem: You love us sooo much! Just miraculous.
Baruch HaShem for the IDF and for those who follow the Torah. With Torah and the IDF, Israel is unbeatable!
Reading tehillim very soothing and inspirational. Relevant to today as at the time of Dovid Hamelach.
WOW! What an amazing story. Hashem is watching over Eretz Yirael and the people of Israel. May Hashem grant us all the ability to see the miracles that are happening before our eyes every day both in Israel and throughout the world. May Hashem watch over and protect the IDF and the many men and women who are putting their lives on the line to protect all of us and our homeland.
May we be zocheh to recognize the miracles taking place all around us. We should feel Hashem’s love surrounding and protecting us day and night.
So the lesson is that HaShem rewards us for keeping his mitzvos. That was the reward for a group who were trying to keep the mitzvah of matzah to highest degree. A good response to this miracle would be that those lived in the kibbutz to start keeping matzah. But alas humans are so good at ignoring pure logic.