Jerusalem, May, 16, 2021
Picture this scene:
David, a happy young professional black man is driving down the highway on his way home from an exciting and fulfilling extended weekend up North. He’s talking on his cell phone to his mom. It’s Monday May 10th, the day after Mother’s Day. Because he was so busy yesterday, he had forgotten to call. As he reaches the intersection of Route 70, a police roadblock is directing traffic in a different direction. His GPS is now recalculating his route, directing him to take a small country road. A large truck is in front of him and a similar one behind. As the convoy reaches the outskirts of a small town David sees an immense fire shooting up some 25 feet in the air. At the other end of the town, 150-200 angry men with KKK garb and battle flags are yelling and jumping around the fire. His mom hears the yelling and asks him what’s going on. Not to alarm her, he tells her it’s nothing, just some kids having fun. But David is scared to death. The truck in front is waved past the bonfire by the mob.
Then, it’s David’s turn to drive through. But the truck in front suddenly brakes, stopping a mere few feet ahead of him. The mob sees David’s black face and starts banging on the car and hitting it with baseball bats. Someone throws a large rock through the rear window. Glass shatters. The mob moves in to grab David from the car, lynch him and burn him in the bonfire. David, his adrenaline pumping into his bloodstream and nervous system, is calm. Thinking very strategically, he drives his car into the truck in front of him, causing it to move forward a few feet. He puts his own car in reverse and floors the gas pedal. The car spurts backwards a few feet into the crowd, which now scatters to avoid being hit, as David shifts into drive, weaves behind the truck in front and drives off into a field on his right. The mob, angrier than before, starts running after him. He’s driving down a dirt path in the middle of the field. It’s now 10:30 pm. He tells his mother something came up and he will call later. After driving a mile or so, the road ends at a brick wall. He has less than a quarter of a tank of gas.
Sounds like a movie you’ve seen? Well, this time it’s no movie. And David — or Dovid — isn’t black, and he’s driving to Tel Aviv; and the mob is a mob of Arabs waving Palestinian flags, thirsting for the blood of Jews.
Our former Center student, Dovid Uhlmann, a native Chicagoan and an Israeli citizen, was here in Israel to daven at the graves of our holy ancestors and great rabbis, and to see friends and visit his alma mater, Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem. The last grave he had visited was that of Yonason ben Uziel in Amuka, where he recited the whole book of Tehillim. And, although he almost joined his ancestors in his own grave — Hashem had other plans.
There are some facts you need to know about Dovid before we go on. He made aliyah in 2015 to join the IDF as a combat soldier. Making the decision to join a military unit that was like minded in mitzvah observance, he joined an Orthodox unit of the Givati — one of the elite combat units in the IDF. He had also graduated from IDC, an internationally renowned college in Herzliya, with a Master’s Degree in Government, specializing in counterterrorism, homeland security, counter cyber-terrorism, and a cluster certificate in cyber-security. Hashem had prepared him, as much as possible, for this very moment – a time of extremely high tension on the streets of Israel, as thousands of rockets were fired by Hamas into Israeli civilian areas, and local Jew-hating mobs roamed Israeli cities and roads in their search for innocent Jewish victims.
The truck that had been behind him at the roadblock was now also following him down the dirt road in the field. Dovid had no idea if the truck’s occupants were “friend or foe.” The truck drove up next to him and the driver instructed Dovid in perfect Hebrew to follow him to safety. Still wary, Dovid called the police to report the incident and inform them of his predicament. The police were cordial, but since he wasn’t injured or in immediate danger, they told him that they were quite busy and wished him “good luck.” And they added that under no circumstances was Dovid to follow the truck.
However, not seeing any alternative, Dovid disregarded their advice and started following the truck with his lights off. He continued following the truck for a short while. Then, suddenly, Hashem opened his eyes to a road that he had failed to see before, which lead in the opposite direction, away from the village. He took that “miracle road” to safety and was able to tell the tale — and celebrate his Divine salvation.
On Thursday evening, Dovid made a siyum on the Gemara Makkos and spoke at an all-program, festive, night of Torah study at the Yeshiva. Recounting his ordeal, he ended his speech with the following message: “It doesn’t matter where you are in the world. You can be in Jerusalem, South Africa, South America or the USA. Bad things can happen anywhere. You can even be in the middle of angry and dangerous anti-Semitic mob. If Hashem does not give permission for something to happen, nobody can touch you.”
