After her son was critically wounded in Gaza, Dina and her family were surrounded by support — and miracles

I

meet Dina at Hadassah Har Hatzofim’s rehabilitation center, where her son Aryeh, an officer in the Gefen Brigade, is recovering from injuries he sustained in Gaza on the first day of Chanukah. We sit together in Aryeh’s shared hospital room, currently empty — the soldiers have gone off for physical therapy — made less sterile by the colorful bunches of balloons, the packages of cookies from well-wishers, and the autographed “get well” posters festooning the walls.

“Sometimes a situation seems so bleak,” Dina says, “but what I’ve seen over the last month has shown me that everything that happens is meticulously directed by Hashem and that each of us has a significant role to play in the unfolding story of the Jewish people. I feel as though Hashem pulled back the curtain of confusion that drapes This World and gave me a glimpse of what lies behind.

“Everything I went through in my life helped prepare me to handle this nisayon,” Dina tells me. “Even small things, like the fact that in recent years my Hebrew improved significantly, which enabled me to communicate effectively with the medical staff, the army liaisons, the other soldiers, and parents in the ward.

“And there were bigger things. I’ve been in two major car accidents, which really shook me up. I’d felt I’d been living my life to the best of my ability, growing as an eved Hashem, and out of nowhere, I was driving along the road, and boom, a car plowed into mine — twice! But these events forced me to work on understanding the role nisyonos play in our life and to internalize the idea that challenges aren’t necessarily punishments, but a way to help us achieve more of our potential. These experiences did prepare me to better handle this nisayon of Aryeh’s injury.”

Aryeh was critically wounded when his abdomen was pierced by a large piece of shrapnel from an explosive device that detonated next to him and the soldiers he was in charge of. The details of the event are still under investigation, but it seems as though the group encountered a booby trap as they conducted a security scan of a school just outside of Jabaliya. The bomb killed another soldier, Lt. Netanel Menachem (Nati) Eitan, 22, from Ramot in Yerushalayim — who fought for his life for several days before succumbing to his wounds — and lightly injured a number of others.

Despite the severity of his injuries, Aryeh stayed conscious throughout, and in the initial chaotic minutes after he was wounded, was able to crawl to the side, away from the explosion site. There, he called out to his shocked soldiers, “I’m bleeding, I’m bleeding! Sit on me, sit on me!” Following his directive, his soldiers sat on him, applying pressure to the wound, until a medic was able to get to him and administer coagulants to stanch his massive hemorrhage. He was even able speak to Dina upon his arrival at the hospital to tell her he’d been injured and that she should come to Assuta Hospital as quickly as possible.