Page 62 - HaMizrachi #26 Tu Bishvat USA 2021

GENERAL INTEREST

The Tree That Saved My Life

By Aharon Botzer

hen my children were young, one can be life-threatening. That day, I Until I did what every Jew does when
they would race down from wasn’t feeling well, so I stopped to rest, they are in need of help – I turned my
Wour home in the Old City of had a bite to eat, and felt a bit better. eyes toward the Heavens.
Tzfat to the Nachal Amud valley below. And as I looked up, I saw a branch right
Their record was 28 minutes. That was I was suffering from low blood sugar. I above my head. I was sitting under a
our backyard – the sloping descent should have recognized the signs. carob tree. Hanging there, just within
of the mountain, the streams and the One of the participants was also not reach, were three large, fresh carobs, not
springs, the trees, stones and all the feeling well, so we stopped again at a the dry kind you sometimes find, but
great hiding spots.
path that led up to where the bus was. I high in natural sugar. I quickly picked
As I drank my morning cup of coffee and stayed back to make sure she got there one, gnawing its chewy flesh as fast as
studied the sun’s rays reflecting on the alright while the rest of the group con- I could. I picked the next one, and then
mountain, I would discern yet another tinued with another guide. the third until I finally felt my
hidden golden path that would be our leg return to normal
Friday morning excursion through the But when I got up to con- and I could catch up
valley up to Har Meiron. My children tinue walking, I felt my with the group.
have all married and left home now, leg freeze. I collected some
but when I look out of our window, and I knew imme- dried carobs
when I hike down to the valley, it brings from around
back some very sweet memories. diately. I was the tree and
suffering from
I’ve hiked through Nachal Amud thou- diabetic shock. brought them
sands of times. Sometimes I lead groups home as a
or go with my wife, my children and I was alone reminder of
grandchildren; other times, I go alone. among the my personal
I see G-d in the nature around me, and trees. I had my miracle.
the quiet serenity allows me to open my phone with me, I like to tell this
heart to Him. but there was no story to my grand-
But one time, it was anything but quiet service. children, to guests at
my Shabbat table, and to
serenity. I tried to walk but very soon I the groups I lead down to the
Five years ago, I was leading a group of couldn’t walk at all. valley. I tell them it’s not really the tree
American students and tourists on a My head began to spin, and I knew if I that saved me. It’s the One Who created
three-day hike from the Mediterranean the tree that bore the fruit that saved my
to the Kinneret. didn’t manage to raise my blood sugar life; the One Who answered me when I
soon, I would lose consciousness.
I should have known something was turned my eyes in prayer to the Heavens.
wrong. But what could I do? I couldn’t move. When life pulls you down, I tell them,
I’d been diagnosed with diabetes some There would be nobody to save me, look up.
years earlier. One can suffer from either nobody to find me. I sunk down onto
high blood sugar – hyperglycemia, or a stone. My mind began to fill with Aharon Botzer is founder and CEO of Livnot
low blood sugar – hypoglycemia. Either thoughts of death and despair... U’Lehibanot.

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