The prayer book that saved a fighter's life returns to the place where it all happened

The story of Independence War fighter Moshe Kamera, whose prayer book in his chest pocket stopped a Jordanian bullet. 78 years later, the prayer book was deposited in the Gush Etzion Archive. The bullet blurred the word "memit" (who causes death) from the blessing "Melech memit umechayeh" (King who causes death and restores life), leaving the promise of life intact. Kamera survived the battle, was taken captive, and even risked his life to retrieve the prayer book.

An extraordinary story of salvation from the time of the War of Independence reaches a moving closure. A fighter named Moshe Kamera was saved from death when a prayer book placed in his chest pocket stopped a bullet fired by a Jordanian sniper. The bullet penetrated the hard wooden cover and was stopped between the last pages of the prayer book. Only after the battle did the magnitude of the miracle become clear. Many years later, Kamera's grandson told the story to a lecturer at the academy, who was curious about exactly where the bullet had stopped. The grandson called his mother, who opened the prayer book to the exact page and discovered that the bullet had completely blurred the word "memit" (who causes death) from the phrase "Melech memit umechayeh" (King who causes death and restores life), leaving the promise of life intact. Kamera himself fell wounded into Jordanian captivity after the final battle at the monastery. Even there, he did not give up on the prayer book: a Jordanian soldier confiscated it, but Kamera risked his life and stole it back. He kept it throughout his captivity and brought it back to Israel. Now, 78 years after the event, the prayer book has been deposited in the Gush Etzion Archive.