בס"ד
Sharon Nachshoni Was
In Heavenly Court
While most people
who pass on won't return to the world of mortals until Mashiach
arrives, 28-year-old Nachshoni, a high-level military intelligence
officer, died and lived to tell about it.
His isn't the first
story of a post-death experience. In recent years it seems more and
more people who have been declared clinically dead have survived to
tell of their other-worldly experiences, reporting such similar
visions as a strong white light at the end of a tunnel and an
encompassing feeling of peace and warmth. Yet Sharon Nachshoni's
story is so detailed, his vision so vivid, that it changed his entire
outlook on life and has served as an inspiration to the hundreds,
perhaps thousands, who have heard him tell it.
Until two years ago,
Sharon Nachshoni was climbing the ladder of military intelligence,
serving as squad commander of an anti-terror undercover unit in Judea
and Samaria and having served as chief of security for secret
intelligence delegations in Eastern Europe. His religious
affiliation, like so many Sephardi Israelis, was traditional. He
honored rabbis and gave charity to yeshivot, but his personal
commitment to everyday Judaism wasn't yet developed.
Until the day of the
accident in June 1997. That morning, Nachshoni, father of three, left
his home in Rechovot to help prepare a secret salvation strategy for
the Army's upcoming partial withdrawal from Hebron. Five minutes on
the road, and his left front wheel blew out, leaving the car to spin
out of control into the opposite lane, where it was demolished by an
oncoming truck. When the rescue workers finally extricated Sharon's
body from the wreckage, it looked more like a heap of flesh and
blood. His left arm and his hips were crushed. The car's engine had
smashed his legs, his jaws were broken, his nose was torn off and all
his teeth were knocked out. One of the medics gathered them up and
put them in a cup. His lungs were so badly injured that he stopped
breathing and lost consciousness. By the time he was laid out on a
stretcher, his pulse and breathing had stopped. The ambulance team
covered him with a sheet and filled out the form - "Dead at the
scene of the accident."
The accident caused
a major traffic tie-up, and one vehicle stuck in the jam was Egged
Bus 212, going from Ashdod to Rechovot. A young man came off the bus
and said he was an army medic. On his shirt was written, "Medical
Officer." The rescue workers pointed him in the direction of the
other injured waiting to be evacuated, but he went over to the body
under the sheet and said, "What's with this one?" "Oh,
he's dead," they answered. Yet the medical officer wanted to
investigate for himself. He pulled off the blanket, and with the help
of a few crude tools including a ball-point pen, he performed an
emergency tracheotomy and cleared Sharon's lungs of the blood and
fluid so that air could get in. Suddenly Sharon began to gurgle and
breathe. The rescue workers saw the change in his status and
immediately put him on one of the ambulances at the scene. However,
the medical officer disappeared, and to this day no one has been able
to discover who he was, despite newspaper and radio ads looking for
him.
While all this was
happening below, Sharon Nachshoni was experiencing something
altogether different above. As he lay dead on the pavement, his soul
was standing before the Heavenly Court in judgment, and although only
one part of the dramatic scene is still etched in his memory, when he
eventually regained consciousness, he gave an exact description of
what he saw to his sister and brother-in-law, who recorded and
verified the details. His wife Avivit, who at this point had no idea
that he had been declared clinically dead, said she noticed the
change in him even as he was being wheeled into the emergency room.
He could barely breath, yet he kept mumbling, "I saw
Grandfather. Grandfather pushed me." And as he drifted in and
out of consciousness after the initial nine-hour-long surgery, with
massive effort he whispered, "Where is Aunt Miriam?" Aunt
Miriam was a righteous woman who spent her days doing chessed for
others. Her health situation had been declining rapidly and Sharon
had visited her the day before the accident. She passed away just
hours before the accident, but, not wanting to upset Sharon, his
family told him she was fine.
"They didn't
understand," Sharon explained. "I wanted to know if she was
really dead. I saw her in the hall of the Heavenly Court."
Over the next few
hours, in and out of consciousness, Sharon's questions continued, his
requests baffling his family. He told his wife to take down a plaque
that was hanging on a wall in recognition of a contribution he had
given to a yeshiva and to put it away in a drawer. He asked his
mother if he had ever made a pledge he didn't keep in the end. She
replied that six years before he had pledged to donate an Aron Kodesh
to a certain synagogue following a previous car accident. "I
must finance it as soon as possible," he told his mother in
desperation. Later he looked up, smiled, and said, "Hashem, I
love you." His behavior was baffling, but his family attributed
it to the severe injuries he'd suffered in the accident. At that
point they didn't know he had been declared clinically dead. They
only found out after he was moved out of the recovery suite into the
intensive care ward, when his wife and sister took a peek into his
file, which was lying open on the bed. "He was actually dead!"
they realized. What had transpired during those minutes?
Meanwhile, Sharon
spent months in the hospital, undergoing surgery after surgery as
doctors pieced him back together. He remembers nothing of those
months, being under heavy sedation and high doses of morphine so that
his body would have a chance to heal without the interference of the
intolerable pain he would have felt had he been awake. He is
considered a medical miracle, and he has been the subject of various
medical symposia over the last two years. The surgeon who operated on
his head even became a ba'al teshuva after witnessing Sharon's
amazing survival. By the time he was moved to the rehabilitation wing
of Tel Hashomer Hospital, he was surely alive, but doctors didn't
give him much hope of further recovery. His left hand was totally
nonfunctional, he couldn't move his legs and his body was massively
scarred. In place of his shattered bones, in the course of 17
operations doctors had implanted pieces of metal to connect whatever
bones were still viable, and his daily dose of physical suffering was
more than most humans could bear. But he bore it with grace, as the
Heavenly Court had told him he would have much suffering in the
physical world if he chose to return to life. One evening during
those long months, his brother-in-law shared a quiet visit with him.
"You've experienced something only very few merit," his
brother-in-law said. "Something happened to you when you were
hovering between this world and the next. Please tell what you saw."
Sharon had hinted at
his metaphysical experience before, but he was always afraid to
divulge what had happened Up There. Perhaps no one would believe him.
Perhaps they'd think he'd gone crazy. Besides, he spent his days
drifting in and out of consciousness. This time, during a period of
lucidity, his brother-in-law pressed on. "No more boundaries,"
he implored. "Tell who you saw, what it was like. It will
strengthen others in their fear of Heaven."
Sharon began. His
brother-in-law, Shachar Ashbal, who learns in a kollel in Binyamina,
was there with Sharon's sister. Together they heard the story, which
Sharon no longer recalls. He doesn't even remember the conversation,
but Shachar Ashbal made sure to get the whole thing on tape.
Right after the
accident, Sharon Nachshoni entered a large hall, which was full of
people who had died, some many years ago, some whom Sharon still
remembered. Everyone seemed happy and showered Sharon with love and
warmth, especially his grandfather. The hall itself seemed to be
unbounded, with no beginning and no end, and he was able to identify
everyone, even those he didn't know. (His brother-in-law wrote down
all the names, most of them people he didn't know, and indeed he
later discovered that those people did exist, many of whom died
before Sharon was born.) Everyone wore fine clothing and looked as
they did at the time of their death. Sharon looked for his
grandfather, a very dignified man, but only found his uncle, his
father's brother. "Where is Grandfather?" he asked. His
uncle said, "Grandfather went with our other brother to speak on
your behalf."
Suddenly Sharon felt
himself being pushed in the direction of the stage. He was
embarrassed, because everyone was dressed in their finery and his
clothes were torn and bloody from the accident. As he approached the
stage he saw three powerful lights. The middle one was the strongest,
and it was so blinding that Sharon couldn't look at it. The side
lights were not as strong, one serving as the voice of "good"
and the other as the voice of "bad." Next to the stage,
standing next to the side of "good," were four Israeli
mekubalim: Rav Yitzchak Kadouri, Rav Mordechai Eliyahu, Rav David
Batzri and Rav Yoram Abergil. ("I wouldn't say that our rabbis
jump between Olam Ha'Zeh and Olam Ha'Ba, but it is brought down in
the Gemara that tzaddikim of the generation influence both the lower
and upper worlds," Sharon clarified for Country Yossi Family
Magazine.) Suddenly the voice of "bad" boomed out, "Either
you or the aunt must stay." It was referring to Aunt Miriam,
whom he had seen just the day before, and she looked as frail as when
he had last seen her. "I'm willing to stay," he heard her
say, and then she was no longer next to him, but far away, standing
in judgment like himself. As the light of "bad" began its
speech, Sharon saw the movie of his life pass before him. The entire
hall was watching. They judged him on his concentration during
prayer, lashon hara, open and concealed hatred, promises made and not
kept (the Aron Kodesh) and theft. After that he was asked three
questions, those mentioned in the Talmud: Did you deal in business
faithfully? Did you set aside specific time for Torah study? Did you
hope for the Redemption? ("Shachar recorded me saying all these
things," explained Sharon, "but believe me, I had never
heard of these questions before. I had never learned a page of Gemara
in my life.")
His voice was taken
from him, and the light of "good" spoke instead. It told
the court how Sharon had given charity to yeshivot, but then the
voice of "bad" interjected that he had flaunted his
contribution with a plaque on the wall. Then they started checking
his observance of mitzvot, including those Sharon had never thought
of as important. He was praised for his Shabbat observance, however
minimal, and for wearing a kippa. Then the four mekubalim appeared,
and although Sharon had never seen them before, they testified on his
behalf. Other witnesses appeared, including a widowed aunt that
Sharon had helped substantially without his family knowing. It was
the aunt's testimony that tipped the scales and enabled his soul to
return to the world. After the trial, the judge spoke from within the
blinding light. The judge asked Sharon if he would take upon himself
three things, which Sharon will not divulge. One thing he promised to
do, and the other two he said he'd try to do. Then came the time for
Sharon to decide if he wanted to return to his body in the mortal
world. The judge stated that he would suffer much physical pain in
this world, but that the pain would expiate his sins and that he
should be grateful for it. Sharon then turned around and tried to run
out, and again he felt ashamed that everyone was looking at his
bloodied clothes. The hall then emptied out except for his
grandmother, who ran after him to make sure he left. His grandfather
was also there, making sure he got out quickly. As his grandmother
faded from view, he saw himself hovering above his body as the medics
worked on him, and then his special vision stopped and he returned to
his mortal self.
"I've spoken to
several others who have had after-death experiences," Sharon
told Country Yossi Family Magazine, "and they've all had similar
stories of judgment. The only thing I remember of my own experience
is my grandfather pushing me. But I'm fortunate that it was recorded.
Many people have other-worldly experiences and they are lost because
no one is there to catch them when they are disclosed."
Soon after the
accident, Sharon pleaded with his family to find Rav Yoram Abergil.
The Rav visited him in the hospital as he lay paralyzed, with doctors
giving little hope for any additional improvement The Rav's blessing
became a prophecy. He said that Sharon's right leg would totally heal
and that his left leg would remain with a slight limp. "You will
yet walk," the mekubal told Sharon Nachshoni.
Several months
later, when Sharon was transferred to the rehab unit at Tel Hashomer,
the department head rather untactfully told him to forget any hope of
walking again. His injuries were too severe. He told him to get ready
for a wheelchair to be a permanent part of his new existence. Sharon,
who held dear the Rav's blessing, told the professor of his hope. The
doctor became incensed at the Rav's "irresponsibility" in
creating such a false hope. Yet two months later, when Sharon was up
on his feet, the professor actually called Rav Abergil and expressed
his shock at the Rav's power.
Sharon's experience
left him with a new understanding and commitment, which he has
translated both to his personal life and to what he sees as his
mission in the Jewish world. He lectures to audiences around the
country, as both a medical miracle and as someone who has "been
there." "You should know," he said, "in the
Heavenly court they didn't ask what kind of kippa I wore or where I
sent my children to school. They were interested in actions, period.
In the end those same worms are going to eat everyone, and everyone
is going to have to give an accounting. There are three points I
speak about, and everything else is superfluous: to realize that
Hashem runs the world, to elevate and sanctify our everyday lives,
and to increase our mitzvot between man and man." Said his wife
Avivit of the change to a strong Torah lifestyle, "After going
through what he and all of us went through, how can you possibly not
change?"
Sharon's fame, he
says, was really accidental. People heard about his story as a result
of his intense efforts to find the medic who saved his life and
disappeared. He went on national television, and his story was
published in the national and religious press, but not a clue turned
up. Some people say it was Eliyahu Hanavi, but Sharon prefers not to
make such a definitive statement. The head of the surgery team who
performed the preliminary operations later told Sharon that he had
never seen such a clever, precise lifesaving technique done with the
most sophisticated equipment, let alone with a ball-point pen.
Does Sharon
Nachshoni have plans for the future, perhaps to return to the field
of military intelligence in which he so excelled? "My last plan
was a 12:30 meeting about the security in Hebron, which I never made
it to. I look at the iron rods coming out of my body, my face that
has been pieced back together ... How can I make plans? For me,
Hashem is the only Planner that counts."
reprinted from
COUNTRY YOSSI
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