Posted on 05/27/19
| News Source: Vosizneias.com
Jerusalem - Residents returning to inspect the damage after a Central Israeli town was nearly burned to the ground were amazed to discover an entire room of seforim that were somehow spared by the flames. The books belonged to the town’s founder, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, who passed away in 1994.
The discovery was reported by Arutz Sheva (http://bit.ly/2VT0uJk), which joined residents of Mevo Modiim as they toured the blackened remains of Carlebach’s home. Video captured as the group toured the home showed piles of charred pages and blackened walls, with one member exclaiming, “I don’t believe. I don’t believe it,” as he entered a room filled with books that had somehow eluded the blaze.
The room is believed to contain most of Rabbi Carlebach’s library, prompting one of the men to comment “it is an overt miracle.” As he left the house another remarked incredulously, “my brother, I saw books that were not burned in a burned house.”
As previously reported on VIN News (http://bit.ly/2VSXmNs), Mevo Modiim is just one of several communities that may have been completely destroyed by fire on Thursday, some of which are believed to have been started by Lag B’Omer bonfires that were not fully extinguished. Despite an extremely rainy winter this year, conditions have been hot and dry as temperatures soared well above the 90 degree mark for several consecutive days in Israel.
Pictures taken of the unscathed room show multiple boxes overflowing with books, several items in large frames, a laundry basket filled with assorted items and an exercise device popular in the 1990s that also remained intact.
According to a Facebook post by Carlebach’s daughter, Neshama Carlebach, a second collection of her father’s books had also been spared.
“Somehow, even though our whole house on the Moshav burned, our father’s books survived…” wrote Carlebach. “And, surrounded by ash and devastation, the other space unscathed by fire was the building where his other books were stored. This is a miracle of epic proportion. #Believe.”