Asher was tossed from his bike and was unconscious suffering from broken feet and a serious head injury. He was taken to the Hillel Jaffe Hospital in Hadera. “For 3 days he was in deep sedation and on a breathing machine with the doctors having no idea to what extent his brain damage would be and what level of function he would have when he got up,” his sister told the Israel Hayom paper at the time. Would he be partially paralyzed? Would he be able to talk? Would he remember any one of us?”
When he awoke he remembered no one; not his parents or his 4 sisters. He couldn’t string together a logical sentence and on occasion tried disconnecting himself from the medical machines attached to him. He couldn’t even recognize his mother and forgot major chunks of his life’s details.
But on the first night of Hanukkah all that changed against all odds. The nurse wrote; “we came in to light the first candle with his friends and relatives and then we sang “Maoz Tzur” and then it happened… Asher who had no idea where he was started singing the words in a strong voice joining in with everyone else! He remembered all the stanzas too!”
The nurse who up to that moment called herself ‘far from being a believer’ looked on astounded. “I stood there with moist eyes overcome with emotion and said to myself inside my heart; if this isn’t a Hanukkah miracle I don’t know what is”…
After that Maoz Tzur that has accompanied the family ever since, the family witnessed more miracles. A month later, Asher went into rehab at the Bet Levinstein rehab center where his memory slowly came back to him. Ultimately with time, Asher was healthy enough to resume life and got married building a fine Jewish home.
Asher’s family makes an effort every Hanukkah to appreciate his Hanukkah miracle and thank G-d for it.