{"id":15060,"date":"2026-03-10T11:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/an-answered-prayer-that-changed-two-strangers-lives\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T05:58:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T05:58:43","slug":"an-answered-prayer-that-changed-two-strangers-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/angels-and-miracles\/miracles\/gods-grace\/an-answered-prayer-that-changed-two-strangers-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"An Answered Prayer That Changed Two Strangers’ Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

When a rabbi claims one amazing story forever changed the way he prays, I can\u2019t help but take notice. In an online video, Rabbi Yoel Gold of Beis Naftali Synagogue in Los Angeles shared an incredible true tale from his aunt Betsy, one that altered the lives of the people involved and gave even this learned scholar of the Torah new insight into the power of prayer.<\/p>\n

I wanted to know more, so I called him up.<\/p>\n

Storytelling is obviously a part of any rabbi or minister\u2019s job. Why was this story different?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m always looking for a good story, so my father-in-law stays on the lookout for me. Last year, he said, \u201cYoel, you have to hear this amazing thing that happened to Betsy.\u201d Betsy is his sister, my aunt through marriage. <\/span><\/p>\n

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I gave Aunt Betsy a call. What she told me left me completely in tears. I connected with it so deeply, it really changed the way I prayed. When I pray now, it\u2019s more real. It\u2019s much more real.<\/span><\/p>\n

Take me back to the beginning\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

It all started in July 2014, during the Israel-Gaza conflict, which was called Operation Protective Edge. When there\u2019s a war in Israel, there\u2019s this hotline that Americans can call to get the name of a soldier fighting in the Israeli Army to pray for.<\/p>\n

My aunt and her husband, Simon, live in Beverly Hills, but they also own an apartment in Jerusalem. They identify very strongly with Israel and want to be supportive any way they can. My aunt called the hotline and was given the name of a soldier. She wrote it down and posted it on her kitchen cabinet.<\/p>\n

Wait, the kitchen cabinet?<\/strong><\/p>\n

She has her favorite quotes taped on her kitchen cabinet, a collection of different things that are meaningful to her. She would pray for the soldier every morning because she\u2019d walk into her kitchen and see his name right away. She doesn\u2019t have any other names on the cabinet\u2014he was the first and only soldier she ever prayed for. Barak ben Orna\u2014Barak, son of Orna.<\/p>\n

Barak, son of Orna? That\u2019s it? No last name?<\/strong><\/p>\n

She wasn\u2019t sent a last name, to protect the identity of the soldier. But how many Baraks, son of Orna, are in the Israeli Army who are fighting in Gaza? Only a few thousand troops entered Gaza, so the chances of another Barak, son of Orna, fighting there were very, very slim.<\/p>\n

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My aunt never stopped praying for Barak, even after the war was over. This went on for nine months. Then, last summer, Aunt Betsy and Uncle Simon went to Israel for a visit.<\/p>\n

What made them go just then?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The trip wasn\u2019t really planned, it was more of a spur-of-the-moment thing. While they were there, they decided to visit Herzliya for the day. It\u2019s a beautiful city overlooking the Mediterranean and they had never been. It was around lunchtime and they were hungry.<\/p>\n

There were two kosher restaurants in the area. Aunt Betsy was debating between Meat and Wine Co. and another place. But she remembered hearing from a friend that the food was more interesting at Meat and Wine Co. So she said, \u201cLet\u2019s go there.\u201d Everything was, as some like to call it, coincidental.<\/p>\n

What happened at the restaurant?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a two-story place, and Aunt Betsy and Uncle Simon were ushered first to a table downstairs with no view. My aunt wanted to be able to see the view, so she asked the waiter to move them upstairs next to the window.<\/p>\n

When they sat down upstairs, a different waiter brought them the menu and told them about the specials. As he walked away, he said, \u201cBy the way, if you need anything, my name is Barak.\u201d My aunt immediately got the chills.<\/p>\n

There are eight million people in Israel, probably a thousand Baraks, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even so, she told my uncle, \u201cAsk him for his mother\u2019s name! Maybe it\u2019s Orna.\u201d My uncle, he\u2019s this big, burly fellow, he\u2019s not shy, so he called out, \u201cHey, Barak! Come here. By any chance is your mother\u2019s name Orna?\u201d Barak said yes.<\/p>\n

In shock, my aunt asked if he\u2019d fought in Gaza the summer before, in Operation Protective Edge. \u201cHow did you know that?\u201d He was completely, completely floored.<\/p>\n

So your aunt explained? How did Barak react?<\/strong><\/p>\n

He was crying, my aunt was crying; the other servers and everyone who\u2019d overheard were touched. Here, at his table, was this stranger from the other side of the world who knew about him and had kept him in her prayers.<\/p>\n

My aunt told him, \u201cTwo weeks ago, I wondered if you were still alive. I turned to God and prayed, \u2018If I could just meet him to make sure that he is okay.\u2019\u201d They just cried on each other\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\n

Before my aunt flew home, she took Barak out for coffee and met his mother, Orna. They all promised to keep in touch. Still, my aunt had no idea how big of an impact she\u2019d made. Until Barak sent her an e-mail.<\/p>\n

And?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It came a few weeks after Aunt Betsy had returned to California. Barak wrote about tefillin, those small black boxes containing Torah verses that religious Jewish men strap onto their arms and head when they pray.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI haven\u2019t really done that, I haven\u2019t really prayed in a long time,\u201d Barak wrote. Like many Israeli Jews, he wasn\u2019t particularly religious. \u201cBut ever since I met you, I was inspired to start praying and I\u2019ve been putting on those tefillin every morning and connecting to God.\u201d<\/p>\n

So you\u2019re convinced that this wasn\u2019t just a random encounter\u2014it served a purpose?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely. That\u2019s the way to inspire faith sometimes. Not by telling people what to do, but by showing how much you care. That\u2019s what really touched Barak. The divine providence is amazing here, how God brought these two people together from opposite sides of the world.<\/p>\n

What speaks to me even more is the fact that someone was praying for someone else without knowing who they were. And how that ended up touching the other person so much that they began to pray themselves. My aunt and uncle live their lives with a heightened awareness that God runs the show.<\/p>\n

Sometimes we\u2019re just walking zombies come to life, just going through the motions of saying, \u201cHi, how are you?\u201d We don\u2019t actually check in with each other. But if we\u2019re checked in, all of us have stories like this. Everybody feels the hand of God in their life and when they share with others, perhaps others will be transformed too.<\/p>\n