Transcript
Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
I went to sleep in the back and woke up
only after 3 months.
My heart artery burst and I got in the
accident. I also got a hit on the head.
I have a dent here.
>> [music]
>> I felt that I was slowly going up,
coming out gently through the nose,
coming out.
And up, hovering above, I can see
everyone down below, how the car was in
an accident, how they saw it open the
car, how they brought in helicopters. I
see soldiers and suddenly I have no idea
where all these photographers came from.
They just appeared and started taking
pictures, snapping photos.
Nothing hurt me. I didn't feel pain. I
didn't feel bad. I felt good.
I really felt good. I started going up.
I look up. I see light.
Uh I see a point of light. I feel that
this light has a will. It [music] wants,
as if it is pulling me upwards. And all
around everything was black. It was like
a tunnel.
I'm being sucked upwards.
The more I go up, the light becomes it
becomes bigger.
And then I was ejected into some large
hole. It was on this side. On the left
side there was some righteous man. He
says to me, "Asher, come." So, I had
a kind of moment like that, even less, a
fraction of a second. How does he know
my name?
>> [music]
>> He told me, "Move to the other side. Sit
here."
I sat down. He opened the book for me.
So, I looked at him.
And I looked. I saw two more there on
the other side, one older, one younger.
>> [music]
>> Uh so, I said, "Excuse me, sir, with
whom do I have the honor?"
And he replied, "Israel Shem Tov." Which
means in other [music] words, the Baal
Shem Tov.
I never had anything like this. Wow, the
Baal Shem Tov. There was never anything
like this. I've never felt this way.
>> [music]
>> But the Baal Shem Tov.
So, I said, "Excuse me, is another
question possible?" He says, "One more
question and that's it. We have no
time." I said to him, "Who are those two
over there?" He says to me, "Rabbi
Nachman and Rabbi Natan."
And we started to study. We started to
study as if we like they study in a
coral with each other,
how they shout at each other, how the
rabbi said this, this one said that,
that one said this. We really shouted at
each other during the study.
And then suddenly, a voice was heard.
This one is sentenced to death, but the
voice was so coarse. The Baal Shem Tov
stood up and began to advocate for me.
He said, "It is impossible that he is
being taken from the [music] world
before his time. He still has more to
rectify."
And then suddenly, Rabbi Albas appeared,
Rabbi Ruven Albas.
He arrived and he also started to
advocate for me.
That it's impossible [music] for him to
be taken from the world before his time.
He has things to rectify.
He has a family. He has children.
And then,
a voice was heard once more, but the
voice, the second time,
it was such a warm and gentle voice. It
shall be done as you say. That's what
the voice said. And then I understood
that I understood that I had to go back
down. And I don't want to. I didn't want
to.
So, I said to the Baal Shem Tov to
Rabbi, "I don't want to go back down. I
want to stay here." He says, "But you
still have things to rectify."
Just like that. You still have things to
rectify. So, I had no choice.
I started not walking. It was like I was
being led. I'm being sucked back into
this tunnel.
>> [music]
[music]
>> Hello there. My name is Asher Ladayev.
I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm
55 years old and it's a [music] pleasure
to meet you.
I am, thank God, married with eight
children and we also have grandchildren.
25 years ago,
my eldest son was just about to have
a Seder party.
So, my wife [music] said to me,
"Tomorrow is the Seder party. Don't
forget. We're going."
I told her, "No, I can't come [music]
because a good friend is coming from
abroad and he's having a bris for his
son tomorrow.
And we're invited. I have to be there."
And it was in Tiberias and I was working
at the diamond exchange. I was a diamond
polisher. I told her, "I can't." She
argued with me. "Yes, you are."
>> [music]
>> I told her, "I can't. I have to go. You
go."
She argued with me and all that, but in
the end I didn't go.
So, I stayed. I slept at my brother's
place. We got ready.
With [music] two cars, we said, "We're
heading towards Tiberias."
We woke up at 5:00 in the morning. We
prayed and after the prayer, we drove in
two cars.
Everyone, we took drinks, food because
we wanted to go up to Mount Hermon
before the bris.
And I
>> [music]
>> I didn't sleep that well at my brother's
because when you're not sleeping in your
own place, you just can't sleep.
I didn't sleep very well.
We arrived near Horshat Tal. We [music]
said, "Let's sit down and have a
barbecue. Let's eat something
and then we'll [music] head to Mount
Hermon." So, we sat down. We really
started the barbecue, [music] set the
table and there were seven of us
friends, guys.
>> [music]
>> My older brother was also there with us.
And as we were sitting there,
one of the friends, the one who was
killed in the accident, he was 37.
He said, "God willing, in another week
it's my birthday." [music] We said, "God
willing, we'll celebrate for you. We'll
travel to Uman together." We told him.
And meanwhile, I felt really, really
tired. I couldn't take it. My eyes were
closing on me.
I said, "I'm going to the car. I want to
sleep." [music]
I asked a friend for the key to the car.
I said, "Give me the key or just open
it. Press the remote so I can get into
the car."
Indeed, he pressed the remote and I got
into the car and went to sleep in the
back.
I went to sleep in the back and I only
woke up 3 months later. I didn't know
anything. What happened? How it
happened? Why it happened? Who? What? I
knew nothing.
So,
now
they are telling me that
the person who was sitting right next to
the driver, he says that
after we all got into the car and
started driving,
the driver, apparently because he had
been drinking quite a bit, actually they
drank a lot, all of them,
and especially the driver, who had much
more than he should have.
He was apparently drunk.
Because of that, he lost control of the
car and ended up swerving to the left.
The driver lost control. It was already
too late to do anything about it and the
car had already started to veer off
course.
Now, when he swerved left, he was
already asleep. That's what the one
sitting next to the driver says.
And he lifts his head. He sees a truck
coming towards them.
And he sees that he's not in his lane at
all. He's in the opposite lane.
So, he steered. Now, in the truck, when
our car was in the opposite lane, he
also steered into the opposite lane to
avoid a collision.
But there wasn't enough time because he
turned the wheel back.
And then there was a head-on collision
on the driver's side.
And so, they say the driver was killed
instantly
and the one sitting next to the driver
was lightly injured.
What do you mean light?
His arm was broken from when he turned
the wheel. His nose was broken
from the windshield. And I was the most
severely injured.
From the impact of the hit, that's what
the professor once said.
He said that you actually received, in
fact, 10%
of the impact from the accident.
10%. So, my heart artery burst from that
10%. The heart artery that [music] burst
on me, well, it caused two holes in my
lungs, in both lungs. And they say they
gave me about 10 [music] or 15 slaps to
wake me up, but they couldn't wake me
up.
So, they called for [music] helicopters.
A helicopter took us, according to what
he says, it took us to Zivin Tzfat and
from there they apparently saw they
didn't have the equipment [music] to
check why I wasn't waking up. They
probably said I needed a CT scan and
they didn't have a CT machine like that
there.
So, after realizing the seriousness of
my condition, they called the helicopter
back to the scene. And then they took me
to Rambam Hospital in Haifa.
There at Rambam, they performed a series
of tests on me and after those tests,
they discovered that the artery in my
heart had actually burst.
During the accident itself, I also
suffered a significant blow to my head,
which left me with a noticeable dent
here. A dent right here on my head.
In addition to that, I also had several
broken ribs.
In order to reach the heart artery and
repair the damage, they had to operate
on me. It was not a straightforward
procedure, not like a typical operation,
but rather they had to go in from the
side of the
from the nipple of the chest here all
the way around to here. They literally
lowered my shoulder. They opened my arm
like this to do the surgery.
They damaged [music] my vocal cord. I
have one vocal cord now.
Usually, there should be two.
There's like a pin like this.
They hit each other and then a voice
comes out.
That's how the professor explained it to
me.
So he says in your case there's only
one. So this one is straining.
So they taught me how to strain to get
the voice out.
Because I used to be I used to be a
cantor. I used to chant.
Today not so much but I used to be.
It was a few days before Hanukkah.
And when I finally woke up from that
accident it was already the holiday of
Purim.
Another 3 months later until I woke up.
>> [music]
>> Now I remember that I woke up.
So I asked my wife
Who is this? What is this? What's going
on here?
So she said to me, "It's okay.
Everything's okay."
The main message that I personally
understood from all of this clinical
death
That's what needs to be to do many acts
of kindness.
Because the more you do kindness it's
good not only for the one you do it for.
It is mainly good for you because
[music] it makes you feel good. There
was a scent there. Such a wonderful
scent.
All the perfumes in this world are
nothing compared to the scent that was
there. It was a truly wonderful scent.
And the light
especially the light here. So when I
after I returned
>> [music]
>> when I returned when I woke up I could
look at the sun just like I'm looking at
you now and no I had no tears or
anything.
That's how I could look at the sun until
it slowly slowly faded away.
The light was very very strong. Such a
hugging light. In other words, the
second voice that I heard the one that
said it shall be done as you say was a
voice just like that. Gentle, reassuring
and comforting. That very same voice the
one I am describing came to embrace you
wrapping you up along with the light
that was present there at that moment.
When I had to go back to that same
tunnel I did not go alone this time.
Instead I was led [music] there.
I was drawn in. More accurately I was
drawn in there back to [music] that
tunnel.
And from there I descended.
As soon as I woke up after a few days
when I woke up I asked my wife
the first thing I asked of her
was to take me to Rabbi Elbaz [music]
because I couldn't walk. I was
completely bedridden.
So she called a taxi
took me to Rabbi Elbaz.
And then when we arrived at Or Ahayim
they were right in the middle of
building the Yeshiva. So they moved to
[music] Shmuel Hanavi below
and their Yeshiva was there in the
meantime. So she arrived at
She went up to the Rabbi
and said the Rabbi was just then
studying. I think that on that day he
was studying it was a Monday just like
today and he
>> [music]
>> He had a study partner and he was
observing a fast of silence that day.
He was studying with a partner.
So when she entered she said, "Where is
the Rabbi?"
He told her,
>> [music]
>> "It's impossible to disturb the Rabbi.
It's impossible to disturb the Rabbi."
So she raised her voice and said, "Asher
is here downstairs."
Then the Rabbi heard my name.
He left [music] everything and came
down. He came downstairs.
And I couldn't get up. I couldn't get
up.
He said to me, "You sit. Don't get up."
Then students surrounded the Rabbi. So
he pointed at me, "Do you see him? The
reviver of the dead."
This is the reviver of the dead.
I went to the Baal Shem Tov. I held a
Thanksgiving party there. There were
about 60 to 70 people there. I told them
that the Baal Shem Tov was my [music]
defense attorney.
But the message I gave was to do
kindness. Acts of kindness. That's what
This is likely what I was missing.
[music] We must do more acts of kindness
no matter what in life in everything.