In November of 1972 my parents emigrated from Israel to the United States, several months prior to my birth in January of 1973. At the age of six my parents were involved in a fatal head-on collision, leaving me without any living relatives and I remained in state custody until my eighteenth birthday. During my first year of college there was a man who began pursuing me for a romantic relationship even though I made it clear that my only interest revolved around finishing my education and had no interest or consideration for any type of romantic involvement.
That evening while walking through the parking lot someone grabbed me from behind, my mouth was covered and I was shoved into a vehicle and then abducted from college campus. I was brought to a secluded field where I was brutally beaten and raped. Several hours after the attack happened a Good Samaritan found me lying in a pool of blood barely alive. He then had me admitted into the nearest hospital where I remained in a coma for several months.
After I regained consciousness the medical staff informed me that I had conceived through the attack and also sustained several severe spinal injuries which affected my neck and lower back, causing the vertebrae to shift in the opposite direction and I lost my ability to walk or stand. My left ankle had been broken and I had multiple skull fractures with contusions that affected my short term memory and speech. During the time that I was unconscious my home was burglarized and I lost everything of value, including my legal documents, certificates, pictures, and banking information. My accounts were emptied and I lost over one hundred thousand dollars in financial resources in addition to thousands of dollars of personal and household belongings. I was left with nothing except my newborn baby struggling with health and development issues.
While in the hospital I began intense rehabilitation therapy working to recover the physical abilities that I had lost. The physical therapist that worked with me mentioned that she placed her trust in God's son Y'shua whom she believed heals our physical body, forgives our mistakes and restores the lives of people who place their trust in Him through a personal relationship. For several weeks I thought about what the physical therapist had told me; in fact I couldn't stop thinking about it. I have always believed in the power of diligent prayer and the keeping of God's commandments, but I wondered if my Heavenly Father had truly given his son Y'shua for our healing, brokenness and the forgiveness of our mistakes.
As a Jewish woman I was raised in the observance of God's law through traditional Judaism and remained in a very controlling and strict environment where I regularly attended a local synagogue in Seattle, Washington that taught me to be a very respectful compliant quiet and obedient daughter of God. I was taught to basically be seen and not heard; to speak a word well-spoken and to practice a deed well-done as the primary principle and standard of my Jewish faith. Out of obedience to God's law I remained sexually pure until marriage and abstained from all fermented drinks, tobacco use, drug abuse and impure behaviors as directed in God's word written in the book of Joshua 1:8, "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it then you will be prosperous and successful."
Before losing my parents in that fatal car accident my father created a purity pendant to remind me of my Jewish heritage and my promise to remain pure in the sight of God. My father had told me that I was to never be ashamed of my Jewish heritage as he placed the pendant around my neck. He believed that it is God who chooses our spouse if we are his children so to honor God I have remained pure.
My Jewish culture required me to keep the traditional beliefs of Judaism. So for me to understand about having a personal relationship with God's son Y'shua and deciding to place my trust in him was a difficult choice for me to make because of my background in Judaism, which does not teach about God's redeeming son.
My physical therapist understood about my background in Judaism so we discussed the issues of faith, healing, and forgiveness. Then she paused for a moment and looked at me while asking the pressing question, "What do you have to lose Hadassah, a broken heart and a broken body or the desire to die?" As I thought about her heart piercing words for a moment I decided that she was right. What did I have to lose; after all I had already lost everything.
I knelt down on my knees and asked God for his forgiveness of my mistakes and then invited Y'shua into my heart, asking Him to help me better understand about His healing power and redeeming love. Over the following months in rehabilitation therapy even though it had been an extremely difficult and painful experience I made a complete recovery, resuming my high level of physical fitness and have been able to continue in my athletic training through intense cardio conditioning, resistance training, running, dancing and swimming regardless of everything that has happened to me.
In my situation of suffering with the loss of my family, a brutal beating and rape that was intended to end my life, paralysis which affected my ability to speak, walk or stand without falling down, being robbed of my financial resources and plagued with the haunting memories and nightmares of having a loaded gun pointed at my head and a knife held to my throat by a man who told me that I would not live through the night, I would like to inspire you with new hope and the encouragement that evil does not have the victory in the lives of God's children, regardless of the outward circumstances that may appear hopeless.
Learning to forgive the violator is anything but easily done. However, it sets me free from the continual tormenting memories and negative emotions associated with issues of unforgiveness, and gives me the peace to move forward in my life and experience the good that God has for me.
