My Egged bus was right behind a bus that was bombed by a terrorist. I witnessed the horrifying results. I knew that only Siyyata Dishmaya kept me from being a victim on the preceding bus.
It was, in some ways, similar to a different incident: I had been riding on a main highway when I witnessed the results of a head-on collision. One car had lost control and swerved into the opposing lane. The innocent driver of a car in the other lane was killed.
There was probably only a one-in-a-million chance that the "winner" of the car lottery would have been hit. The reckless driver did not plan to hit anybody, and he certainly did not aim for any particular person or vehicle. However, the lottery winner was killed.
"Winner?" You ask. He wasn't a winner. He was a a loser - big time!
But that�s precisely the point. In the real games of Life, those who promote lotteries do not determine the real winners or the real losers. Real winners and real losers are based on good or bad issues that did not necessarily have to occur to a particular person. However, each of those issues creates a lottery winner and loser.
Does winning the lottery change your life?
Perhaps, but in ways that you might not realize.
I was miraculously saved because I traveled in the bus behind the one that was bombed. It certainly did affect my life.
Similarly, the driver in the car right in front of the one that was hit was also saved miraculously. He may not have felt (or even known about) the major effect on his life.
Similar events happen to many of us. After thanking G-d for being saved from certain death, our lives continue as before.
Those who witnessed the driver of that car, or the twenty-one unfortunate passengers on that bus - can certainly understand the larger meaning of "winning" the lottery.
May their memories be blessed.
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