A week after the beginning of the Iron Swords War, the winner of Order 8 was drafted and was away from his family for many days. "On the day of the lottery, I went on vacation at home in the evening. On the way home, I passed by the National Lottery stand and saw the amount of the first prize. Something tickled me to stop and fill out a form. I don't know exactly how to explain, but I had an inner feeling that right now this is what I was supposed to do, and so it was. I parked the car and went out to fill out a form. I filled out a form of 10 tables and selected the numbers completely randomly, without thinking too much or having any meaning for me."
Lottery form, photo: AP
The winner continued: "The next day I was busy with daily affairs, forgetting that I had even filled out a lottery form. I only remembered that I had a form in my wallet when I passed by the National Lottery stand on the street again, and this time I saw that the prize had dropped to NIS 5 million. I realized there was a winner, and I even toyed with myself thinking that the winner was me."
The winner checked the form on Wednesday evening. "My wife is now busy volunteering. She arrives home exhausted in the evenings, and it turns out that she goes to bed relatively early. As my wife entered the bedroom, I checked the lottery form with myself. The form actually contained two prizes – the first prize (NIS 20 million) and the eighth prize (NIS 10). I immediately jumped off the couch and ran into the bedroom to check that my wife was still awake. Luckily, she hadn't fallen asleep yet. I went over to her and kissed her. She opened her eyes and was very frightened. I immediately reassured her that there was finally good news.
Reservists in staging areas near the Gaza Strip border, photo: Shmuel Buchris
"I want you to check the lottery form, there's a chance we won." My wife went to the Mifal HaLois website and together we went through the tables on the form. First there was the table that won 10 shekels, and my wife said to me: 'For 10 shekels, are you waking me up?' She quickly saw, in the chart below, that I had guessed all six numbers and the strong number – and I was the only winner of the lottery!"
"Needless to say, that night, neither my wife nor I managed to close our eyes and sleep. We sat and talked among ourselves about what to do. My wife asked me what I wanted most now. The only thing that came to my mind was that I wanted to buy myself a new cell phone, because the existing one was already faltering, and I was postponing the purchase for weeks. In fact, I realized that I already have the important things in life – an amazing wife, successful children, a home, a job. We're not missing anything."
Photo: AFP (Illustrative), Photo: AFP
Together with his wife, in the end the winner made a decision. "I feel like I was chosen to do good, so some of the winnings will go to charity and good deeds. We will deposit the balance in a savings plan at the bank. We don't intend to cover the mortgage, and right now we don't intend to tell anyone about the win, not even the children. Everything is still fresh, and the general situation in the country is not simple. I don't feel like it's the right time to go on a dream vacation or purchase a glamorous, eye-popping property, it's just not me."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us