During the summer of 2005, a young man would travel by train to choir practice in London every Thursday morning. It was a long trip from his home, and he needed to be there at 9 a.m. One morning, as the train was just a couple of short stops away from his destination, he looked at his watch and saw it was 8:30. There was a coffee shop across the street and he figured he had plenty of time to get off, get himself a cup of coffee, and relax for a few minutes before getting back on the train and going to practice. Shortly after he exited the train, he heard a deafening explosion. He turned and saw that the train had blown up. With tears running down his face, he watched the mayhem that ensued with sirens blaring and fire engines and ambulances rushing to the scene. He tried calling home to inform his family that he was all right, but the cell phone network had crashed.
It happened at 8:30
A young boy came to Rabbi Shlomo Farhi, who is involved in outreach in England and shared this story.
The boy started walking home, and two hours later, he walked through the door. He found his parents crying and sobbing. As soon as they saw him, they rejoiced.
“You’re alive!” they exclaimed. “We can’t believe it! You were on that train!” They told him that there was a synchronized terror attack on the London transit system, and multiple explosions took place at 8:50 a.m.
“No,” the boy said, “it didn’t happen at 8:50, it happened at 8:30!”
“That’s wrong,” his parents replied. “All the news stations reported that the attack took place at 8:50.”
The boy looked at his watch, and his mouth dropped. It still read 8:30. G-d had made his watch stop so he would think he had enough time to go get a cup of coffee, and this is how his life was saved.
“Do you have a picture of that watch?” the Rabbi asked.
“Rabbi,” the boy said, “if you want I will give you the watch to keep.” He ran home and brought back the watch. The Rabbi looked at it, and saw that it had stopped at 8:30.
“If I ever experience any doubts in my faith and trust in G-d at any point for the rest of my life,” the Rabbi said, “I will look at this watch and remind myself that G-d is controlling the world.”
This story was verified by Rav Shlomo Farhi, who is involved in outreach in England.