An Arab Sniper Shot Me in the Chest

Two years ago, on July 2, 2024, I was shot in the chest.

I remember the moment the world narrowed to a single thought: Am I dying? Is this it?

Nine months after October 7, I joined Rabbi Atlas and the Ohel Ari community in Ra'anana on a trip through Judea and Samaria. The country had changed. We had all changed.

Earlier that day, we'd visited Homesh. Standing on that mountain, looking at a tiny Jewish community surrounded by Arab villages, one thought crossed my mind: All it would take is one sniper.

It stayed with me.

Later, at Har Bracha, our group of 30 stood at a lookout toward Shechem (Nablus) as our guide walked us through the biblical history. I stepped back from the group. Below us were thousands of Arab homes. I looked at the windows and thought: Someone could open a window, shoot, close it, and disappear.

Then I heard loud bangs in the distance.

A moment later, I felt intense pain in my arm and chest.

As I fell to the ground, I quickly understood that I was hit by a bullet.

At first, I thought I was having a heart attack. Then I realized my heart was not pounding. As I fell to the ground, I quickly understood that I was hit by a bullet.

“I’m shot,” I said.

I wasn’t screaming. I wasn’t even bleeding that much. The bullet had come from far away, approximately 900 meters, and entered my upper right chest.

For a few minutes, there was confusion. I was lying on the ground, in the worst pain I had ever felt, trying to explain that I had been shot.

Then the medic arrived, removed my shirt and saw the wound.

“There’s an entry wound and no exit wound,” she said. “He was shot. Get him out of here immediately.”

For seventeen years, I had worked as a personal trainer and nutritionist, helping other people build strength. I taught people how to push through discomfort, how to keep going, and how to take care of the body God gave them.

And then, in one terrifying instant, I needed every bit of strength I had ever spoken about to recover physically and psychologically.

I survived, but surviving was only the first day of the real work.

The Bullet Came Home with Me

My wife, Rivka, and I have four children. We live in Ra’anana where we’ve been building the life we dreamed of.

When my family heard I had been shot, their world was shaken. This was not only my trauma. It entered our home.

But it also changed our home.

We hug more now. We say “I love you” more. We understand a little more deeply that nothing is guaranteed. A regular morning, a regular hug, a regular goodbye — none of it is small anymore.

Finding Meaning in the Darkness

Recovery is not a single triumphant moment. It’s the quiet mornings when getting out of bed feels like lifting a barbell that was not there before. It’s the pain no one sees, the fear no one hears. The private conversations with God when you are trying to understand why this happened, what it means, and who you are supposed to become because of it.

Every morning, we say in the blessing: She’asah li kol tzorki — that God gives me everything I need. After the attack, those words became very real.

Terror is evil. Being shot is evil, and the pain it caused my family, my body, and my soul was real.

But I also believe, with complete faith, that nothing in my life is random. If God allowed this to become part of my story, then somehow it was designed for me — not to break me, but to shape me and build me.

I needed to become stronger. I needed to become a fighter in a deeper way. I needed to become a leader. And I believe this became part of my mission: to help the Jewish People become stronger, healthier, and more alive.

Somehow, even in the darkness, I knew God had my back.

In the morning blessings, we also say that God directs the steps of man — hameichin mitzadei gaver. That bullet had an address. Me.

Xray of the bullet lodged in my chest

I didn’t choose to be shot but I believe my steps were guided before I understood where they were leading. Even in the darkest moment of my life, I was not abandoned. This was somehow part of my path.

I was injured but I did not feel abandoned. I felt held.

So I trained, slowly and with purpose.

As I got stronger, I realized the strength I was rebuilding was not only physical. It was the strength to begin again. The strength to stop asking only, “Why did this happen to me?” and start asking, “What am I supposed to do with it?”

One of the biggest lessons I took from being shot was surprisingly simple: do not complain.

That does not mean pretending pain is not real. The pain and fear were real.

But I kept thinking about the two spies, Joshua and Caleb, who saw the same giants as the other ten spies. They saw the same fortified cities and heard the same frightening reports. But they chose a different response. They did not deny reality. They chose faith inside reality. They believed God was with them.

I wanted to live that way. I wanted to say: Yes, this is painful and frightening, but God is with me. I am alive and I will heal. I still have work to do. I will write a better story in my chapter of Jewish history.

That became my turning point.

Giving Others Strength

For years, I had trained people one-on-one: CEOs, doctors, business owners, athletes, soldiers, parents, and small groups. I loved helping people, but after the attack I felt a much bigger question pressing on me.

Was I giving everything I could give? Was I using my experience, my training, my story, and my second chance as fully as possible?

The answer was no. And that is how the mission of >Soul Active was born.

Soul Active is geared for Jews who want to take care of the body God gave them without compromising their values.

So many people feel that fitness is not “for them.” They think they are too busy, too out of shape, too far from where they want to be, or that the fitness world does not understand their life.

Adam working out (Photo credit: John Jeffay)

I know what it feels like to feel far away from strength. I lived through the version of it where my body was nearly taken from me. And I know with everything in me that it is never too late to get stronger.

Soul Active is simple by design: 15 minutes a day, six days a week.

Two days of strength. One day of cardio. One day of full-body HIIT. One day of core. One day of stretching and recovery. And one day of rest.

Every four weeks, there is a new program. Members get the workout videos through WhatsApp. I send the morning workout, a reminder during the day, and a poll at night for accountability. All they need is a pair of dumbbells or resistance bands.

More Than a Workout

There is also a leaderboard, where people can see their progress compared to others and stay motivated. But what has moved me most is the community. People share their wins, their struggles, their healthy meals, their setbacks, and their small victories.

It is growing every week, and for me, it’s a dream come true.

They are people from all walks of life who have not exercised in years, all choosing to take one small step forward.

Watching them get stronger is incredibly meaningful. Every one of them is, in a small way, part of my own recovery.

Because when they get stronger, something in me gets stronger too.

When one parent becomes healthier, their children and spouse see it. Their home changes. Strength and energy spread. A person is only doing a 15-minute workout but sometimes he is changing the atmosphere of his whole family.

A person can be knocked down in the most violent way imaginable and still choose, day after day, to get back up. And then, with God’s help, he can turn around and help lift others too.

Two years ago, I almost lost my life to Arab snipers.

This year, I am spending it helping other people reclaim theirs.