A few years ago, the military censors approved the publication of a document that was previously classified as “top secret”. This document has summed up the results of rocket attacks on Israel by the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein during the Persian Gulf War in January 1991. Among other data, the document shows the exact number of Patriot anti-missile rockets fired at each Iraqi Scud missile, the locations where each missile fell, the time of their launch, and the exact number of casualties.
One of the surprising things that stems from this document is the fact that 229 people were directly affected by the Scud missiles. At the same time, because of the atropine self-injections by mistakes, another 222 people were injured.
We should remind that on an early day before the war, all Israelis were given gas masks and personal first aid kits for a chemical attack, which included a syringe of atropine. Saddam decided eventually not to use chemical missiles against Israel, but there were people who panicked and as a result of that injected themselves with atropine and were hurt because of it. Another 530 people were also victims of a panic attack. Eventually, atropine injections and panic attacks on their own caused 752 casualties!
In other words, the number of direct casualties from the rockets consisted of only about a quarter of the overall war casualties, while three-quarters of the casualties were due to the mistaken use of atropine and panic attacks.
It is important to mention at this point that the Lubavitcher Rebbe SHLITA King Moshiach in those days strongly recommended not to give out gas masks and syringes of atropine to Israelis. In fact, if his message had been listened to, it would have been possible to avoid 222 people getting hurt by injecting themselves with atropine.
The Rebbe strongly insisted that “there is nothing to be afraid of, and we should not fear ourselves,” emphasizing that the war eventually would only bring us miracles .
In other words, those who listened to the Rebbe’s instructions in this matter have not become victims of a panic attack. Moreover, if the media and the army had obeyed his appeal, and had not engaged in frightening the population, but rather calmed them down, perhaps we would have avoided all those 530 incidents of panic attacks casualties.
It becomes even more obvious when we look at the casualties rate.
The direct casualties due to rocket attacks, as it is shown, for example, in Colonel Shimon Golan’s report “Rockets on Israel,” were one or two casualties from the missles.
However, the previously mentioned document presents a different figure of 14 deaths. This number includes those who died from suffocation in a gas mask (e.g. forgetting to remove the filter plug) or from a heart attack caused by a rocket attack.
However, if only the Rebbe’s message was listened to, and if there had been less public anxiety from the media, all these people would not have suffocated to death in gas masks, and perhaps they would not have been so terrified to the point that they died of a heart attack.
Therefore, it is absolutely evident to us that the Lubavitcher Rebbe SHLITA King Moshiach is a prophet of our generation, and his words should be listened to by everyone and in every matter, including matters related to the health of the soul and the body.