Tehillim at the Boston Marathon

By Adina Weisner

On the morning of April 15, 2013, I got up early in the morning. Staying in my home in Boston was my sister Yael Dane. She lives in Goodyear, Arizona, and is a mother, marathon runner, triathlete and fitness instructor.

After she left to prepare for her run at the the 2013 Boston Marathon, I tried to go back to bed but couldn’t. I was just really anxious. So I got up and wrote an email to Ohel Chabad-Lubavitch, asking the Rebbe for a bracha.

I went on with my morning, davening, eating etc. But I then was overwhelmed with this urge write to the Rebbe again for a bracha. I kept telling myself I was nuts but I wrote another letter anyway. It was pretty straight forward and not so wordy. A little bold and to the point.

As reading it over and scrutinizing the way it was written, I said to myself this is how it needs to be. This is how every word needs to be and the Rebbe needs to get this letter.

We were originally going to watch the rub by Trader Joe’s, but we decided we should be at the finish line to greet my sister with flowers after the race. (My brother in law decided not to bring the kids downtown).

We stop a little after Kenmore to see if we can see her pass. I was tracking her on my phone. I had this weird feeling, as if I was feeling Yael’s race jitters. I have to say Tehillim, I told my mother.

So there I was frantically saying tehillim like a crazy person on the side of the road during the marathon. We didn’t see Yael pass but I see in my phone that she finished so we bolt downtown to the finish line.

We were in a crowd of people. I grab my mom’s hand and say I’m gonna get us through this crowd. People were looking at me and literally saying ‘where do you think you’re going? you aren’t going to push through this’. I felt this urged to get to my sister and somehow got through.

As we got to where the athletes are, around the corner from the finish line, we got in touch with my sister who says she’s coming to meet us. And then we hear a big boom…

We don’t see Yael and have no idea in what direction she was coming from. My mom tries calling her but there’s no answer. I can’t properly describe how terrified and how scary those moments were.

And then we saw her, all safe and sound, Baruch Hashem. I threw my arms around her and burst into tears.

As we walked back to Brookline, we kept talking about that feeling I had to write to the Rebbe, twice, and then say tehillim as if something was ‘supposed’ to happen but didn’t. As scary and terrible as the whole thing was, we’re just very grateful to be here.

My sister returned to her home in Goodyear and shared this story during the Lag BaOmer celebration held there by the Shluchim Rabbi Berel and Chana Rivka Zaklikofsky. May we always remember the power of prayer and tehillim…