The event that I report below happened to me in 1978. As amazing as it may seem, it really happened, and I remember parts of it as though it just took place. On the other hand, as I prepare to write it down for the first time, it seems preposterous, possibly because I don’t remember everything accurately.

I was working in the metal and plumbing shop for a kibbutz in the northern Negev, Israel. That particular day my boss took me out to the avocado grove on his motorbike. I generally drove the tractor with the welder affixed to it, but for some reason, we didn’t have the tractor that morning.

We stopped at a deep oblong pit. A steel water pipe, four inches (or maybe six) in diameter, had previously been uncovered here. It was cut off towards the edges of the dug out section, and uprights had been added, raising it above ground level. A number of parts had then been attached, filters, a meter, valves, etc, all secured by flanges. We took some measurements so that the boss could return to the shop and prepare anchors for the new assembly. It had not been welded in any place, but attached with parts that would keep the water inside the pipe, but allowed the assembly to rotate. He gave me two wrenches and told me to begin tightening the flange bolts, but to be careful since the whole thing could move.

I began tightening bolts at the far end. When I decided that it would be unsafe to tighten them further, I went to the other side and began again. At this point I don’t remember exactly what happened or where I could have positioned myself, but the pipe fell. I lost a few seconds or more, I’m really not sure. I was now pinned by one of the valves, one flange in front of my head, the other behind it. On my right was a wall of earth. My legs were dangling, a few inches above the bottom of the pit. I was unhurt.

My first thought was that I was stuck. Then I realized that I was still holding the wrenches. I began chipping away at the earth that was holding my head in place. Within a very short time I dropped down. I then climbed out of the pit and retrieved my glasses, which had been thrown a few feet away. They too were undamaged. At this point I decided it would be best if I went back and reported the event. I don’t remember whether I considered it an accident or not. It was not a short walk, but I had no trouble. When I reached the welding shop, my boss took me to the clinic to be checked over. He had only one question: “Where’s the tractor?” I was given a week to recuperate from my “head injury”. I already began to think that I had forgotten the tractor on the scene, and maybe I was injured. I didn’t worry about it though.

In retrospect, nearly thirty years later, I cannot imagine how I got myself caught by the falling pipe. It made sense to me, at the time, that a flange hitting me would push my head out of its way as it headed for a stronger resting place. Now though, I can only think that I was extremely lucky not to have been killed or brain-damaged forever.

I also wonder whether this was a near death experience. During the fall, as it were, I remember nothing. Was I unconscious, comatose, or dead? I saw no white light; nothing of my life flashed before me. One moment I was tightening bolts; the next I was pinned by my head and very much alive. Had one of the flanges crushed my head, would I have seen white light before dying? That doesn’t seem reasonable.

I guess I’ll never be able to answer these questions, and it’s just as well.