The London Times July 20,1916

                                                            The London Times July 20,1916



An amazing story printed in a Sefer, close to hundred years ago. Years later this story was reprinted in other Seforim

The story appeared in the Mishpacha Magazine and other publications. I even heard a Godol repeating the story.

The Mechaber in his Sefer writes," he read this story in The London Times dated the 19th of Tammuz 5676 (July 20 1916).  

The Times quotes the Hungarian newspaper called “Pesti Hirlap”

"A Hungarian soldier sitting in the trenches wrote to his wife asking her to find out from Chaim their Jewish neighbor about the Jewish prayer of “Shema Yisroel”. He claimed to have noticed that whenever the enemy fires at them, the Gentile soldiers get killed, while the Jewish soldiers say the prayer of Shema Yisroel, all are saved and don't get killed. He  would like to
know how he too can be saved with this prayer.”

Although I personally am a skeptic, for some reason I believed this story to have some truth in it. 
The Mechaber gives an exact date and the name of the newspapers the story appeared in. (open for inspection) 

He also wrote that he was quoting word for word the exact text of The London Times. Believing the story to be true, I
was hoping to find a copy of this article, publicize it and be Mekadesh Sheim Shomayim.

My nephew R. Ari  shlita helped me in searching for this article. The London Times (1916) and the Pesti Hirlap are both available online. R. Ari spent hours searching for the story in both newspapers. Keywords n both  English & Hungarian
were entered and not a single match or a slightly similar match came up. 

The London Times of July 20 1916 definitely has no such story. 

The London Times quotes a number of times (different dates) The Pesti Hirlap but not with this or similar story. 
My personal belief is, this story will not be found in The London Times or in The Pesti Hirlap.


* The Chasam Sofer in the Teshuvos writes with frustration “We have a תורת אמת there is no need for שקר "

*Chelek 6 :59