A father of eight from central Israel has won Israel’s latest lottery. As the sole winner, he will receive the entire jackpot of NIS 26 million.

The winner only buys lottery tickets on occasion. After the holidays he had a good feeling, he said. “I got a wonderful gift from Heaven.”

He related that he came close to losing his 26-million-shekel ticket. After realizing he had won, he put the ticket in his pocket along with other documents, only to accidentally drop it when he pulled another paper out.

Fortunately, he noticed his mistake, and held on to the paper.

The winner has chosen not to make his identity public. “I told my wife about the win, and we decided to keep it between us and not tell anybody,” he said.

His plans for the money are simple. “I’ll open savings accounts for all of my children, so they can focus on their studies, and buy apartments,” he said.

“I plan to help my parents too, and to give maaser to the needy,” he added. Maaser is money given to charity – normally 10% of a particular sum – based on the Biblical precept of giving 10% of one’s crops.

He plans to continue working as usual.