In the Quickest and Easiest Way

My name is Ahreleh, and I live in Beit Shemesh. It was very hectic on Erev Yom Tov, what with building the sukkah, buying arba'ah minim, organizing the house for the many guests we were expecting, shopping, cooking, and so much more. Everyone was happy and excited about the coming Yom Tov, and Mommy was running from one thing to the next with barely a moment to breathe in between.

"Mommy," I reminded my mother, "I really wanted a bekesheh for Yom Tov.”

"I know, Ahreleh, I know I told you we'd buy it..." Her voice trailed off, and I could tell she was trying to figure out how we'd get to the store in the shopping center on the other side of town, and how long the whole trip would take with standstill traffic throughout the city and the stores bursting with people all intent on buying new clothing in honor of Yom Tov.

We'd already discussed buying the bekesheh in the summer, and Mommy had assured me that we'd get it in honor of Yom Tov. It was just a matter of fitting in this trip in the midst of these overloaded days. How would we do it?

Mommy looked at her watch. It was 2 p.m. "OK, Ahreleh," she said with a smile, "we'll go at 5, after I finish cooking the stuffed cabbage and the soups."

I walked away, satisfied. I made a mental note to daven, during Minchah, that the shopping trip would go smoothly and easily. My parents always tell us to daven for everything.

At 3:30 I went to shul for Minchah and made sure, during Shema koleinu, to ask Hashem to help me find a bekesheh for Yom Tov in the quickest and easiest way possible.

At 4:15, several minutes after I got home, someone knocked on our door. It was our downstairs neighbor, with whom we are very close. My friend Chaim was standing there alongside his mother, and she was holding a bag from the men's clothing store where we were planning on buying the bekesheh. She pulled out a bekesheh and then explained, "I just picked this up a few hours ago for Chaim, and it doesn't fit him properly. We thought you might want to buy it off of us."

Mommy came to the door, wiping her hands on a towel, took one look at the bekesheh with her trained eye and said, "Oh, the bekesheh came to us. It looks like it will be the perfect fit for Ahreleh."

Quickly, I tried it on and looked into the full-length mirror at the entrance to our home. It fit like a glove.

Incredible. I asked Hashem to help me find a bekesheh for Yom Tov "in the quickest and easiest way possible," and that is exactly what He did, in a way that was much quicker and much easier than I could even have imagined!