By Rabbi David Ashear
Mr. and Mrs. Meisels* were invited by Renewal to a Shabbaton for kidney donors. It was going to be an inspiring weekend for all who ever donated a kidney, and they were looking forward to it. Also invited was Gitty,* a single young woman in her upper thirties who had donated a kidney to her father. A staunch supporter of the organization, he really wanted to attend the Shabbaton with his daughter.
But Gitty was uncomfortable at the prospect. “I don’t know anyone else who’s going,” she told her father, “and I won’t have anyone to sit with. I’m really not in the mood.”
“You never know,” her father replied. “Maybe we’ll find your zivug there.”
“I highly doubt it – and I’m definitely not going for that!”
Gitty’s father persisted. “We’ll be in a room filled with people who saved other people’s lives. The merits in that room will be enormous. It will be an opportune time to daven.”
She still didn’t want to go, but she accompanied her father to honor his wishes. Gitty was seated at a table next to Mrs. Meisels. The two chatted throughout the meal, and the older woman was very impressed with the younger one’s intelligence, yiras shomayim, and beautiful middos.
When they got home, Mrs. Meisels told her husband, “I think Gitty would be perfect for my brother.” She was right. Gitty, who was at that time almost forty, got engaged to Mrs. Meisels’ brother. She had been looking to get married for over twenty years and, in the blink of an eye, Hashem brought her to her zivug. (Excerpted from the ArtScroll book – “Living Emunah on Shidduchim”)
Reprinted from the Parshas Mikeitz 5785 email of The Weekly Vort.
