Baruch Hashem, I started learning in yeshivah in Telzstone, located far from the chaos of the city. The words from the mizmor we recite in Elul, “shivti b’veis Hashem,” express perfectly my great aspirations, and therefore one can understand why my heart fell when, one day in Elul, a screw fell out of my glasses.
It’s not a problem to fix glasses. My father told me on the phone that as far as he knows, there is an optical store at the entrance to Telzstone. But I did not want to leave the yeshivah. There is a big difference between learning three sedarim in yeshivah all day, with all its inherent spiritual growth, and learning while going out in the middle of the day. I did not want to leave – certainly not in the middle of Elul zman.
I could not forgo repairing the glasses, because I am extremely nearsighted. But the thought of taking care of it outside the walls of yeshivah truly pained me, so I davened to Hashem to help me and send me what I needed to fix my glasses, so that I could continue toiling in the holy Torah.
Immediately after my genuine, heartfelt tefillah, a friend came over and told me, “I have a spare pair of glasses. I could remove a screw from them and give it to you. Im yirtzeh Hashem, after you go home for Shabbos, you’ll return the screw to me.”
“You know what?” I suddenly recalled. “I actually have several small screws for glasses in my suitcase! Maybe I’ll be able to manage on my own. I’m going to the dormitory.” I headed out in the direction of the dormitory, and while walking I told myself that everything was good. So I had a screw, but how would I insert it without a screwdriver? Afterward, I thought that I would just deal with each thing as it came up. First I’d get the screw, and then perhaps I’d succeed somehow in screwing it into place in the glasses.
On my way to the dorm I saw a local avreich, and I asked him, “Perhaps you know where there is an optician and when he’s open?”
“I’ll call him for you,” he answered, and as he was speaking to me he pulled out his phone and called Telzstone’s optician.
“What do you need?” the optician asked.
“There’s a bachur here who lost a screw from his glasses,” the avreich said.
“Tell him that I’m coming to the yeshivah in a few minutes. I have to pick up my son from the cheder that’s next door.”
And indeed, the optician arrived with the necessary equipment to put the screw back into the glasses. I did not have to leave the yeshivah. I did not go to the optician; the optician came to me.
I am filled with thanks to Hashem yisbarach for this. May I have the zechus to remain in the tent of Torah.
