Reb Shimon is an elderly Yid who lives in Yerushalayim. When he was young, before the Holocaust, he lived in Lublin. Rav Meir Shapiro, zt”l, once in a while would come to his Cheder to test the boys, and he would sometimes give out gifts or sweets to the children.
One time, Rav Meir Shapiro didn’t have anything to give them, and he said, “Instead of a gift, I will tell you a wonderful segulah, and if you will follow my advice, you will be always be successful and lead a peaceful life!” He then told them about the wonders that happen to people who say Birchas HaMazon properly, and he urged them to always use a Bentcher and not say it by heart. Rav Meir Shapiro concluded, “This is my present to you.” Reb Shimon took the lesson very seriously.
He decided right then that he would be careful with bentching for the rest of his life. It didn’t matter to him that his friends would bentch quickly and go out to play, while he stayed behind in order to bentch properly. It was challenging, but he didn’t want to abandon the wonderful gift that Rav Meir Shapiro gave him.
A few years later, the Nazis invaded Poland, and Reb Shimon found himself standing in line for a ‘selection’. People who were considered tall, were sent to the right, and were allowed to live, while those who were short were sent to the left for execution.
Reb Shimon davened that he should be saved from any “wrath and destruction” in the merit of Birchas HaMazon. When it was his turn, he stood as tall
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as he could to appear higher, and the Nazi signaled for him to go the right. He attributed his life being saved in the merit of bentching. Soon afterwards, Reb Shimon was standing in line again. This time, each person had to tell the Nazi in charge what his skills were, and Reb Shimon didn’t know what he could say, as he was only a teenager. As he waited in line he davened, “In the merit of Birchas HaMazon, which is a segulah for parnasah, Hashem, please support me.”
Suddenly, the person in line behind him tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Tell them that you are a cook and that you are my assistant. I will show you everything you need to know.” Reb Shimon said this and they were both sent to work in the kitchen, where he always had enough food to eat. Again, he attributed this Brachah to his being careful with how he recited Birchas HaMazon.
Reb Shimon continued to be extremely careful with bentching, and if he knew that he wouldn’t have enough time to bentch properly, then he wouldn’t eat bread. Once, on a freezing cold winter day, a Nazi saw Shimon working in the kitchen and he wasn’t pleased that he had such a ‘good’ position, surrounded with food.
The Nazi ordered Reb Shimon to go outside and showed him a stony area, outside the kitchen, and barked at him, “Dig a two-meter ditch here. You have two hours to finish, or else you will be buried in it,” and he handed him a spoon and said that was all he could use, and then he left. The task was absolutely impossible. The ground was covered with heavy stones, frozen solid, and all he had to use was a small spoon, all to be done in two hours.
Reb Shimon raised his eyes to Hashem and said, “I am careful to only say Birchas HaMazon with kavanah. Please save me again in this merit.” A few moments later a German jeep drove by, filled with Nazis, and they saw this young lad trying to dig a ditch with a spoon. To tease him, they threw potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables at him. Reb Shimon just collected them into a pile and continued his work.
Shortly afterwards a jeep with Russian workers drove up. When they saw all the vegetables around Shimon, they stopped and asked for them. They were hungry, because they were hardly fed by the Nazis. Reb Shimon told the Russians, “If you help me dig a pit that measures exactly two meters deep here, I will give you all the vegetables.” The Russians jumped at the offer and they all got right to work digging, and as workers, they had exactly the right tools they needed. They all worked together and in just a few minutes they were able to finish the job. They took the vegetables and Reb Shimon went back into the kitchen, far earlier than his deadline.
The Nazi was happy to see him, knowing that he certainly failed in his mission, but his happiness ended when Reb Shimon told him the hole was finished. The Nazi ordered him back outside so he could inspect it, and when he saw that it was indeed complete, he said “I always knew that your G-d takes care of you. I just didn’t realize to what extent,” and he never bothered Reb Shimon again. Reb Shimon was saved once again, and he attributed it to the merit of bentching.
When he came to Eretz Yisroel after the war was over, he continued to enjoy many brachos of abundance, and he was able to resume saying Birchas HaMazon as he had his entire life!
Reprinted from the Parshas Lech Lecha 5787 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.