Simcha is a dedicated yungerman learning in Beis Medrash Govoha whose days and nights are devoted to Torah learning. Besides his diligence, he’s a content baal bitachon, who walks around with a Tehillim in his pocket and pulls it out at any given moment to daven or thank Hashem.
On Tuesday morning, May 14, 2024, during first seder, R’ Simcha got up from his learning to quench his thirst. While he was out taking a drink, his friend ran to him frantically.
“It’s good I’m seeing you!” he told R’ Simcha. “I tried calling your cellphone several times, but you didn’t answer. There’s a police officer distributing tickets to the illegal-parked cars surrounding the yeshiva, and your car is one of them.”
R’ Simcha ran out in a frenzy, only to meet two tickets sitting on his windshield, with the cop leaning peacefully on his car.
R’ Simcha approached the officer respectfully and said, “Officer, I realize that I’m parked illegally, and that gives me one ticket, but why two?”
“Well,” the officer responded sternly, “besides for your hood sticking into this driveway, your registration is expired. That’s an additional fine.”
TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE
“Why is that?” questioned R’ Simcha. He was genuinely curious; having only gotten married recently, R’ Simcha wasn’t aware that owning a car also meant registering it with the DMV. Though they’d sent him the renewal in the mail, he’d assumed it was another piece of junk-mail and threw it away.
“Driving a car without registration is a criminal offense,” said the officer. “Not only that, but a car with expired registration is subject to towing. I’m just standing here waiting for the tow.”
With no way of convincing the officer otherwise, R’ Simcha thought to himself, if this is the will of Hashem, I’m going to accept it willingly. R’ Simcha thus started walking away, singing Mizmor Lesoda and thanking Hashem for what has transpired. R’ Simcha is such a big baal bitachon that this response came natural.
Observing the interaction, the Jewish security guard who safeguards the “Forest Ave Beis Medrash” thought he could perhaps help R’ Simcha and approached the cop. “Can you allow this fellow to pull his car onto the schools’ property?” the guard asked the officer. “A car without registration may remain on private domain.”
The officer told the guard to hold for a moment. Meanwhile, the tow truck pulled up, ready to take the car. “Well, I thought that that might’ve worked, but it seems that I was wrong,” said the guard to R’ Simcha. R’ Simcha assured the guard that the cop’s decision was essentially the will of Hashem, and he’d accept it lovingly.
That moment, the cop returned with a change of heart. He would make a one-time exception and let R’ Simcha move his car. “But make sure you have someone drive you to the DMV,” the officer warned him. “It’s unlawful to drive this car anywhere. I’ve never waived the law like this, but I’ll make an exception. Make sure you adhere the law!”
With that, the officer approached the truck driver informing him that the order had been canceled.
Thankful to the cop, R’ Simcha then pulled his car onto yeshiva’s property until the next day when he got the registration and was once again able to drive his car.
In the meantime, R’ Simcha sat back down at in Beis Medrash pulled out his Tehillim and thanked Hashem for sparing him the hassle, and then continued learning with renewed enthusiasm.
Accepting the challenge that Hashem sent, R’ Simcha was zoche to see his yeshua show up right before him!
