The war in Eretz Yisrael was frightening. Every day, the Arabs would launch missiles at the Jewish people. A siren would go off, warning everyone that a missile would soon land in the area. Everyone would run to find a nearby shelter. Almost every apartment building in Eretz Yisrael had a cellar where all the families would gather in case of missiles or bombings. There, they would wait until they heard another siren signaling that it was safe to come out. Some people brought their radios with them to hear what was going on.
It was a bright, sunny day in Yerushalayim when the sirens went off. “Hurry, hurry!” young Yaakov Adler told his sister Chaya Esther. “We have to go down to the basement!” People were running all around and parents kept checking to make sure that all their children were with them.
“A missile just hit the gas line!” the radio announcer said.
“Oh, no!” Yaakov’s father exclaimed. “That will cause a fire in the entire neighborhood!”
One man started saying Tehillim out loud and everyone followed him. Some adults even started crying.
“I’m so scared,” Chaya Esther said to her mother. Her mother gave her a tight hug.
“Hashem will protect us, Chaya Esther,” she said softly. “We must have bitachon. Come, let’s daven together.”
Before long, all the girls joined Chaya Esther and her mother. They had so much kavanah that they almost didn’t realize when the siren signaled it was safe for them to come out.
“No pushing,” one man said to the children who were trying to get out quickly. Everyone wanted to see where the missiles had fallen and what was destroyed.
As they opened the door of the cellar, they blinked their eyes. They weren’t used to the sunlight after being in the dark shelter for so long. Suddenly, a man ran toward them. “Rabbi Adler, you’re not going to believe this!”
“Is it good news?” Rabbi Adler asked hopefully.
“Just listen,” the man said excitedly. “While we were all in the shelter, a missile hit the main gas line.”
“Yes, we heard. What damage was there?”
“Nothing much!” the man said. “Right after the missile hit the gas pipe, another missile came, and guess what it hit? The water pipe!” he said, answering his own question.
Rabbi Adler was in shock. “You mean...”
“Yup, that’s exactly what I mean,” the man said, smiling widely. “When the gas line got hit and a fire broke out, the water line got hit, and put out anything that was on fire.”
Rabbi Adler lifted his eyes. “Thank You, Ribbono shel Olam,” he cried.
“But Abba,” Chaya Esther said, tugging on his jacket. “If Hashem wasn’t going to let there be a fire in the first place, why did any of the pipes need to get hit at all?”
“Excellent question, Chaya Esther. Hashem wanted us to see that He is taking care of us. Look, we are all so grateful right now. If none of this would have happened, we wouldn’t feel the same gratitude and love toward Hashem that we feel now, after seeing how He protected us.”
Sometimes we might be in a situation that makes us scared or nervous. Maybe your baby brother is missing! You daven very hard that he should be found. Soon, you see him sleeping in your closet! You might wonder, why did Hashem scare me for no reason?
But maybe it’s not for no reason. Maybe there was a good reason. Maybe the reason is that Hashem just wanted to remind you of how much He loves you. You would have never thought about that if nothing was out of the ordinary.
Reprinted from the Rosh Hashanah 5785 edition of At the ArtScroll Yom Tov Table. Excerpted from the ArtScroll book – “Living with Bitachon for Children.”
