By Rabbi Benzion Klatzko
More than twenty years ago, I had a student who we sent to Israel. Her father was a Reform rabbi and her prospects for spending time in Israel in a religious environment were not too great. Until my family and I got to know her more and more and we eventually encouraged and supported her trip and stay in Israel.
She was incredibly moved by the experience and wound up staying in Israel for a longer time, eventually marrying a respected ben Torah who was learning in yeshiva. Decades later, she called me and filled me in on the details of the past years.
Her husband was still learning in Kollel, she had a family and she asked if she could introduce me to them. I was thrilled to comply.
She had ten children, eight of them girls. Greeting them all at the Kosel, I felt a swell of pleasure and privilege to meet them. In a way, they felt like grandchildren, and I’d known that my own family had molded and shaped their mother and contributed in some way to the life and family she now had.
Rabbi Benzion Klatzko
But then it occurred to me. There were all but eight kids. Two were missing. “Where are your other two children?” I asked. “I only see eight.” She looked at me and smiled. “I have a boy who’s sixteen years old am in yeshiva. I know you’d like to have seen him, but I didn’t want to disturb his learning, so he stayed back for today.” I returned her a smile of my own. “You made the right choice. Torah is the important thing! And what about the other one?”
“The other is my daughter, Adina. She actually is a counselor in New York.” This caught my attention. “That’s wonderful. I’m going back to New York next week after my trip is over. I’d like to her.”
Invited Adina to Come to His Home for a Shabbos
Sure enough, when I returned, I called her up. “Adina, I’d love to invite you to my home for a Shabbos. Come and see what your mother experienced many years ago.” She took up the offer, and was blown away and what her mother experienced and what she was now experiencing herself.
Adina grew close to my family. She was a beautiful light in the lives of others. And when she got married a few months later, my entire family flew in for the wedding.
She married my son.
I was mekarev her mother, and the daughter married my son. And today they live in Ramat Shlomo.
When we reach out, Hashem does amazing wonders.
Reprinted from the Parashat Shelach 5784 edition of the Torahanytime.com Newsletter as edited and compiled by Elan Perchik.
