In honor of Shabbos, we traveled to my sister’s home in Yerushalayim. I arrived with the gift that Hashem had given me in the form of a sweet and uniquely special child, who is also on a ventilator. I brought with me all the necessary medical equipment required for Shabbos, and we prepared to welcome Shabbos early.
Suddenly, I noticed that I had mistakenly not brought one of the tubes for the ventilator, and without that tube, it is not possible to ventilate him. We began to think and devise a plan for where we could obtain this part. Suddenly, an idea came to my sister’s mind to go up to her neighbor on the seventh floor who has a daughter with a disability, and maybe she would have such a tube.
I thought to myself: what is the connection between a disabled girl and ventilation? Is every disabled person on a ventilator? But with hope, I went up together with my sister, and we asked whether she had one, or if she knew of a family that might have a ventilator?
The woman who opened the door began to cry out of emotion, saying: “I do not believe it!!! I do not believe it!!!” When she calmed down a bit, she quickly brought out a large box full of ventilator parts. She told us that a month earlier, a delivery person from Kupat Cholim had come to her house and dropped off this huge box in her living room. When she asked in bewilderment what it was for, he answered that this equipment was designated for her daughter. She explained to him that her daughter had not needed this equipment for nine years — ever since she had been weaned from the ventilator, from birth until the age of one. He told her that those were the delivery instructions.
“I did not know what to do with it — after all, it takes up space in the house, and Kupat Cholim does not take it back because it belongs to me!!! Now I understand the whole story — HaKadosh Baruch Hu prepared the remedy before the affliction, and already a month ago He knew that you would arrive here and need this part, and ‘From Hashem are a man’s footsteps established!’”
And what was left for us to do but to thank Hashem and to delight in the holy Shabbos day with a feeling of sublime Divine lovefrom Hashem!!! HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives us trials and gifts, but one must remember that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is with us in the trial, chalilah, He makes no mistakes!!! This story certainly strengthened within me the feeling that HaKadosh Baruch Hu is with me, and everything He does is for our complete good. As a righteous man once told me: “In this world there are no answers, but in the World to Come, there are no questions!!!”
ח.ר.
I traveled from Yrushalayim to Netanya to serve as the sandek at a bris. The devoted driver who picked me up asked if I remembered to bring a tallis. In truth, I had forgotten. I wanted to call home and ask a grandson to bring me a tallis, but I discovered that I had also forgotten my cellphone at home. I saw how great is Hashgacha — if the driver had not asked me about the tallis, we would have traveled without the phone. Everyone can understand for themselves what it means for me to be without a phone for several hours when there are pressing matters that cannot be delayed... Moreinu HaRav shlita
