By Rabbi Elimelech Biderman
Allow me to share with you what took place in Yerushalayim with the Pearl family on Rechov Rappaport.
Rebbetzin Pearl came home after a tiring day out of town, and she wanted to go to sleep. She waited for her children to come home from yeshiva at 9:30, and she went to go to sleep. Suddenly and unexpectedly, though, a woman who frequently came to their house to eat knocked on the door.
This woman was very downtrodden, and it was also difficult for the family when she came. She had many demands. “This is good, this is not good. Open the door, close it...” The family had to spend time with her, and it wasn’t easy.
This woman was now knocking on the door, and through the peephole the children saw her. Between themselves, the children decided not to open the door. The mother heard this, and got out of bed and said, “What’s the matter? We must know that whatever we do for another is really helping ourselves!”
“Aren’t you tired?” replied the children. “Don’t you want to sleep?”
The mother remained undeterred. “This woman came a long way to eat, and now she’ll return without food. We can’t let that happen. You want to help up? Come, let’s prepare some food!”
The woman ate there to her heart’s content, and spent quite a while of time with the family. As she was leaving, she wished them well and blessed them that the house should be safe, and then she went on her way.
As the mother was escorting the woman out, a young daughter came running and said, “There’s a snake in the bedroom!” The mother laughed, and tried calming her down.
“There’s no snake, it’s nothing,” replied the mother.
But the girl insisted that it’s a snake.
“How do you know what a snake looks like?”
“I saw a picture,” the daughter explained.
But the mother couldn’t understand. “How could a snake get in there! It must be a mouse!”
She sent one of the older children to go check what was going on. The child came running back, confirming, “It’s a snake!” They quickly went and shut the door tightly, and ordered an exterminator. By the time the exterminator arrived, they all saw through the window that it was indeed a long snake. And the snake was spread out across the mother’s whole bed. The exterminator entered and saw that it was a poisonous snake.
Had the mother been in bed, Hashem should have mercy what could have happened.
Reprinted from the Parashat Matot-Masei 5783 Newsletter of TorahAnytime.com Compiled and Edited by Elan Perchik.
