When I see a Hashgachah Pratis newsletter lying around in shul I take it, even if it isn’t the proper time to read it. If I see it in the morning I put it into my tefillin bag, and I know that during a quiet moment I’ll have something good to read, something that will give me hope and joy.
One Thursday afternoon I returned from kollel holding my tefillin bag, which had remained with me after Shacharis. On the way home I went into the pharmacy to buy medication. The pharmacy had relatively limited hours, and on Thursday it closed its doors at noon and remained closed all afternoon. It would not be open again until Sunday.
I purchased the medication and went home. I stopped by the mailbox to see if someone had thought of me recently. Usually it’s the electric company, the phone company and the bank; sometimes it’s also friends and family sending invitations, and mostly it’s business owners advertising their products or services. Was there someone who truly thought of me and really cares about me? Even if there was one such person, it was very rare to discover a letter from him.
Rare? The truth is, not so rare. Here, on my mailbox, there’s a sticker indicating my subscription to the “Hashgachah Pratis Family Magazine.” What nonsense, for me to think that no one was thinking of me. Hakadosh Baruch Hu thinks of me and watches over me every second. If I needed more proof, then right there in my tefillin bag there was a blue-and-white pamphlet filled with emunah. Hey – where is my tefillin bag?!
The second I realized that my tefillin bag was not with me, I recalled that I’d left it in the pharmacy – the pharmacy that was closing any minute and wouldn’t reopen until Sunday morning! I went back immediately and managed to get there in time to get my tefillin before they locked the doors.
This was truly hashgachah pratis, according to all its interpretations!
