The following story was told by Reb Yaakov HaLevi Josef Shlita, who heads the Hatzalah organization in Bnei Brak and is familiar with all the details of the story:
Sunday, parashas Re'eh ד"תשפ (a few months ago) at 5:39 in the morning, Hatzalah received a call about a fire on a tiny road called סמטת מנשה in Bnei Brak. The fire was on the third floor, in the apartment of an elderly couple, and they were unable to get out of the house.
Reb Yaakov Josef related: "The Hatzalah office is on that street, so I know the street well. It is a very narrow road, and a fire ladder truck cannot make it down the road.
"The Hatzalah members that rushed to the fire were greeted with a frightening scene. The elderly couple stood before a window, unable to access the stairway through the fire and smoke. They stood at the window, waving to the Hatzalah members to save them. They were close to despair, seeing death before their eyes, as we say on Yom Kippur, בחניקה ומי ...באש מי, r'l.
Fire trucks have ladders for such situations, but as we mentioned, these trucks couldn’t get to the scene since the street was so narrow. Meanwhile, the fire was spreading, getting closer to the couple. By the rules of nature, they didn't see how they would escape the inferno alive.
But just then, the baal chesed, Hatzalah member, Reb Elchanan Mamo, n'y, arrived at the scene, and he saw that Hashem had prepared a salvation for this couple. A porch, used for building a succah, wasn't too far beneath the couple's apartment. On top of the porch was a small hut (which would be removed before Succos). If he stood on the roof of this hut, he figured he could reach the couple.
He didn't think twice. He grabbed a ladder and climbed onto the porch of the lower floor and, from there, onto the hut. From there, he managed to pull down the elderly couple, saving their lives.
The elderly man's beard was slightly burned, and he suffered some burns, but they were happy to be alive!
Now, this miraculous story has an interesting beginning: Three years and three months earlier, this elderly woman had collapsed in her apartment (the same apartment that went up in flames). Hatzalah members performed CPR and brought her back to life. Shortly afterward, she came to the Hatzalah office to thank them for saving her life and left a donation for Hatzalah. And then she asked Reb Yaakov, "You are aware of my delicate state of health, and you and your team saved my life with great miracles. I, therefore, want to ask your advice. The neighbors who live below us want to renovate their apartment to make it larger and add a porch where they could build a succah. However, I am concerned that the dust from the renovation might harm my health and breathing, which is still fragile. Should I permit my neighbors to renovate or stop them?"
Reb Yaakov replied, "You didn't come to ask me as a rav, because I am not a rav who paskens shailos. You asked me for medical advice. So, my answer is that the dust from construction can harm you. If you ask a rav, he will likely say that you are correct for not wanting the construction. And without your permission, the neighbors won't be able to renovate. You are not stopping them for a minor selfish reason but rather because it is a matter of ונשמרתם for your health.
"Nevertheless, you just said that you received your life back miraculously. I think that to praise Hashem for your life, it is proper that you permit your neighbors to proceed with their plans, and Hashem will help that nothing bad will happen to you."
She accepted his advice and permitted her neighbors to build. Since it was dangerous for her to be in her apartment during the construction period, she moved in with her son for four months. She was mevater for the sake of peace, so there won't be a machlokes. It turned out that her vatranus saved her life because if it weren’t for that porch, the Hatzalah members would have no way to rescue her and her husband. She could have protested, and no one would say that she was wrong for doing so, but her caring for others saved her life.
This brings us to the great topic of chesed, which is one of the outstanding traits of Avraham Avinu, whom we seek to emulate.
Emulating Avraham Avinu's Chesed
Ramchal teaches that a person should designate an hour each day to think about the tzaddikim of the past and ask himself, "What did they do that caused Hashem to love them so much, and what can I do to be similar to them?" He says this is easy to do, and it is the best counsel for fighting the yetzer hara.
So, let us take a moment to think about Avraham's chesed, his caring for his fellow man, and see what we can do to emulate him.
Rebbe Eliezer of Dzikov zt’l was careful to have a guest on the first day of Succos because the first day of Succos is the ushpizen of Avraham Avinu, who excelled in hachnasas orchim. One year, on the first day of Succos, the Dzikover Rebbe didn’t have a guest, so he asked his son (the Imrei Noam zt’l) to go outside and look for someone who needed a yom tov meal. The son walked around the streets until he found a homeless, drunk person. “Come with me,” he said to the poor man. “My father wants you to eat the seudah with him."
The Dzikover Rebbe rejoiced with his guest and served him fish, meat, and other delicacies. The Rebbe said: “Avraham Avinu didn’t have more respectable guests. Avraham cared so much about people that he was eager to bring home anyone who desired a meal. At least, on this day, we should emulate Avraham Avinu’s ways...”
