Rav Ephraim Wachsman once related an amazing story. His grandfather, Rav Betzalel Stern, zt”l, lived in London, but he grew up in Vienna. He was there when the Germans entered Vienna to seek out any Jews that were there. Everyone who could flee fled for their lives, and he went to France.
But then the Germans came to take over Paris, and tens of thousands of refugees sought a place to escape to, but there was nowhere to go. One day, he saw a man wearing a sailor uniform, and Rav Betzalel asked him what he does. The man responded that he was heading out to England, and that he was wearing his sailor’s clothing.
Rav Betzalel asked if he could join him, and the man agreed. But he told him, “You need visas to enter Britain. They won’t allow you entry without it.” With that, Rav Betzalel headed to the British Consulate to arrange visas, but as he approached the offices, he saw hundreds, if not thousands of people already gathered around the entrance, holding papers to assure they could get visas, but the guards weren’t granting anyone entrance.
Miraculously, while he was waiting there, it started to rain torrentially. It rained so much so that the guards all ran inside for protection, and as they did, many of the people who had been trying to get in, followed them. Rav Betzalel also joined them, and before he knew it, he was standing in front of the British consulate officer.
He opened the door, and the man at the desk asked him how he could assist him. Rav Betzalel responded that he’s a father of many children and he is in need of visas to go to Britain. The officer said, “But sir, there is no boat leaving for England now. How are you going to get to England?”
I Need Visas for My Family
Rav Betzalel replied, “I met a sailor who is sailing out tomorrow. He told me that if I come with visas, he’ll give me seats for my family on his ship.” The officer responded, “All right then. Show me your passports and I’ll prepare the visas.” Rav Betzalel put his hand into his pocket to take out the passports, and to his utter astonishment, he didn’t have them! He must have left them at home!
Realizing that he had now lost his last chance to escape, he fainted and collapsed to the ground. The next thing he knew, he was being revived with a cold splash of water on his face. When the officer saw the gravity of the situation, he kindly responded, “Don’t worry. I’ll write an official document that holds the British stamp, and you won’t have any trouble getting in to England with it.” He then handed Rav Betzalel a document that had the official British stamp on it, with the names of his children, and his wife as well. Rav Betzalel thanked him profusely, and left the office.
There was Still Some Space to Add Other Names
When he later looked at the document, he saw that there was still some space on the paper, and he said to himself, “I can add many names to this list and save other Yidden as well as my family!” He contacted other people he knew and added fifty people to his paper, and they were all able to escape. From those fifty people, many beautiful families and many generations of Yidden continue to owe their thanks to Rav Betzalel!
Rav Betzalel later reflected that had he brought the passports with him to the Consulate, all those precious people would not have been saved. It was only because Rav Betzalel “forgot” the passports that he was he able to get that paper, and it was that seemingly “terrible” oversight that ended up saving all of those generations of Yidden.
Rav Wachsman said that many times, we don’t see the good within the situations that we encounter, but we must remember where our challenges are coming from. They’re coming from Hashem who loves us more than we love ourselves. Hashem’s love for us is infinite, and we must remember that anything that happens to us is all for our very best. Sometimes we have to endure a hardship, but that will only be so that it can lead us to a good outcome. Even though we don’t always see the “happy ending,” we must strengthen our Emunah and our reliance on Hashem that it is all being done for our own best, whether we see it at the present moment or not!
Reprinted from the Parshas Bereishis 5784 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
