‘כשיש קשרים מי צריך פרוטקציה’
When there are connections, who needs favors
For ten years now I have merited to give a weekly Parashas HaShavua class with the commentary of the Or HaChaim HaKadosh. For six years, the class was held in my home, and since the class grew very much, we moved it four years ago to the shul. Every year, on the yahrzeit of the Or HaChaim, I rent a kosher driver and travel with my wife—who gives of herself with mesirus nefesh for the class by preparing sweet delicacies and treats in honor of the learners—and we travel together to the Or HaChaim HaKadosh’s gravesite in the early morning, concluding with Shacharis at the Kosel at sunrise, and from there we return home joyfully, filled with salvations.
This year we arrived in the early morning, as usual. Already from Sha’ar Shechem we were unable to proceed. It turned out that since the yahrzeit fell on a Friday and there would not be a full day following it, all the people visiting the grave had come during the night. I wanted to walk a great distance by foot, but just then, my wife’s leg was hurting. Despite the pain, she insisted on trying to walk slowly, step by step. We got out of the car, and just then I saw an old friend, and I asked him innocently: why is it not possible to reach the gravesite normally—why is everything blocked by barriers? He asked me where the car was. I told him I had let the driver go, having no choice. He told me to call him quickly and have him come back. I did as he said. The driver returned, and to our surprise, my friend gave approval to open the barriers, and we drove all the way to the Or HaChaim HaKadosh’s gravesite like one of the prominent Rebbes!!!
From there we continued to the Kosel as usual, Baruch Hashem.
When I spoke with my friend, I did not dream that he had connections with the ability to do me a favor. I understood that it was the Or HaChaim HaKadosh himself who decides who will come all the way to the grave with a personal invitation. A woman who gives of herself with mesirus nefesh for the class, and whose leg is in pain, and who even last night—before her arrival—prepared a festive meal in honor of the tzaddik for about eighty people, I am certain that it was for her sake that this sign was shown to us!!!
י.ר.
