The Benefits of an Unpleasant Pile of Garbage
By Rabbi David Ashear
Nesanel Goodman* was having a hard time finding a shidduch. After many years, he finally heard about Rochel Stein,* who sounded like the perfect shidduch. But her parents were taking a very long time getting back to the Goodmans.
Nesanel and his father were invited to a sheva brachos that would be held on Friday night. They drove together to the very large beis medrash where it was being held. Parking was unavailable already starting several blocks before the shul, but they kept driving, hoping for the best.
When they pulled into the parking lot, they were elated to see an open space just steps from the entrance. It was getting close to Shabbos, and they were grateful to Hashem for providing this spot. They pulled in, and quickly entered to daven Mincha.
That night, when they left shul to walk home, Nesanel and his father were horrified to see that their car was covered in piles of garbage. It was then that they realized why the spot had been available – it was the area for the garbage dump!
On Motzoei Shabbos, Nesanel and his father spent a long time trying to dig their car out from under the bags of leftover food scraps and dirty disposable utensils.
A couple of days later, Rochel’s parents finally agreed to proceed with the shidduch, and within a short time, she and Nesanel were engaged.
The Goodman’s soon learned the story of the Steins’ hesitation. Initially, they had been warned that Nesanel’s family was a little elitist, which did not synchronize with what Rochel was looking for. But then they heard that Nesanel and his father spent hours peeling garbage off a car to help another Jew get his car out.
Although, as they later discovered, it was really the Goodmans’ own vehicle, Rochel’s parents decided that Nesanel and his family were down-to-earth people after all. They continued with the shidduch and accepted upon themselves to be less judgmental going forward.
The garbage seemed like a nightmare, but turned out to be a brocha in disguise, the means by which a shidduch was brought about. (Living Emunah 8)
Reprinted from the ParshasVayishach 5786 email of The Weekly Vort.
