It was four a.m. The late sleepers had already fallen asleep, and those who rise for vasikin hadn’t yet woken up. Everyone was sleeping, and I woke up to the sounds of knocking on the door, knocking and knocking without letup. It seemed someone needed me desperately. This was not a normal time for a neighborly visit, so I realized it must be pikuach nefesh and I must get up.
When I went out of the room, I saw a light on in the kitchen. What was happening there? First, I went into the kitchen and saw something terrifying: My one-and-a-half-year old Shimale was standing on the counter, a kettle of hot water in his hand, trying to pour water from the kettle into his bottle. The kettle is heavy, the bottle light; Shimmy was almost losing his balance, and in another second he was liable to end up with a severe burn from boiling-hot water.
The minute I saw this, I caught him, saving him from a fall and a burn, and perhaps also saving myself from a court order due to parental negligence. This Shimma’le of mine – he should be well and use all his strengths and great creativity to serve Hashem yisbarach. It seems I’m raising one of the great kochos, who will light up the world in coming years. He was saved by a miracle.
That whole process took mere seconds, and then I went to the front hallway to solve the mystery of the knocks on the door. I opened the door of my home, and before my eyes stood an entire family, wearing Shabbos clothing, looking tired and bedraggled.
“We rented the apartment upstairs for two weeks,” the father said. “The door locks with a combination. I wrote the code on a piece of paper and put it into the pocket of my everyday suit. The problem is that we just got back from a wedding and I’m wearing a Shabbos suit. The code is inside the house, and I have no idea how to get in. You have the code. Can you possibly give it to me?”
I readily gave him the code, which would open the apartment for him, and he apologized. “We had heavy traffic on the way from Bnei Brak to Yerushalayim, and instead of the drive taking an hour, it took two hours. I wouldn’t wake you up now, but I saw the light was on and heard someone schlep-”
