When R' Hillel Vitkind started his Yeshiva in Tel Aviv (and he chose Davka Tel Aviv, where there were not yet any Yeshivos), he needed to get good Bachurim (which could not be expected to come from the boys on the streets of Tel Aviv; they wouldn’t consider learning in Yeshiva, which had no “Tachlis”; i.e., income), so he decided to import them from Novardok in Poland. But at the time, Palestine was under the British mandate, and in order to immigrate you needed a certificate, and certificates were given out in limited supply since there was a yearly quota, and all the certificates had already been given out (to the non-religious kibbutzniks). How would they get any more?
So R' Hillel decided to go to the source; England. He traveled himself, and met personally with the minister in charge, James McDonald, a famous antisemite, who himself authored the infamous “white book”, which contained the original idea for curtailing the immigration to Palestine through quotas. As would be expected, R' Hillel was given a cold welcome, but he was not Nis'pael. He sat with the minister for an hour explaining the need for the certificates, speaking in Yiddish! He demanded: “Only Bolsheviks need to come to Eretz Yisroel??” They say that the minister understood the gist of what R' Hillel was saying, despite the language barrier... Miracle of miracles, R' Hillel walked out of that meeting with 50 certificates!!!!!! These 50 Talmidim were the basis of Yeshivas Bais Yosef in Tel Aviv. From then on, R' Hillel would go every year to London to get certificates for the Bachurim from Poland and Lita.
Now here comes a wonderful story which we just received from one of our readers. Here is the story, in his own words (translated from Hebrew):
I just met a person from France, while visiting in Eretz Yisroel, who told me the following episode. Around 35 years ago, this person had made a Bar Mitzva for his son, and “Rabeinu” (this is how the Jews in France called R' Gerson Liebman) had come to join the Simcha. On the way back, the driver got confused, and started driving in precisely the opposite direction!
“Rabeinu” noticed that some time had passed, and they hadn’t reached their destination. So he asked the driver: Why aren’t we there yet? The driver replied: I have gone the wrong way, literally in the opposite direction! “So where are we now?”, asked “Rabeinu”. “We are next to the airport near Paris, called Orly” (ORY).
Said “Rabeinu”: “If Hashem brought us here, it is certainly not for nought! Park your car in the terminal parking area, and enter the station. Look around; maybe there is a Yid in distress!”
The driver did as he was told, and entered the terminal. It was already the wee hours of the night, and he started circling about the area. All of a sudden, he was approached by a Yid! This Yid came from Eretz Yisroel to visit his son learning in Bussières (the Novardok Yeshiva in France) but he didn’t understand a word of French! He had been searching the airport for hours, to find a fellow Jew to help him find directions. It was so late, and he still had no idea where to go!
Now the driver “understood” the words of “Rabeinu”. Indeed, there are no “mistakes”. Aderaba, Hashem deliberately brought them here; in this case, in order to help a stranded Jew in distress! The driver told him that he can come along, and he took him to his destination, along with “Rabeinu”.
We see from this story the pure Emuna of “Rabeinu”, that there is no such thing as “mistakes”. Everything that happens is Hashem’s guiding Hand, and if He brought them here, there must be a good reason.
