By Rabbi Dovid Hoffman
A well-known man, a Belzer hasid, and his wife, had their first child – a boy – after being childless for 28 years. The Shalom Zachor that Friday night was the event of the year. Over a thousand people came to wish Mazal tov to the new father. At the height of the celebration, the crowd quieted down as the father indicated that he would like to say a few words. Then he related the following.
“When I was a bachur learning in the Belzer Yeshivah, there was a cleaning lady who would come by every day to tidy up and scrub the Bet Midrash and adjoining rooms. She was a fixture in the yeshivah and devoted her life to maintaining the yeshivah building. She was, however, not wealthy by any stretch, and as her own family grew, she was at a loss of options for taking care of her children.
“She decided to bring her kids with her to work, and as she cleaned and mopped in one area of the building, the young children would run amok, screaming, crying, and generally causing quite a commotion, in the rest of the yeshivah. At first, we put up with it. We even thought it was cute for a time. But after a while, the kids really began to bother us in our learning and praying.
“Try as we might to control them, they wouldn’t listen and continued on in their childish games and noise. A number of younger bachurim asked me, as one of the oldest in the chaburah to ask the mother not to bring her children anymore to the yeshivah.
“I agreed to talk to her. Brazenly, I walked up to her and told her that her kids were disturbing everyone in yeshivah, and that she should find an alternative method of child-care. I’ll never forget how she looked at me with tired eyes and said, ‘Bachur, you should never have sa’ar gidul banim (the pain and anguish that one goes through when raising children!’”
The crowd gasped.
“As many of you know,” continued the father, “my wife and I have been to countless doctors who have recommended every sort of treatment. We moved abroad for a while to be near an expert, which proved to be fruitless. One last, extreme treatment was offered and after trying that, it, too turned out to be just a fantasy. We felt doomed to a life without the pleasure of raising a family.
“After that last attempt, as we walked back into the apartment that we lived in for the past 28 years, our entire sad situation hit us full force, like a ton of bricks. Together, we broke down crying and praying for hours on end, begging Hashem to have mercy on us. It was just then that I remembered this cleaning lady – Sima is her name – and what she said to me years ago. I made up right then and there to locate her and ask her for forgiveness. I spent hours on the phone until I came up with an address, and I ran there immediately. She obviously did not recognize me, but when I told her over the story, a spark flickered in her eyes. I tearfully apologized for my harsh words, and she graciously forgave me with her whole heart.”
Beaming from ear to ear, the father announced, “Rabotai, that took place exactly nine months ago!”
Reprinted from the Parashat Korah 5785 email of Rabbi David Bibi’s Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace. (Excerpted from Rabbi Dovid Hoffman’s “Torah Tavlin.)
