By Rabbi David Bibi
The former U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv
Rav Eliezer Pressman zt"l was a great talmid chacham from Bnei Brak. One day, his rebbetzin received a call from the U.S. Embassy. Reb Eliezer had been left a large inheritance, and only needed to come to Tel Aviv to sign. But he refused. He feared the environment of Tel Aviv would compromise his standards of modesty and shemiras einayim.
His rebbetzin politely asked if someone from the embassy could come to Bnei Brak. They laughed. A few days later, another call: a delegation of U.S. senators wanted to meet a "very religious Jew." Could her husband be available? She agreed—so long as it was bein hasedarim. The ambassador came, along with the senators—and the documents. Rav Eliezer signed at home.
As they left, an embassy official said, “Even if you were the president’s son, we would not have done this for you. We’ve never done this before.”
But Heaven had.
R’ Aharon of Karlin was once traveling with his students when they were caught in a violent storm. The wind howled, the rain came down in sheets, and the wagon threatened to overturn. Panic spread among his followers. But R’ Aharon simply began singing aloud, “Ein Od Milvado—There is nothing but Him.” As the words filled the air, the storm began to quiet. Within minutes, the winds died down. The students watched in awe as the world returned to calm—not by meteorological pattern, but by spiritual intervention born of bitachon.
Reprinted from the Parashat Beha’alotecha 5785 email of Rabbi David Bibi’s Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace.
