By Rabbi Elimelech Biderman.
A seventy-year-old man came to the Rosh Yeshiva of a baal teshuvah yeshiva and said he wanted to do teshuvah. The Rosh Yeshiva asked him why he wanted to do teshuvah at this point in his life. (It isn't common for people to do teshuvah and to totally change their life around at that age.)
The man explained that his father was burned in Auschwitz, and his mother became irreligious. She sent him to an orphanage, which Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, the Ponovitzer Rav zt‘l ran. When she visited the orphanage and discovered it was a religious institute, she immediately took her son back home to Tel Aviv.
The next time the Ponovizher Rav visited the orphanage, he noticed that one of the children was missing. The staff told him what happened. The Rav immediately went to the woman's home in Tel Aviv. It was Friday afternoon, but his pain from losing a Jewish child was so great that he couldn't push it off.
When the mother saw the Rav, she said, "If you came to convince me to return our son to the orphanage, I want you to know that there is nothing to talk about! I was in Auschwitz..." and she told him that she abandoned Yiddishkeit. The Ponovizher Rav didn't respond – he just sat there and cried.
When this son turned seventy, he came to the Rosh Yeshiva of the baal teshuvah yeshiva and said, "The Rav's tears chased me for sixty years, and that's why I am here today to do teshuvah."
There was an outstanding student learning in Gur, and the Rosh Yeshiva, the Pnei Menachem zt'l (Rabbi Pinchos Menachem Alter of Ger, 1926-1996), enjoyed speaking with him in learning. The boy's father visited the Pnei Menachem to ask about his son's progress. The Pnei Menachem replied, "He's doing well. He learns well," but didn't elaborate. He didn’t tell him how special his son was.
Soon after, the father returned to the Pnei Menachem and asked why he gave him such a cold report. "The students of the yeshiva told me that you enjoy speaking with my son in learning, and you talk with him all the time. So why didn't you give me a more enthusiastic report when I asked about my son?" The Pnei Menachem explained, "Parents have to daven for their children, and I didn't want to take that away from you. If I had praised your son, you would feel confident that everything is fine, and you would stop davening for your son's success, which would be a great loss."
The Pnei Menachem added, "I was born from my parent's second marriage. My mother had children of her own before she married my father, the Imrei Emes (Rabbi Avrohom Mordechai Alter, 1865-1948).
Once, she cried before her husband, the Imrei Emes, that one of her sons was called for the army draft. The Imrei Emes replied with a brachah, "May Hashem help." He davened but didn't tell her she had nothing to worry about and that her son won't be drafted.
"My mother went to her mother and told her how worried she was about her son. Her mother was the sister of the Imrei Emes. So, she went to the Imrei Emes and asked him about her grandson.
The Imrei Emes replied, 'Don't worry. He won't be drafted.' When he gave this havtachah (promise), everyone calmed down, and baruch Hashem, there was a salvation.
"My mother asked the Imrei Emes, 'If you knew my son wouldn’t be drafted, why didn't you tell me? I was so worried.'
"The Imrei Emes replied, 'A mother must daven. I knew there would be a yeshuah (salvation), but your tears were needed. If you had known for sure that everything would be okay, you would stop davening and crying, and your tears were needed for the yeshuah!'"
The Pnei Menachem turned to the father, "This is why I didn't elaborate on your son's success. I didn't want you to feel that everything is perfect. A parent must daven."
Reprinted from an email of Torah Wellsprings.
