There was an incredible woman who started a charity organization to help young cancer patients by taking them on fun trips, bringing them entertainment, and doing everything possible to bring joy into their lives. When a potential donor, Reuven, saw how much she sacrificed each day to keep the organization running, he asked her why she dedicates nearly her whole life to this cause.
She explained that for years she was childless. When she went to Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, ZT”L, for a bracha to have kids, he told her that this was not decreed for her in Heaven. If she wants something from Hashem that isn’t decreed for her, she then must do something beyond her obligation.
She continued explaining to Reuven: “the day that I opened this organization, I conceived. Two years later when I expanded it, I had another child and two years after that, during my second expansion, I gave birth to a third child.
Being childless, Reuven got so inspired that he decided to similarly undertake something above and beyond. With his wife’s consent, he put his name on a kidney donation list. Right after signing up, after sixteen years without children, his wife conceived. A few days before the Bris, he was notified that a match was found for his kidney and he donated it, saving somebody’s life.
Reprinted from the Parshas Pekudei 5784 email of Torah Sweets.
