By Dvora Kiel
In Shevat 5761, my sister-in-law, who lives in the United States, was visiting Yerushalayim. She asked her brother-in-law, my husband, to accompany her to the cemetery at Har Hamenuchot to pray at the graves of our ancestors. Soon after she returned to America, my husband noticed that his siddur was missing. Assuming he had left it in one or another of the shuls where he prays, he searched them all. It didn’t turn up, and he forgot about it.
On 6 Nisan 5761, a good four months later, we were blessed with twin boys. When we were ready to leave the Bikur Holim Hospital with our new twins, my husband went out to flag a taxi. Anyone familiar with the Geula section of Yerushalayim knows that this hospital is right in the center of town, and the traffic is extremely heavy at all times. To top this, it was 12 Nisan, almost Ereb Pesah, so there were probably triple the usual number of cars passing by and it was almost impossible to snag a taxi.
When he finally managed to stop one and we all got in, my husband recognized the driver. He was the one who had driven him and my sister-in-law to Har Hamenuchot in Shevat. My husband started chatting with him and reminded him about the previous trip in his taxi. Before my husband was able to finish his sentence, the taxi driver reached into his glove compartment and pulled out my husband’s lost siddur.
My husband and I were stunned. The driver, a typical Yerushalmi with unshakable faith, didn’t understand why we were so amazed. He said, “Ma hapeleh?
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Yesh Yad mechaven! Why are you so surprised? There’s a Guiding Hand [behind everything]!”
Reprinted from the Parashat Lech Lecha 5878 email of Rabbi David Bibi’s Shabbat Shalom from Cyberspace. Excerpted from the book – “When the Time is Right” Manifestations of Divine Providence in Everyday Life.”