He walked down the main street that connects the two cities. As he passed Beilinson Hospital, Uri saw a frum Yid standing outside, calling him over. “Can you help us with a minyan?”
“A minyan?” Uri asked in amazement. “Not even at Itzkovitz (a well-known minyan factory) are Yidden looking for a minyan at this hour!”
“You’re correct,” the Yid said. “My father is on his deathbed with only moments left to live. We’d like to have a minyan present when his soul returns to its Maker.”
Uri didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t expected his Yom Tov night to have such a turnout. The esrog he’d worked so hard for turned out to be pasul, he’d walked in the middle of the night to Petach Tikvah and back, and now he was being asked to join a minyan?
Still, how could he say no to a son about to lose his father? He followed the Yid into the hospital to join them for their father’s last moments. However, the dying father’s neshama wasn’t leaving him too quickly, and the overtired Uri was losing his patience. The children of the father begged him to remain, and so he busied himself with a Mishnah Berurah.
When the father’s neshama finally departed, Uri was ready to leave right away, but the son of the deceased further requested that he wait to escort him home to Bnei Brak, and Uri agreed. Finally, at 3 a.m., the two began their way home. At one point, the Yid turned to Uri and said, “I know why I’m walking on Jabotinsky Street at this hour, but what are you doing out here in the middle of the night?”
Uri explained to the Yid about how he and his chavrusa had learned the halachos of arba minim, how they’d checked esrogim for the dealer to score for themselves a “diamond” esrog, how only tonight he realized its pasul, and how he’d walked all the way to Petach Tikvah to inform his chavrusa of their predicament.
“Do you have parnassah?” the Yid asked Uri suddenly. Uri was beside himself. “It’s Yom Tov, and it’s the middle of the night. What are you asking, whether my rosh kollel pays on time?”
The Yid said, “I’m not asking for no reason. Tell me your situation.”
Rav Yosef Efrati
Without a choice, the tired Uri told him that finances weren’t going so easily for him and his wife.
“Well then,” the Yid then said, “I have an offer for you. I work in the kashrus department of Rav Yosef Efrati’s organization. The Rav has been looking for a competent talmid chacham to take upon himself the responsibility for the terumos and maaseros of the fruits and vegetables. Usually, the work needs to be done early in the morning and doesn’t require a lot of time. It’s a job that’ll still allow an avreich to continue his learning.”
“So just put an ad in the newspaper. You’ll certainly find someone qualified for the job.”
“It’s not so easy. We’re talking about a very serious responsibility. Such a job requires a true yorei Shamayim who recognizes the severity of the matter — who can wake up early in the morning and ensure that all the fruits and vegetables are tithed properly. Not just anyone who answers an advertisement is fit for such a job. We need someone who can’t sleep at night because he’s afraid of Jews being oveir the issur of tevel, and you’ve proven yourself to be such an individual. If you’re prepared to lose your sleep because of one person’s esrog, then certainly you’ll do the same with the whole country!”
Today, Uri oversees the terumos and maaseros department of the Vaad Hakashrus of Rav Yosef Efrati. He remains immersed in learning and support his family comfortably, all in the merit of his mesiras nefesh for the fulfillment of mitzvos b’hiddur and his desire to bring Hashem nachas ruach.
Reprinted from the Sukkos 5785 email of Zichru Toras Moshe.
