By Barukh Ben David Lev
Shaul was a new driver when he took his family on a trip to the north of Eretz Yisrael. He was so inexperienced that he did not even have a map in the glove compartment (pre-GPS days), since he naively assumed that road signs along the highway would be enough to guide him. When he reached a junction at the foot of Rosh Hanikra and turned left onto a quiet side street, the large, bold signs that read “Stop, border ahead!” did not faze him. He drove on.
When Shaul reached the end of the road, he felt the car slowing down on its own until it stopped. Oh no! The gas tank was empty! The needle in the gas gauge had been stuck on full, giving him a false reading. He chided himself for not noticing that the level had not changed for hours. So Shaul was stuck with his wife and children on a remote road near the Lebanese border, with not a soul in sight. He was more than a bit nervous.
Soon the silence was broken by the sound of an engine. Shaul was relieved to see an army patrol jeep, which stopped right next to his car. A few soldiers jumped out and started to berate him, “What do you think you’re doing stopping here? Can’t you see you’re at the border? Right over there are Lebanese snipers who are liable to fire at you at any moment.”
Shaul Didn’t Want to Abandon His Brand-New Car
Shaul shamefacedly explained what had happened. They told him to take his family and get into the jeep so they could drive them to a nearby army base, as it was dangerous there. But Shaul did not want to abandon his brand-new car where it would likely be stolen. Shaul proposed that perhaps he could find some gas, but his car was a Ford, and the army jeep ran on diesel fuel.
When Shaul decided to wait for another car to drive by, the soldiers lost their patience. “Listen,” one soldier said curtly, “you need three miracles. One, that a car will pass by; two, that he’ll have extra gas with him; and three, that the gas will be the same type your car uses. If all three miracles happen, then you’re all right. But I wouldn’t count on it if I were you. Days can pass without a single car driving along this dangerous road. The chance that one will come right now is almost nil.”
The Three Miracles that Stunned the Soldiers
Just then, a white car suddenly appeared on the horizon. Shaul’s car and the jeep were blocking the road, so the white car was forced to stop. That was the first miracle. The driver got out, and after hearing about Shaul’s problem, he pulled out a jerry can of gas from his trunk, which he kept in reserve. Miracle number two.
Shaul thought he was dreaming, and the soldiers’ jaws dropped. But was it the right kind of gas? That was no problem, because the driver of the white car said he carried all kinds of gas.
Soon Shaul’s gas tank was filled and he was able to start the engine. Before he drove off, he asked the other driver why he carried so many different kinds of gas. The man explained, “I work for Mekorot, the water company. I spend a lot of time on the road, and the company requires me to carry an assortment of gas types, so that if I come across a car that needs gas, I can help him out.”
Shaul was simply astonished. The soldiers were fairly amazed themselves.
The driver further explained: “I came this way because a water pipe burst in one of the nearby settlements. It’s urgent, and I thought I’d save time on the side road where there is no traffic. I better be on my way.”
As the man drove off, the soldiers suddenly remembered they had all been standing around in a dangerous spot far too long, and left. Shaul headed toward Teveryah, to pray at the holy sites and thank Hashem for bursting a pipe in a certain settlement, in order to help him and his family.
As he drove, he thought about the sequence of events. The people with the burst pipe were probably annoyed and frustrated. They had no idea that at that moment, a certain Jew named Shaul was thanking Hashem for the burst pipe. Shaul did not know what other parts there were to the puzzle. He had only seen the parts that involved him. He wondered if he would be able to use the lesson when he was on the other side, when he was the one feeling annoyed and frustrated. Would he then remember that Hashem alone can see the whole puzzle? (There is No Such Thing as Coincidence, Vol. 1)
Reprinted from the Parshas Mattos-Masei 5784 email of The Weekly Vort.
