Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz
During the Six Day War in Eretz Yisrael in 1967 the boys in the Mir Yeshiva took shelter in the dining room which was the lowest floor. But everyone was terrified that a bomb may fall on the Yeshiva roof and penetrate through till the dining room. After the war they checked the roof of the Yeshiva and found three bombs that had landed on the roof but never exploded. It was an open miracle.
The Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Chaim Shmulevitz gave a lecture in Yeshiva. “Do you think that it was in your merits that we had such a miracle? It wasn’t” the Rosh Yeshiva asked the boys. “I will tell you in whose merit we were saved,” he continued.
“Near the Yeshiva there is a lady who didn’t have a shelter in her building so she took shelter with all of us in the Yeshiva dining room. This lady is an Aguna. Her husband left her many years ago without giving her a divorce and therefore she was never able to get remarried. He left her with five small children and the oldest was only seven! No one can even imagine the suffering this poor lady has endured, left alone without any help or financial support.
She was sitting a few meters away from me and I heard her having a conversation with Hashem, and this is what she said:”
‘Ribbono Shel Olam, I am sure that on the day of judgment I have a very powerful claim against my husband who left me on my own with so many small children and no financial support. I have to go and work as a cleaning lady in order to make a bare minimum to support my family and provide them with food and the basics. I have no doubt that I would win the case and my husband would be found guilty.’
“But, Ribbono Shel Olam, let’s make a deal. I am willing to forgive my husband for everything he did to me and wipe out all the hard feelings, pain and suffering that I have in my heart against him, and you Hashem forgive us for all our sins, and we all come out of here alive and healthy.’
“You should know’” said Reb Chaim to the boys, “that lady’s prayers that came from such a broken heart and said with such sincerity, in her merit we were all saved.”
Reprinted from the Parshas Mikeitz 5786 email of Rabbi Dovid Caro’s Inspired by a Story.
