Baruch Hashem, we moved. It was not easy to move all our things, all our furniture, suitcases, boxes and bags. It was also not easy to move ourselves and to leave behind the familiar and beloved for a new place, which we very much hope will turn into the familiar and beloved.
There were two things we could not move, no matter what, and they are my kollel and my wife’s workplace. We knew we were going to have to start all over again. More than anything else, the monthly expenses in the bank actually moved along with us, easy as can be.
I still hadn’t found a kollel, and my wife continued looking for work. The days leading up to the tenth of the month passed, and I had no idea from where my help would come, not the foggiest notion from where I would get the money, when both of us had no income whatsoever!
I knew that I had to try, and I even did something about it, but in the meantime, I understood that the main hishtadlus for me now was to daven. One day after Shacharis I started thinking about how to get hold of the sum I needed to cover the next expense, and once again I reached the conclusion that I had no idea what I could do. It’s not that I’m not prepared to do what I have to do. I simply did not know what to do.
I said to myself: First, I will sit and learn as I did when I had a kollel.
I remained in shul to sit and learn until 1 p.m. What did it matter whether I had gotten into a kollel or not? I am commanded to learn Torah either way. I would do my part, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu would do His. In the meantime, my wife decided to check out the situation in our bank account. Although there was no chance that there had been any change in recent days, one does what one can, and this is what she was able to do.
And what did she hear? That a very sizable sum had been deposited!
“Did you take a loan?” she asked me. “A large sum was deposited into our account!”
“I didn’t take any loan,” I told her. “We need to check if someone deposited the money in error.”
We checked, and it turned out that after my wife informed her workplace that she was leaving, they calculated the vacation days that she had not utilized and then deposited the sum that had accumulated, a sum that equaled one month’s salary!
Another small sum was missing from that deposit, but it was also available to us. It was a sum of money I had put aside as maaser, but at the end I had given the maaser in a different way, so I was able to use the money.
Another month passed. We were still looking for sources of income, checking out our new place, but feeling much less pressured. After the previous month, when Hakadosh Baruch Hu showed us in His open and merciful Hand, we were simply fascinated to know how He was going to arrange everything for us this month.
I am continuing to learn as though I am in kollel, and Hakadosh abruch Hu continues give. In the beginning of the month, Bituach Leumi sent us a letter informing me that there had been an error in calculating the money my wife received after giving birth, and they were now returning the difference – an amount equal to a full month’s salary!
Several more days passed, and Social Security funding came in and covered the rest of the month’s expenses, without any extraneous effort or the need to take a loan. We are grateful to Hashem for all His kindness and His miracles that are with us each day. Ein od milvado!
