Rabbi Joey Haber relates a story that was told to him by Jonathan Ghermezian, one of the owners of the Mall of America in Minnesota. He said once his wife was in Israel, and he was home with his young daughter. She was bored, so he took her to his mall. They were eating French fries at the only Kosher café when they saw another religious family who told them they were driving cross-country from L.A. to a wedding, and they had stopped off there at the mall.
The head of the family was a Rabbi in a school in L.A., and he made small talk with Mr. Ghermezian, not knowing he was the owner of the mall. The Rabbi mentioned his last name, and only after walking away from the family, did Mr. Ghermezian's realize that that this Rabbi may be related to another Rabbi that he had as a teacher when he was younger. He had been looking for this Rabbi for a long time to ask for forgiveness for something that he had done when he was younger.
So, he went back to the cafe after he had already left and asked this Rabbi if he knew the Rabbi that he was looking for, but he did not know him. Now, Mr. Ghermezian started thinking more. This family couldn't even afford flights to the wedding they needed to go to, so he turned to the children and asked them if they wanted passes to the rides in the mall. They all said they wished they could have them, but they could not afford them.
He told them he would take care of it. Since that day was a national holiday, the back offices were closed, and so he went and stood in line like everyone else to get tickets. When it was his turn, he asked to speak to a supervisor. When the supervisor came out, she recognized him and gave him what he asked for. He went back to where the family was waiting and put the passes in the mother's hand.
The mother then said, "Wow, this is amazing." She explained, "For two weeks, we knew we were going to stop off here, and my children knew we weren't going to be able to afford to buy tickets to the rides. They have been talking about this for the past two weeks, how they wished that somehow they would be able to get onto the rides there."
This mother, who learns bitachon--faith every day, told her children, "If Hashem wants to put the tickets in my hands, He can put them in my hands." And here she was standing with the owner of the mall, who had just put the tickets right in her hands.”
When Mr. Ghermezian walked away, he was awed at the hashgacha—divine supervision of Hashem. Here he thought he was making decisions about what to do that day. Little did he know, he was just a pawn in the hands of Hashem to give this family the tickets that He wanted them to have. Hashem caused the Mr. Ghermezian’s wife to go to Israel, which left him home with their younger daughter. Hashem made the daughter bored, so he would go to his work on his off day. He made him go to the cafe at the same moment that this family who was traveling across the country would be there. He made him go back to find out the name of a person that this Rabbi didn't even know. All just to give this family tickets to the rides. Hashem loves us more than we could ever imagine and is always looking out for our best. It may not always appear that way, but we must know it is the absolute truth.
Reprinted from the Parashat Chayei Sarah 5785 email of Jack E. Rahmey based on the Torah teachings of Rabbi Amram Sananes.
