I am a Yid from London. My story began on Yom Kippur 5785, between Minchah and Ne’ilah. A precious Yid from the community gathered the children together to say Tehillim, and he had them recite the section of Shir Ha’ma’alos, as he is accustomed to doing every Shabbos. Many avreichim joined the emotional tefillah coming from the mouths of young children.
I and a friend also joined the group that was reciting Tehillim. The pure voices of the children merged with the voices of the avreichim. Something about this impromptu gathering was very poignant and brought great hisorerus.
We went back to our places, and my friend, under the impression of this pure tefillah, gave himself chizuk aloud and said, “Aah, now we are going to daven Ne’ilah, a heiligeh tefillah, and we can bring about great yeshuos!”
I smiled, but he looked at me knowingly. “So you have an older daughter who needs a shidduch. What is her full name?” he asked. I told him my daughter’s name for tefillah, and then I rejoined, “You’re also awaiting a yeshuah for your son. Give me his full name too.”
We exchanged names – the names of our children, and the longing of parents to see them building their own homes and to see light and happiness in their lives. So much was contained in this short exchange that took place before the gabbai banged on the table and the shaliach tzibbur started singing the emotional kaddish that began Ne’ilah, and each of us davened for the other’s child.
Almost a year passed. On the second of Elul 5785 I was zocheh, and my daughter, D., got engaged.
The joy was overwhelming. The news spread quickly, and mazal tov wishes from friends and family came one after another. In the midst of all these phone calls, one unique call arrived. On the line was my friend whose seat in shul is right near mine, and he had amazing news: “My son became a chassan!!”
This was a double joy. Not only were we each excited about our yeshuah, but we sensed that this was a he’aras panim from on High. If each one had gotten engaged on a different date, then we could not have seen with our own eyes the influence of our tefillos. Hakadosh Baruch Hu arranged for both simchos to be on the same day, to show us how precious our tefillos were, how our caring for each other did great things, how the tefillah one prays for another on this heiligeh day went right up to the Kisei Hakavod and brought us down bountiful brachah, yeshuah, and simchah.
