There was a blessed hisorerus in our beis midrash about not talking during davening. A big chasunah was coming up in our chassidus, and as a zechus for the chassan and kallah and all of us as well, we decided to gather together and sign a commitment not to speak during davening, from beginning to end, for forty days.
The fortieth day was the last day of sheva brachos.
Among those who signed was a respectable Yid, shlit”a, who had been zocheh to marry off most of his children. He is a person whose countenance shines with yiras Shamayim and kavod in the beis midrash. For as long as I can remember, he always refrained from speaking during davening, and it seemed this whole idea was not necessary for him.
When he saw that people were getting together, he came over and signed his name on the commitment as well, to be mechazeik the whole project and to strengthen himself as well.
It happened on the fortieth day, the day of the final sheva brachos.
While most campgrounds and bungalow colonies in upstate New York are in use only in July and August, there are certain locations there that are actively inhabited and in use all year long. This honorable Yid traveled to a house in the area to prepare it for the cold winter months ahead.
Being that the cold can be frigid in the area, the water pipes need to be prepared ahead of time, emptied completely so they don’t burst as a result of the cold. How is this done? There is a machine that uses tremendous air pressure to push all the water out of the pipes. In order to check whether this was done properly, you need to turn on the water faucet connected to the pipe and check that water is emerging from the faucet.
Our friend activated the machine and connected it to an old metal water boiler. He pressed the button and then left the area, in order to check whether water was coming out of the faucet.
It seemed that the machine was working well. Water flowed from the faucet, and the pipes had begun the cleansing process that would make them effective during the coming winter months. Satisfied with what he saw, our friend turned around and headed back in the direction of the machine. At that very moment there was a tremendous crash. The old boiler burst, and its heavy metal fragments flew in all directions.
Apparently, the boiler was rusty, and it had weakened over the years and could not handle the pressure placed on it.
If this had happened immediately after he turned on the machine, we don’t want to think about what could have happened to him. If it had happened a few minutes later, when our friend was back near the machine, then, too, we would rather not speak about it.
But it happened when he was on his way back. He heard the crash and was able to act with presence of mind. We don’t know Heavenly accountings, but the fact that the miracle took place exactly on the fortieth day of our communal kabbalah not to talk during davening speaks for itself.
How great is the power of achdus for a mitzvah.
