Page 62 - issue
P. 62
Shidduchim
case was closed.
Several months later, Reb Shlomo received a phone call
from the stewardess with some astonishing news. Two days
earlier, she had been informed that her mother was near
death and had a request to make. Not having been in
touch with her mother since her decision to convert, she
was not even aware that her mother was sick, let alone
dying.
Upon entering the hospital room, her mother made a
strange appeal: “Please promise to bury me in a Jewish
cemetery.”
Shocked, she asked her mother, “Why? And why are you
asking me? Ask Dad to do it.”
Her mother responded, “I can’t trust him to do it. You
see, we never told you, but really we are Jewish. After we
survived the Holocaust and made it to America, we made
a firm commitment never to reveal that we were Jewish.
Your father always worried that there would come a time
when it would happen again. We raised you the way we did
because we thought it would be for your benefit. However,
it was a mistake. Please, bury me properly as a Jew.”
Exhilarated by this astounding news, she asked Reb
Shlomo to please call the father again and explain to him
that she was, in fact, Jewish from birth. Reb Shlomo called,
but the father was very skeptical and continued to refuse
to hear about the shidduch. “Please,” said Reb Shlomo,
“Let’s be reasonable. What if I come to your house with her
and her father? If you would just briefly meet them, I am
sure you will be convinced.”
The father agreed, and the three of them arrived at the
house. When the door opened, the two fathers looked at
each other in shock. “Yaakov, is that really you?” the stew-
ardess’s father whispered.
“Moshe?” whispered the boy’s father. Suddenly, they
were in each other’s arms, laughing and crying, hardly dar-
ing to believe what had just transpired. These two men had
been childhood friends who grew up together in the same
shtetl.
“Yaakov,” said Moshe, “Do you remember our pact?”
“Remind me.”
“We promised one another that when we get married
and have children of our own...”
“Oh yes,” interrupted Yaakov. “We promised that if one
of us had a boy and the other a girl, we would marry them
off to each other. Well,” Yaakov laughed, “It looks like it’s
time to keep our promise.”
“And that,” Reb Shlomo concluded, “is how we ended
up dancing at this wedding tonight.”
Hashgacha versus Bechira
What a breathtaking glimpse of Hashem’s hashgacha, and
how it is truly He who is running the world at all times. But
what also struck me was that, had this man’s father
58 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
case was closed.
Several months later, Reb Shlomo received a phone call
from the stewardess with some astonishing news. Two days
earlier, she had been informed that her mother was near
death and had a request to make. Not having been in
touch with her mother since her decision to convert, she
was not even aware that her mother was sick, let alone
dying.
Upon entering the hospital room, her mother made a
strange appeal: “Please promise to bury me in a Jewish
cemetery.”
Shocked, she asked her mother, “Why? And why are you
asking me? Ask Dad to do it.”
Her mother responded, “I can’t trust him to do it. You
see, we never told you, but really we are Jewish. After we
survived the Holocaust and made it to America, we made
a firm commitment never to reveal that we were Jewish.
Your father always worried that there would come a time
when it would happen again. We raised you the way we did
because we thought it would be for your benefit. However,
it was a mistake. Please, bury me properly as a Jew.”
Exhilarated by this astounding news, she asked Reb
Shlomo to please call the father again and explain to him
that she was, in fact, Jewish from birth. Reb Shlomo called,
but the father was very skeptical and continued to refuse
to hear about the shidduch. “Please,” said Reb Shlomo,
“Let’s be reasonable. What if I come to your house with her
and her father? If you would just briefly meet them, I am
sure you will be convinced.”
The father agreed, and the three of them arrived at the
house. When the door opened, the two fathers looked at
each other in shock. “Yaakov, is that really you?” the stew-
ardess’s father whispered.
“Moshe?” whispered the boy’s father. Suddenly, they
were in each other’s arms, laughing and crying, hardly dar-
ing to believe what had just transpired. These two men had
been childhood friends who grew up together in the same
shtetl.
“Yaakov,” said Moshe, “Do you remember our pact?”
“Remind me.”
“We promised one another that when we get married
and have children of our own...”
“Oh yes,” interrupted Yaakov. “We promised that if one
of us had a boy and the other a girl, we would marry them
off to each other. Well,” Yaakov laughed, “It looks like it’s
time to keep our promise.”
“And that,” Reb Shlomo concluded, “is how we ended
up dancing at this wedding tonight.”
Hashgacha versus Bechira
What a breathtaking glimpse of Hashem’s hashgacha, and
how it is truly He who is running the world at all times. But
what also struck me was that, had this man’s father
58 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
