Lessons In Emunah

It used to be that when our youngest boys were about to go outside and it was cold, I’d sometimes remind them to take a jacket. Now I remind our youngest son, Yisrael Meir, to take pepper spray.

She spoke with a smile on her face, exuding a calm acceptance of her less-than-ideal circumstances.

Lacking the actual Hebrew word for the wanted piece and maybe even the English one, the handyman wasn’t getting what we needed.

We swam in the pool, played ball, barbequed, and played music but one thing that was different was the little store we had always remained closed on Shabbos.

Seeing my distress, a very kind employee named Lori (whose last name I regretfully forgot to ask about) very compassionately offered me the use of a stroller she just “happened to have” in the back room of their office.

Despite being excited about seeing the beautiful twinkling lights of a mostly sleeping city, I was exhausted and kept yawning.

One unexpected bonus of our two-week trip was meeting up with some of our Israeli family.

Rain can happen at any time. It’s a mere coincidence taking place just to send shivers up my spine.

It was a difficult battle. Many were seriously injured and some did not survive, but Tomer came out alive and unharmed.

Sometimes, like those of our ancestors in the desert, our protestations should have instead been cheers and songs of thanksgiving; but we discover this only in retrospect.

The MRI showed that our son had sustained a fractured skull and a double break in the arm that he had fallen on, it was truly a miracle. That arm had saved his life!

As your family came from France, it is likely that they were transported to Auschwitz and murdered there, he told us.

It was only when he finally touched down on the much-missed holy soil of Eretz Yisrael that everything began to rapidly spiral out of control.

As we raced from store to store I was invigorated but Jo tagged listlessly along. I pretended not to notice and chatted gaily all the while.

After a couple of weeks, it became very clear to me that I was not earning anywhere near enough money to pay for Yeshivah.

It was a year of Torah learning, a year of fostering new friendships, a year of encounters with diverse educators and personalities, a year of becoming more attached to the land, and a year of relative innocence.

Paula and her husband did far more than that – they went to visit her and managed to persuade her to allow them to apply for her to live in a Jewish home.

As crazy as it sounds, we never met face-to-face until we discovered that on the same Shabbos, she would be visiting her daughter in Monsey while I would be attending my grandson’s bar mitzvah.

Minutes after my son and daughter left for school – it’s a ten-minute walk from our house – my son came running back to the house, all upset.

Sounding like a typical Lubavitcher, I told that just by striking the match, she is bringing more light into the world, so what’s the problem?

The Israeli sun was beautiful as it slowly descended in the horizon, but I could not enjoy it as I usually would have.

The utility workers in this area usually do not do these kind of repairs, but being a bitter cold night in December when pipes can freeze he was kind enough to help the home owners.

As early morning phone calls go this was probably one of the least welcome ones to hear five days before our daughter’s wedding.

Now he was putting his faith only in Hashem and that he knew Hashem could help him.

The rav found the exchange humorous and happily shared it with my husband, who subsequently told it over to me.

Why didn't I call an ambulance? I do not know. And believe me, I was not trying to be overly pious.

I knew in my heart if I did not take my first step soon all my ambition would fizzle.

At this point I am reasonably happy that he returns home eventually and is still semi-coherent (at least some of the time).

This tragedy was in the forefront of my mind as my family and I wended our way, the week before Pesach, from Har Nof, Jerusalem to Sha’ar Yeshuv.

But, that morning my cold had developed into something far worse and I just knew I wasn’t going to get to the bris.