Hilarious & Inspirational Story on the Effort To Do a Mitzva

Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Friedman in Noam Siach tells a story that his brother-in-law Rabbi Sender Blau related to him (as conveyed by Rabbi David Ashear of “Living Emunah”):

 

Rabbi Blau himself heard about an individual who was going through very difficult struggles and was suffering terribly. Rabbi Blau didn’t know the man so well but really wanted to help him. He thought to himself, “If I randomly call him, it probably wouldn’t work, but perhaps if I write him a letter it would.” Hashem blessed Rabbi Blau with a gift of being able to write very well and so he sat down and wrote the most beautiful letter of chizuk in his own handwriting. He then took the letter to the printing shop to have it typed up and laid out in a nice way.

When the typesetter finished the letter and gave it back, Rabbi Blau read it and reread it again and then had second thoughts about giving it to that person. He was worried, since he didn’t know him so well, he may get offended by it. Maybe he didn’t want other people knowing so much about his problems. So he decided not to give it.

A few months later, Rabbi Blau attended a wedding and, suddenly, that man came over to him with tears in his eyes, telling Rabbi Blau he was envious of his share in Gan Eden. The Rabbi wasn’t sure what he was referring to. The man said, “You don’t know how much you did for me. This past year I have been going through such hard times and many people tried to give me chizuk, but nothing ever helped. For a short time I worked in a printing business and my job was to work on a computer as a typesetter, typing up other people’s work. One day a letter came in from you, Rabbi Blau, and I was given the job of typing it up. As I was typing it, I felt like every word was talking directly to me. Every challenge I was dealing with was referred to in that letter. The beautiful words ignited a new light of chizuk in me, they literally infused me with a sense of revival. I read it another couple of times and cried from it. I felt like it was a letter given to me straight from Hashem. I printed a copy for myself and I read it all the time. It made me a new person.”

Rabbi Blau wasn’t sure what to do. He wrote a beautiful letter but didn’t want to hurt this person’s feelings, but he had the best intentions. Hashem blessed his efforts. Amazingly, Hashem brought the letter to this person that Rabbi Blau wanted to give it to, without him going through the uncomfortable experience of actually giving it to him.

Rabbi Ashear ends off:

If we are l’shem Shamayim and we try our best, Hashem will bless our efforts.

תיקוני עירובין גליון 383#

גליון שאלות הלכתיות המתחדשות מידי שבוע בבדיקת העירובים השכונתיים

השבוע בגיליון

השוטרים עצרו את עובדי העירוב ושאלו לפשר העבודות / עד שהושג האישור להמשיך בהתקנת העמודים הסברנו להם הסבר פשוט, אולי זה עוד יעזור להם בחיים לשמור שבת / לחלק שטח קרפף עם צורת הפתח / תיקון העירוב השכונתי בירושלים בשכונת בית וגן / חלוקת השכונה לקראת השקעה בעשיית השכירות ממומר.

רחבת ישיבת פונביז’ עם חשש קרפף / דין שטח שהוקף לצורך עבודות / גשר שפרוץ לאויר כרמלית למעלה מי’ האם נחשב פרוף למקום פטור / איך להתיר גשר מדין חורי רשות היחיד.

עוד פעם תעלת המים עלתה לדיון, והפעם להתיר עם פלפול אחר, באופן שהעיר גבוהה י’ מהתעלה, רק שאין לגובה דין מחיצה, האם העירוב שלמעלה פרוץ לאויר שלמעלה מי’ שהוא רק מקום פטור ואינו אוסר, או שמא נחשב פרוץ לתחתית התעלה שהיא כרמלית.

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Reprinted with permission.

Jews Keeping Hamas Weapons?! Gezel Hagoy!

The “authorities” disarmed their Jews very thoroughly in preparation for the Shmini Atzeres massacre. Now these valiant guardians of the “law” must tirelessly ensure Jews can’t defend themselves, so the police threaten sitting-duck Jews against keeping any weapons left behind by the Arab marauders. (Even now, arms restrictions and controls against innocent Jews have barely been relaxed.)

See more here (Hebrew)…

What do the coppers need the weapons for? To put into the Lost and Found for the owners (with crazy hours like 14:00-15:00, Wednesdays only)? Surely the Arab losers will go around putting up Hashavas Aveida signs on bus stops with cellotape, like normal people! Or maybe the cops will hand them directly to the organization itself (as long as Azans promise to call themselves something else (“Hamas+“, or “Hamas 2.0“).

But wait! Didn’t Peres explicitly say we could take the guns back?!

(It makes me ill, so I didn’t read the article itself.)