Dear Friend
I have received so many emails asking me about what happened to my snowed in car that I feel it only right to share the second half of my story with you.
On Tuesday night after attending the ‘sheva brachos’ (post wedding party) of the Sunday night wedding which was held in Boro Park, I had a friend drive me over to check up on my (Hertz rented) car. Lo and behold, it was still there, double parked in the exact same spot I had left it. Miraculously no one had rear ended or sideswiped the car. Not surprisingly it took about half an hour with a shovel and rocking back and forth with spinning tires to get out of the snow but thank G-d I was able to drive it back to Crown Heights. However, in Crown Heights there was nowhere to park as the service roads had not yet been plowed, so leaving my car parked on the main parkway of Eastern Parkway I ran into my parents home, packed my bags and headed straight to the Rebbe’s resting place where I wanted to pray before I headed to my 6:30 am LA bound flight. Arriving there before 4 AM I figured I had plenty of time to say my prayers unhurriedly and make my flight comfortably. I was supposed to fly to LAX visit an elderly Jew in S. Barbara and then fly out to Melbourne Australia on Wednesday night to attend the Bar Mitzva of the youngest son of a prominent supporter.
The Rebbe’s resting place at 4 AM was quiet and serene with no one else there. I prayed with special fervor, for myself, my family and my community and got so caught up with my prayers that the time passed without me noticing. I ran off to the airport trying to make my flight but while my suitcase made the flight to LA I myself missed the flight as I needed to give back my rental car. It is usually no problem to get another flight to the west coast to catch the Australia bound flight. But not on this Wednesday the first day of normal flight schedules after three snow days. Flights were overbooked and people had been stranded for days at the airport. Yet, the miraculous happened and I was rebooked on a S. Francisco bound flight with ample connection time to Australia. As a gold member I have access to the lounge so I got busy with my computer (what would we do without computers) and fought off my extreme tiredness waiting for the afternoon flight with the guaranteed free upgrade to finally go to sleep. The flight got delayed once, and then delayed again and then delayed again but the United staff still told me I had a good chance of making the connection. After boarding the plane in NY I promptly fell asleep on the luxurious business class seat and did not awaken till we landed in Frisco. Then I heard the announcement over the PA system ‘for all passengers connecting on to Australia, please see the gate agent for your new arrangements’. OY VEY! I immediately realized that once I had not left California by Wednesday night, I could not get to Australia before Shabbat for the Bar Mitzva and even worse, I could not even get back home to Thailand before Shabbat. What in the world would I now do? There was no reason to continue to Australia as the bar mitzvah was on Shabbat and I had missed it. There was no way to get home either. The only option seemed to be to go to my parents in law in LA and then leave home on United to arrive on Monday night. What a shlep, and to top it off, I needed to be in Bangkok on Monday morning for an important appointment. I felt quite at ease about the whole situation as the missing of the flight had been precipitated by prayers at the holy resting place of the Rebbe and I knew that I was on my way to where I was supposed to be even if I had not planned to be there. My wife felt that my situation was hopeless and I would probably have to miss my Monday morning appointment but not one to give up as long as there is a chance, she got on the phones once more and was finally told by helpful United rep that the only way to get home before Monday would be to fly from SFO to Frankfurt, arriving Friday morning and then continuing from Frankfurt to Bangkok on Saturday night. Even thought my ticket was routed the other way, they would make that change for me as an exception.
But where would I be for Shabbat in Frankfurt? I figured that this was an opportunity to go to Brussels. Why Brussels? The Shluchim in Brussels had repeatedly asked me to come to see their institutions as they had wanted my input about a certain situation they were facing. I had not seen an opportunity when I could have visited them as my schedule is always so full and I am not looking for any ‘non essential’ travel. However, considering my current predicament, this seemed to be the obvious place to spend Shabbat. I arrived in Frankfurt on Friday morning and continued straight on to Brussels arriving there at 12:30 PM. I was shown around the thriving Chabad institutions in the area of the EU Parliament and spent a very enjoyable Shabbat, giving a sermon for the local Jews as well as leading a discussion for the Yeshiva Bachurim there. As it turns out, the situation I was asked to comment about was really pressing and it was most providential that I had arrived there when I did. My colleagues in Brussels were amazed at how just a few days earlier they had discussed how it was urgent that I visit and here I was ‘falling in to their laps’ just several days later. It was now amply clear to me that Hashem was guiding my footsteps and leading me exactly where I needed to be to fulfill my mission of serving Him with love.
I arrived home safely thank G-d on Sunday afternoon. My luggage arrived on Wednesday night. My body is slowly catching up from the fatigue but my spirits are high as I reflect on the Divine Providence that envelops us like a protective cocoon.
So much talk about traveling… fits the theme of this weeks parsha where we actually traveled out of Egypt on our way to the receiving of the Torah.
With blessing and special thanks for all your help during last fiscal year and advance thanks for all your help during 2011.
Rabbi Yosef C. Kantor
Director, Chabad of Thailand