By the Grace of G-d
Dear Friend,
I visited the office of a good friend who likes to donate tzedakah to our work.
He had prepared for me in advance, six hundred dollars towards the High Holiday meals that we will serve at the Chabad Houses in Thailand.
We anticipate serving upwards of fifteen thousand meals during the upcoming chagim. Click here to see a video that warms the heart and please contribute generously to bring Jewish holiday unity to Thailand.
The conversation flowed and I shared words of Torah. My friend was inspired and called out to his assistant to write another check for one thousand dollars. He then remembered that he still had an outstanding pledge from the past, and he promptly wrote a check for that amount as well.
In total, during that visit, he had given thirty-one hundred dollars. Not a round figure. And not a Jewishly significant figure like eighteen, thirty-six or fifty four. Just a ‘random’ figure that was a sum total of several different things.
A few days later I met him again.
He was excited to see me as he was itching to share something quite incredulous.
Here is what he shared:
‘Two weeks ago, I sent a package of semi-precious stones to a client. The client selected two stones and sent the rest back.
Or so he claimed. I checked the returned goods and found a stone missing. He said that he had returned everything he had received besides for the two stones that he purchased. I said that according to my records there was an additional stone that was not returned.
I stood to lose money as well as the client.
You, Rabbi Kantor, visited my office. I gave you tzedakah for Chabad of Thailand. Three tranches of money. The total figure was an amount that seemed random to me.
A few minutes after you left my office, the client called to tell me that I was right. He had found the stone in question somewhere in his office.
The value of that missing stone was thirty-one hundred dollars.
The exact amount that I had given to Tzedaka’
I was so inspired to hear that story. When Hashem shows His revealed Divine Providence, it makes the rest of the day more elevated and tranquil. It is so calming and reassuring to know that we are not here in this sometimes-overwhelming world, alone. Hashem is in charge of every single detail.
There is another detail to the story.
The client said that he had found the stone the day before. In other words, before the tzedakah was given. He just hadn’t gotten around to calling my friend till the next day.
This story fits the theme of the month of Elul so perfectly for several reasons.
First of all, tzedakah has a special connection to this preparatory month before Rosh Hashana. Click here for more.
The detail regarding the client informing my friend only after he had already given the tzedakah is also a perfect fit for Elul.
The acronym of Elul is ‘ אני לדודי ודודי לי ’ ‘I am to my beloved (G-d) and my beloved (G-d) is to me’. This is a statement that reflects the deep love that exists between us and Hashem.
Notice that it starts with ‘I am to my beloved’. The ‘I’ in this passage refers to us mortal beings down here.
There are two ways that we can have a relationship with G-d. Either initiated by Him or initiated by us. The process of connection to G-d as it applies to this month of Elul, is one that is predicated on our initiation from below.
Click here for an article on this topic
Were the client to have told my friend that he is getting back his stone just before I visited his office, and my friend would have given me that generous donation to match that money that he had recouped, it would have been a great deed, but it would have been inspired and sparked by the message from Heaven of finding the stone.
Whereas the way that the story actually unfolded, is that my friend simply gave tzedakah. Notwithstanding the fact that he thought he had incurred a loss just recently.
The tzedakah he gave was thus totally to his credit. Not sparked by Divine Providence in finding the stone.
Once he had fulfilled the mitzvah of tzedakah fully at his own initiative, then Hashem showed him how his missing stone had been restored.
We don’t do the right thing because we anticipate or expect reward.
Yet it is heartwarming and uplifting when good things happen as a result of good deeds being done.
May you be blessed to initiate good things and perform acts of kindness and tzedakah. And may you be blessed to see favorable and miraculous results in your life.
This is the twenty-nine-day countdown before the beginning of the new year on Rosh Hashana.
See information below about Beth Elisheva services at Rembrandt hotel.
And see pictures below from the Beth Elisheva new building progress.
It is the time to make an accounting of the things we didn’t do right or didn’t do at all and to put things in order.
Remember, if you don’t feel inspired it is because Hashem wants us to make the first move.
If he sends you the inspiration from above and you wake up feeling inspired and ‘raring to go’ then it is HIS move. It cannot be fully credited to you.
If we self-initiate, it is much more powerful. Then it is truly our achievement.
During the month of Elul, Hashem gives us a head start. He shows us a smiling countenance and indicates to us how He is eminently approachable.
Then we take the first step to come towards him by learning, praying and doing acts of tzedakah in an upgraded way.
Once we show we are interested, He then shows his love and interest in us and blesses us with a Shana Tova.
May you and all your loved ones and all of us be blessed with a sweet, healthy redemptive year.
Shabbat Shalom
Chodesh Tov
Rabbi Yosef Kantor