A JEWISH WEDDING IN ERETZ YISRAEL

There was a long line in the yard of 770. Chassidim alongside those not-yet-frum, adults and children, stood and waited for their turn to receive a dollar for tzedaka and a bracha from the Rebbe Melech Ha’Moshiach.

On the women’s line stood Yael V, a young girl from Rechovot. This was the first time she was was waiting to the see the Rebbe and she did not know what awaited her.

The big moment finally came. The Rebbe’s penetrating gaze split her heart. In that moment, she felt as though the Rebbe “read” her and know just who she was and what she was all about, what had happened to her and what would happen. The Rebbe held out a dollar and said, “May you find your way in life.”

It was just a few seconds and Yael found herself outside, trembling from excitement.

Yael had left Eretz Yisrael for the United States. She found a good job but had one concern. The American government did not allow a foreigner to work for a long period of time unless she got special permission known as a “green card.”

Those who have tried, know that it is very hard to obtain a green card. Yael tried to think of what to do and finally came up with an idea: to marry an American man. If she married an American, she could get a green card and continue living in the United States. That is the law in America.

Yael’s parents said, “Find an American to marry. It doesn’t matter whether he is Jewish or not as long as you get a green card.”

Yael was not religious but something didn’t feel right to her. It seemed way too drastic. It was like her neshama was saying: Don’t disconnect from the Jewish people! Make a Jewish home!

She thought about it a lot and could not make a decision. One day, she met a shliach in Miami by the name of Rabbi Tzvi Berkowitz.

She told him about the difficulty in getting a green card and about the possible solution, marrying an American in a non-Jewish wedding and her concerns about this.

Instead of replying, he suggested that she go to the Rebbe for dollars on a Sunday. This was the reason she had gone to America. She had waited on line and had received a dollar for tzedaka.

However, even after the Rebbe’s blessing, she felt that her way in life wasn’t clear to her.

“Can I personally ask the Rebbe what to do?” she asked R’ Berkowitz.

“Certainly,” he said. “Write him a letter.”

Yael did so. In her letter, she wrote: Should I marry in a Jewish wedding in Eretz Yisrael or in a civil (not Jewish) marriage in the United States?

The Rebbe’s response came quickly. On the same letter she had written, the Rebbe crossed out the words “civil marriage in the United States, and drew a line under the words “Jewish wedding in Eretz Yisrael.”

Yael told her parents that the Rebbe said she should marry a Jew in Eretz Yisrael. Her parents were very angry. “Why should he tell you what to do? We are your parents! We know what is best for you! Listen to us and get married in the United States and then you’ll get a green card.”

Yael felt stuck. What should she do? To whom should she listen, to the Rebbe whom she knew to be a big tzaddik, or to her parents? She was confused.

One day, Yael felt pains in her shoulder. She took pain-killers but it didn’t help. The pain grew worse and so she went to a doctor. It turned out she was very sick and had to begin medical treatments.

“How much will the treatment cost?” she asked.

“More than $100,000,” they told her at the hospital. Where would she get such an enormous sum of money?

She called her parents and tearfully told them what the doctors said. Her worried parents forgot about the green card idea and said, “We will pay for a ticket to fly you home. Come as soon as possible.”

Yael landed in Eretz Yisrael a few days later and went straight to the hospital. There too, the doctors said the same thing. She began treatment and did not feel well. Something told her that if she listened to the Rebbe, the disease would go away.

Without telling anyone, she wrote a letter to the Rebbe. She asked for a bracha for a refuah shleima and that she merit to marry in a Jewish wedding in Eretz Yisrael and have a Jewish family.

In the meantime, in distant Miami, Meir, a mekurav of R’ Berkowitz who knew Yael, heard about her sickness. He told R’ Berkowitz who asked him to go to the Rebbe on Sunday for a dollar and ask for a bracha for Yael.

Meir did so. When it was his turn, although he said nothing, the Rebbe gave him two dollars, one for himself and one for Eretz Yisrael.

He immediately understood that the Rebbe was sending this dollar to Yael who was in Eretz Yisrael. A dollar for a bracha and a refuah!

Yael quickly, miraculously, became better. A short while later she returned to Miami where she met Meir and the two decided to marry in a Jewish wedding in Eretz Yisrael, as the Rebbe said.

Time passed and Yael wanted a child. She went to doctors but they all said she would not be able to have a child. Yael did not despair. She committed to improving her observance of Torah and mitzvos and began keeping Shabbos and attending shiurim.

She knew that the doctors were not the ones to say whether she could or could not have a child. The Rebbe is not bound by nature. One Sunday, she went to the Rebbe for a dollar and told him what the doctors said and asked for a bracha for children.

The Rebbe looked at her lovingly and smilingly handed her three dollars: “One dollar for tzedaka, one dollar for tzedaka when the child is born and a third dollar for your husband.”

Needless to say, Yael had children despite what the doctors said. ■