A PUZZLE FROM HEAVEN

“The kibbutznikim told us: ‘It’s simply amazing. The holiness came to the kibbutz and drove out the impurity…’ They understood that G-d had arranged this shlichus for us.” A person thinks that he runs his own affairs, signs contracts, or sets out in search of a certain goal. Suddenly, he realizes that the Hand of Alm-ghty G-d directs everything … 

“The following story took place last year,” Rabbi Shneur Burkis told Beis Moshiach.

“Each week I would travel to Kibbutz ‘Lehavot HaBashan’ in the Upper Galilee to give over a class in Chassidus before a core group of Chabad supporters thirsting to hear words of Torah and Chassidic philosophy. While there, I also helped to prepare a local boy for his bar-mitzvah.

“Under normal circumstances, before heading out to the kibbutz I would call a few of the participants to make certain that everyone would be at the shiur and I wouldn’t be coming for nothing. 

“On one such occasion I was so preoccupied that I didn’t manage to call before boarding the bus traveling to the kibbutz. Only after I was on the road, I started making phone calls. To my great surprise, I heard that everyone was going to be off the kibbutz that night. One person had a family simcha, another had work commitments, while yet another was on vacation. When I realized what this meant for the Torah class, I felt that the Rebbe apparently wanted me to make the trip just for the bar-mitzvah boy. I called his parents, and we arranged to have my class with their son as scheduled.

“The boy’s father was waiting for me at the kibbutz entrance. He was very happy to see me and we immediately headed for his house. It was eight o’clock on a winter evening, and the kibbutz had been already covered in darkness for several hours. As we were driving, I noticed a powerful light emanating from one of the courtyards. When I asked my host what was happening he smiled and said that this was Mr. Weizmann’s house, and he was celebrating his birthday with friends. I was acquainted with this Mr. Weizmann, as he had participated in several of our outreach activities. Then and there I decided to go in and wish him a ‘Happy Birthday.’ ‘Let me off here,’ I said. ‘I’ll walk over to your house in a few minutes.’

“By Divine Providence I had brought my ‘melodica’ – a musical instrument that I often played, and I entered the Weizmann home. People didn’t understand where this man ‘clad in black’ had come from, but to their credit, they quickly put aside their misgivings. I blessed the ‘birthday boy,’ adding a few Chassidic concepts in honor of the auspicious occasion, and I then played my melodica. Everyone left very pleased. At the end of the visit I started walking towards the home of the bar-mitzvah boy.

“Along one of the kibbutz’s narrow roads, I noticed a young man looking at me from his front porch with a cigarette in his hand. He said, ‘Good evening’ and I returned the greeting. I didn’t feel that he was just being polite, rather he was inviting me to come over.

“‘What is your name?’ I asked.

“‘Yigal Levy,’ he replied.

“The name rang a bell. I took my mobile phone out of my pocket, entered his name, and asked him if his phone number was… A look of stunned disbelief crossed his face.

“‘How did you know?’ he cried. 

“‘I have a friend who is currently on shlichus in Kasol, India,’ I told him. ‘He called Rabbi Yossi Daniel, head of the kollel in Tzfas where I learn, and he asked him to inform me that a young man from Kibbutz ‘Lehavot HaBashan’ named Yoram Levy had arrived at the Chabad House, and I should get in touch with him. According to the shliach, this young man had received an amazing answer from the Rebbe via the Igros and he needed some direction on how to act.’

“‘However, instead of giving me the name Yoram Levy, Rabbi Daniel mistakenly told me, “Look for someone named Yigal Levy” – and so I did. I contacted Bezeq information, and I eventually got your phone number. Two days later, Rabbi Daniel asked me what was happening with Yoram Levy. I didn’t understand. “Didn’t you tell me his name was Yigal Levy?” But he said with conviction that the shliach had given him the name Yoram, not Yigal. He even showed me the e-mail he had received on the matter. I looked for the name Yoram Levy, but I couldn’t find it. For some reason, your phone number is still in my mobile phone’s list of contacts.’

“Yigal Levy ran to tell his wife. He was astounded by the chain of events. ‘This is a miracle,’ he said. We then decided to keep in touch with one another.

“While living on shlichus, we clearly see how the Rebbe provides proper guidance, as the great power of Divine Providence directs everything. If I would have called the kibbutznikim who participate in the weekly shiur and heard that no one would be at home, I surely would not have made the journey that night. What is the likelihood that after meeting another young man standing on his front porch, I would reveal by mistake – excuse me, merit by an amazing case of Divine Providence – his telephone number in my mobile phone?

“In short, there’s someone running the show.

“And what happened to Yoram? He, in fact, did visit the Chabad House in Kasol, India. We managed to locate him later and established contact with him. He too has joined our growing circle of friends and supporters on the kibbutz, as he continues to grow stronger in his connection to Torah and Chassidus.”

WHEN THE HOLINESS COMES, THE IMPURITY DEPARTS

“Even before our wedding,” said Rabbi Noam Volpin, “it was clear to my wife and I that we intended to devote our lives to the Rebbe’s shlichus. Since we had been born and lived many years without Torah and mitzvos, we felt that it was our obligation to help others, similar to those who had selflessly devoted themselves to revealing the light of Torah and Chassidus to people like us. During the first year of our marriage we lived in the Nachlat Har Chabad community in Kiryat Malachi, from where we searched for a suitable place for going out on shlichus. Eventually we chose the Tel-Chai Regional College in the Upper Galilee. I had grown up on Kibbutz ‘Ma’ayan Baruch’ located nearby, and many of my friends had learned or were currently learning in the college. As a result, we thought that this would be an excellent place for holding activities with young people.

“Our rental contract in Nachlat Har Chabad was due to expire in Elul, and we had spent considerable time looking for an appropriate home near the college. After a lengthy search we found a nice apartment in Kiryat Shmona. We reached an agreement with the owner that we would move in within two weeks and we signed a rental contract. A week before the scheduled move, after all our things in Kiryat Malachi were packed and ready to go, the owner informed us that she regrettably would be unable to fulfill her contractual commitments because she still hadn’t found an alternative place of residence. We were suddenly in a most precarious position. On the one hand, our previous rental contract had already expired; on the other hand, we had no new place to live.

“We headed up north and went back to the realtor to look for another home. After we couldn’t seem to find anything appropriate in Kiryat Shmona, we also started looking in the surrounding yishuvim and kibbutzim. I really didn’t want to consider going back to the kibbutz where I was raised – Ma’ayan Baruch – out of concern for the reaction of the local residents. I preferred to focus my search on other locations. However, as the pasuk says, ‘There are many thoughts in a man’s heart, but G-d’s plan – that shall stand.’ The Hand of Divine Providence directed us to, of all places, my childhood home – Kibbutz Ma’ayan Baruch. We met the property owner there, and she showed us a house – a beautiful villa in a brand new neighborhood built as an extension to the kibbutz. After we received the Rebbe’s bracha we signed the rental contract.

“I was astonished by the warm and heartfelt welcome we had received from the kibbutz members. They saw an ultra-Orthodox Jew with a beard and tzitzis in their midst, something that once would have aroused profound concern and enmity among them. However, something had apparently created a change for the better. Two days later, we ordered a delivery truck to collect our belongings and we made our way to the kibbutz. We arrived at our new house very late in the evening, and the workers began unloading the boxes. Tired and exhausted, we lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 

“The next morning we awoke to the loud noise of workers outside. We opened the windows and noticed a commotion around the house across the lane. The workers were removing everything from the house and placing items into several commercial vehicles parked near the front door. 

“About an hour later all the cars had left and the workers had left behind several pieces of furniture in the courtyard with a note: ‘Anyone who wants can come and take – for free.’ We went over and saw some expensive high-quality furniture in excellent condition. We took whatever pieces we needed, and we make use of them to this day.

“We only realized the full extent of the Divine Providence we had experienced a few days later. Kibbutz members, including the owner of the house across the street, told us who the previous resident had been. It turned out that he was a missionary who had come to the kibbutz for the express purpose of proselytizing Jewish souls. He worked tirelessly for this purpose over a period of three and a half years – distributing books and gifts, using the power of persuasion, inciting, agitating – but all his efforts went for naught. Throughout the time of his activities, he never managed to convince a single Jew to abandon his religion. The kibbutznikim said that they had tried to fight him, but to no avail. He was a very stubborn and determined individual.

“Suddenly, on the night we arrived, this person decided to pack his bags and leave the kibbutz. The owner said that the rental contract had been for ten years, but on the night we came to the kibbutz, the man called him in a trembling voice to say that he had just bought a one-way ticket to Italy. The meaning was clear: He was gone for good.

“The kibbutznikim told us: ‘It’s simply amazing. The holiness came to the kibbutz and drove out the impurity…’ Anyone who knows the manner in which these people conduct their lives – and I used to be one of them – realizes what a tremendous revolution they have gone through in recent years. They understood that G-d had arranged this shlichus for us. For my wife and me who had just arrived there for a life of shlichus, it was an indispensable lesson in Divine Providence. We were sorry that we had lost out on the apartment in Kiryat Shmona, yet it turned out that He who is ‘the cause of causes and the producer of effects’ knows well what He is doing and when He should do it…”