The Tablecloth
The brand new Rabbi and his wife
were newly assigned to their first congregation to reopen a Shul in suburban
Brooklyn. They arrived in early February excited about their opportunities.
When they saw their Shul, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a
goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Erev Purim.
They worked hard, repairing aged pews, plastering walls, painting, etc., and on
8th of the Adar (February 17th) they were ahead of schedule and just about
finished.
On February 19 a terrible snowstorm hit the area and lasted for two
days. On the 21st, the Rabbi went over to the Shul. His heart sank when he saw
that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8
feet to fall off the e front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit,
beginning about head high. The Rabbi cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not
knowing what else to do but postpone the Erev Purim service, headed home.
On
the way home, he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type
sale for charity, so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade,
ivory coloured, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colours and a
Magen David embroidered right in the centre. It was just the right size to cover
the hole in the front wall.
He bought it and headed back to the Shul. By this
time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction
was trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The Rabbi invited her to wait in
the warm Shul for the next bus 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no
attention to the Rabbi while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the
tablecloth as a wall tapestry.
The Rabbi could hardly believe how beautiful it
looked and it covered up the entire problem area.
Then the Rabbi noticed
the woman walking down the centre aisle. Her face was like a sheet.
"Rabbi, "she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?"
The Rabbi explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see
if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the
initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in
Poland. The woman could hardly believe it as the Rabbi told how he had just
gotten "The Tablecloth".
The woman explained that before the
war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Poland. When the Nazis came,
she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. He
was captured, sent to a camp and she never saw her husband or her home again.
The
Rabbi wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the Rabbi keep it for the
Shul. The Rabbi insisted on driving her home. That was the least he could do.
She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the
day for a housecleaning job.
What a wonderful service they had on Erev
Purim.
The Shul was almost full. The Service was great. At the end of the
service, the Rabbi and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that
they would return. One older man, whom the Rabbi recognised from the
neighbourhood continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the Rabbi
wondered why he wasn't leaving.
The man asked him where he got the tablecloth
on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years
ago when they lived in Poland before the war and how could there be two
tablecloths so much alike? He told the Rabbi how the Nazis came, how he forced
his wife to flee for her safety and he was supposed to follow her, but he was
arrested and put in a camp. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35
years between.
The Rabbi asked him if he would allow him to take him for
a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the
Rabbi had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three
flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the
greatest Erev Purim reunion he could ever imagine.
The above is a true
story. “God” does work in mysterious ways!
Take 60 seconds and give this
a shot! All you do is simply say the following small prayer for the person who
sent this to you:
"Hashem, bless all my friends and family in
whatever it is that You know they may be needing this day! May their lives be
full of Your peace, prosperity and power as they seek to have a closer
relationship with You. Amen."
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