I want to share with you a spectacular story that I heard from a good friend of mine who is an 8th grade rebbe in Chicago, Illinois, R' Shloimy Nueberger. R' Shloimy was teaching Melachim beis, perek vav; the story of Elisha and the axe. The story goes as follows.
After Gai Chazi left, the Yeshiva was now able to take in more bachrim. The yeshiva very soon outgrew its facility, and the boys came to Elisha and said "We need more room it's too crowded". They went to the forest to chop down trees near the yarden. One of the boys lost the metal part of his axe, it fell into the river. He came running to Elisha and he said, "Rebbe, I lost my axe head. Mefarshim explain he had borrowed it and he did not have money to pay for it. Elisha told him, "Show me where the axe head fell". The boy showed Elisha. Elisha took a piece of wood that would normally float, dropped it in to the river, it sunk to bottom, and when it sunk to the bottom, the axe head came up to the surface. The young man had his axe head once again.
R' Shloimy is teaching this story, and R' Samberg, the principal is in the room, and he asked a question. Elisha was given sixteen miracles to perform, double that of his rebbe Eliyahu Hanavi. These miracles should be reserved for extreme cases, tchiyas hameisim and the such. Why would Elisha "waste" a miracle on a boy that lost his axe head? A number of boys gave wonderful answers, and then one boy, Yehoshua Spek answers, Isn't it worth it for Elisha to perform a miracle that will prevent a boy from feeling left out from a project? What would be boy have done if he didn't have the axe head? He would have to sit on the side. Maybe Elisha could have given him money to buy a new one, but in the meantime he is not participating. Every boy is worthwhile to perform a miracle for, and that's why Elisha performed the miracle.
What a spectacular story. Each of our talmidim, each of our children are worth all the miracles in the world. Keep this in mind as we read this week about Yehuda setting up a beis medrash in Goshen so that Klal Yisroel could survive. Remember how important it is to cherish our children. Have a great day and a great rest of your week.
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