RABBI ASHEAR TRANSCRIPT
Directions from Above
Although Hashem doesn't reveal himself openly, He is with us all day long, guiding us and speaking to us. For example, if a person makes the proper hishtadlut to wake up for an early minyan, he sets his alarm and goes to sleep on time, but ends up sleeping through the alarm and has to pray at a later minyan, that was caused by Hashem. If the man sees someone at that minyan that he has been trying so long to get in touch with, he will understand one of the many reasons why Hashem directed him there. But even if nothing happens there and the day continues as usual, it doesn't take away from the fact that Hashem directed this man to that minyan and caused his schedule to be slightly altered.
Sometimes Hashem allows us to clearly see His guiding hand and sometimes He does not. Whether we see it or not, the fact is that we are always being guided. When we are able to clearly see how Hashem was guiding us, it gives us a lot of chizuk.
I read a story written by Mrs. Leah Tisser about a woman who went to Israel last year for Sukkot. The woman said she was going with her entire family to visit her son who was learning there and they were due to arrive the day before the holiday. They were driving down Ocean Parkway on the way to Kennedy Airport, when the woman suddenly remembered that she left her make-up bag on the dresser. They were about ten minutes from their house, but they didn't want to take the risk of missing the flight. Her husband told her to call the airlines to see if the flight was on time. She called El Al and asked if flight 354 to Tel-Aviv was leaving on time. The agent responded, "We don't have a flight 354 going to Tel-Aviv." She yelled back, "What do you mean you don't have a flight 354? Our ticket says flight 354 leaving for Tel-Aviv at 7:45 pm." She got very flustered. She told her husband, how could this happen? We were planning this trip for months. We have guests coming to us in Israel. Could they have canceled the flight without telling us? Her husband looked at the ticket and said, "No, it's our mistake. Our return flight is to Kennedy, but we're departing from Newark." Now they were really tight. It was going to take an extra half hour to get to that airport. They instructed the driver to turn west on the Belt Parkway, and they just made the flight. When they arrived in Israel, the woman opened her suitcase and saw the make-up bag right there on the top. Why did she think otherwise? That was Hashem practically telling them that they were going the wrong way.
A Rabbi told me this past Erev Shabbat Hanukah, he went to pray Mincha at a 12:45 minyan, but arrived a minute or two after they started. The shul had a mikveh in the basement, so he decided to go to the mikveh in honor of Shabbat and then pray at the 1:00 minyan. While in the mikveh, he noticed a very large bulging red patch of skin on his leg. He asked someone about it and the person responded that it looked very serious. "You need to go to a doctor right away." It was Friday afternoon, a couple of hours before Shabbat and the doctors close early. The Rabbi was very nervous. He prayed Mincha at the 1:00minyan and was thinking of leaving right after the Amida, but he convinced himself he'd be better off praying to Hashem and staying until the end. As he was leaving the shul at 1:15, he bumped in to a local dermatologist. Amazing! He asked the doctor if he would take a look at his leg. They went off to the side. The doctor told the Rabbi, you have cellulitis, a bacterial infection of the skin that could spread very quickly if not treated. The doctor called in a prescription to a pharmacy down the block. And just like that, within minutes, the Rabbi was on antibiotic. Hashem was clearly directing him, making him late for the first minyan, finding the problem in the mikveh, meeting the doctor right after.
Hashem is always guiding us, whether we realize it or not. We should always feel at ease knowing that our loving Hashem is always with us.
