By Rabbi Baruch Lederman
SAN DIEGO — The Jews traveled through the desert on pure faith and trust in Hashem (G-d). The Divine Cloud protected and guided the Jews throughout their journey. They moved ahead when the Cloud moved and they encamped when the Cloud stopped. They never knew how long each encampment would be. They might be staying for a day or a year or ten years. They never knew in advance.
There may have been times when they thought the best thing to do would be to go, but the Cloud stood fast. There may have been times when they thought they should stop, but the Cloud pushed on. We might have gone crazy from anxiety if we had to live under such uncertainty, but that generation understood with total conviction that Hashem would always do what was good for them – whether or not it seemed to make sense. The following incredible true story told recently at the Maalot Dafna Melave Malka illustrates this point.
Remember the bomb that was found in Meah Shearim a few months ago, in an attache case that a guy opened? and he disarmed it? Well here’s the story behind it. One morning this lady goes out to her mirpeset (balcony) and she notices a guy throwing an attache case in the garbage. So this lady thinks, “Oy vey, that guy stole that bag from some Jew here in the neighborhood and it probably has his tallis or tefillin in it and the poor Jew is now without them, he must be so worried.”
So she looks over to the side and sees her brother-in-law who was fixing his car, and she says to him,”Go over there and get that bag out. There’s probably a tallis and tefillin in there and some poor Jew has probably lost it”
So he goes over there right away, he doesn’t say, “Sure one minute I’ll do it when I’m finished.” No, right that second he goes. He opens up the bag and he finds a cellular phone and a bunch of wires … he realizes it’s a bomb and disconnects it. A minute later the phone rings …and we all know the rest. A near tragedy was averted.
How did this man who’s a charedi (ultra-orthodox), know that this was a bomb and even more interesting how in the world did he know how to disconnect it without blowing himself up? The answer goes back 15 years. Fifteen years ago, ten chassidim from Mea Shearim suddenly got drafted into the army.!!!!!! Everybody was up in arms, how can they let them go to the army?? They should have been covered by a Religious Exemption.
The ten families used all the protekzia they could possibly get and finally the army let go of nine of them – they didn’t have to do the army. But this one guy is left and no matter what, they just can’t get him out. This is of course this same guy and he had to go to the army for six months. Guess what he learned there? Bomb Diffusion! Hashem put this exact man right at that exact location at that precise moment.
Dedicated L’zecher nishmas Shlomo ben Yitzchok.
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Rabbi Lederer is spiritual leader of Congregation Kehillas Torah in San Diego. He may be contacted at baruch.lederman@sdjewishworld.com