BS’D
Taken from – http://www.divreichizuk.com/id101.html
Rabbi Fischel Schachter told the story of a woman, a Holocaust survivor, who settled in America after the war and was married for twelve years without having children. One day she was sitting in a doctor’s office on Madison Ave. in Manhattan, and the doctor, going over her charts, said to her, “Madame, please listen to me. I am saying this for your own benefit – give up. Medically speaking, there is nothing we can do so you can have children. When hair will grow from my palm, that is when you will have a child.”
The woman left and boarded the Madison Ave. bus. During the ride, she contemplated her life. She recalled the horrors she experienced as a young girl in Poland, when the family had a trap door beneath the dining room table and they would go and hide under the floor when the Nazis approached. She volunteered to be the one to close the door, put the carpet over it and then hide on top of a piece of furniture. She would sit there, all curled up, and listen in terror as the Nazis searched the house, smashing furniture as they went from room to room. Time and time again, the family was saved. But finally, the Nazis noticed a soft spot on the floor, and they discovered the trap door. This young girl watched as the Nazis dragged her family away. She was the only one who survived the war.
Once she got to America, she desperately wanted to begin a family. And now, after twelve long years, her hopes were shattered.
She said to herself, “I have no reason to get off this bus.” And so she stayed on the bus, sitting there the rest of the day. Finally, the driver informed her that he was driving the bus to the garage for the night, and she needed to disembark.
“I have nothing to live for,” she muttered.
“Listen, lady,” the driver said, “I’ve had a hard day. I don’t know what your problem is, but you’re not going to solve it by staying on this bus.”
She got off the bus and said, “Master of the world, You were with me all along. You saved my life countless times. You brought me here. You let me start my life over, and so it is in Your hands. I have no right to give up. The bus driver is absolutely right – You didn’t save my life for me to live on the Madison Ave. bus. Please tell me what to do. I won’t give up. I will continue serving You no matter what.”
A year later, she had a child.
That child grew up, got married, and has his own grandchildren. By the time this woman passed away, she had enough great-grandchildren to make that doctor’s hair stand up.
Rabbi Fischel Schachter added that he heard this story firsthand from the woman herself , whom he knew quite well. She was his mother.
The Rabbi concluded by saying that there are going to be times in our lives where our hopes will be shattered, and everything we’ve been banking on will suddenly be lost. At such moments, we can easily fall into despair and feel a sense of betrayal. But we must not give up. We should instead say, as his mother did, “Hashem, I don’t have to understand, but everything in my life is in Your hands. I will try my hardest to succeed in the difficult position You have put me in.” If we can do that, then we have emunah, and we open the doors to salvation and blessings that would never have been available to us otherwise.
