Rabbi Shalom Schwadron
Examples of hashgachah pratit (the Almighty’s watchfulness and care for each individual) on the path to teshuvah—small “coincidences” that transformed lives…
This story from his own life was told to Rabbi Schwadron by his student, a baal teshuvah, talmid chacham, and avrech, studying at one of the finest yeshivot in Israel.
A. was brought to Israel from Holland at the age of two. His family settled in Tel Aviv, where he grew up and attended secondary school, completely cut off from everything connected with Jewish tradition. After finishing school, he asked his parents to let him travel to Europe to take part in an organized bicycle tour across the continent. His wealthy parents agreed, and A. set off on his journey.
One Friday, in the midst of the bicycle tour, A. suddenly felt an intense longing for his parents and an irresistible urge to speak with them. His group was deep in a forest in Germany at the time, but despite all the difficulties, he left them and went in search of the nearest post office from which he could make an international call. When he arrived, A. learned that the local post office had no direct connection to Israel: he would first have to connect through Berlin, and only then to Tel Aviv. All this made the call several times more expensive, but even that could not stop the young man. Eventually, the call went through. A. spoke with his mother and also asked permission to take a more exotic trip—to the Himalayas—after his travels in Europe. His mother did not object, but asked him to come home first and see her and his father. During their conversation, his mother suddenly said that an old friend of A.’s had just dropped in. On learning that she was speaking with her son, he had asked her to tell A. to visit him as well when he arrived in Tel Aviv, since they had things to discuss.
On returning from his journey, A. saw his parents and then hurried to his friend without delay. But as soon as his friend opened the door, A. involuntarily blurted out: “What’s happened to you?!” His friend, who now had payot and a beard, smiled warmly, invited A. to sit down, and began to explain: “You know that you and I were always different. You were simply never interested in religion, whereas I actively fought against ‘religious domination’ and even headed an antireligious league. My hatred of the Jewish faith reached the point where I decided to renounce it altogether. But then the voice of reason awakened within me and objected: before deciding on such a drastic step, I ought to find out what I was leaving behind and where I would end up. And so I began to learn about Judaism… As the spiritual riches I had foolishly almost thrown away gradually became clear to me, I went to ‘Ohr Somayach’ yeshiva for more in-depth study, and over time my appearance changed as well. Now I’ve decided to share my spiritual experiences with you too.”
A. did not reject his friend’s suggestion out of hand. He said that during the week remaining before his trip to the Himalayas, he was willing to become better acquainted with Judaism.
“Today is the eve of Yom Kippur,” his friend said. “All Jews fast on Yom Kippur—they neither eat nor drink all day, and they spend the day in the synagogue. You can join me if you like.” A. agreed, even though he knew almost nothing about this strange day and, of course, had never tried praying. But after the holiday ended, as he sat with his friend over a meal, he felt an extraordinary warmth envelop him. He solemnly announced to his friend: “I want to go to yeshiva with you.”
“And that is how I became what you see before you—a student at one of the most renowned yeshivot,” A. concluded his story.
Translated by M. Klimovskaya. From the book “Ask Your Father, and He Will Tell You…,” compiled by Rabbi Yisrael Spiegel.