יום חמישי, ב׳ אב תשפ״וThursday, July 16, 2026
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By T. Gestetner
A wedding poses a worrisome challenge: how can all the expenses be covered?
When we recall our deeds each year, there are many that we don’t remember, most whose ramifications we don’t know about and others that take on a life of their own after we have brought them into the world.
We had been living on the outskirts of the city, 30 miles from anything Jewish, and finally my dream of living in the heart of the community was being realized.
Ten years ago, when a good friend got married, she and another friend put together a book of lists and tips to help her organize her wedding. Since she enjoyed the project, Roni continued on her own to make these books for couples about to be married.
I told him that the check was not for us, but for Malka's group. I glanced quickly at the check and I read $1,100. Not bad.
Without the funds at my disposal, I kept procrastinating the inevitable. My to-do list grew longer and hardly anything got crossed off.
By Ann Goldberg
Shira had done this several times for her neighbors when they needed it so she didn’t feel too bad calling her friend Dina and asking her if she would mind picking up their order and bringing it home.
Very often when we hear stories about hashgacha pratis, Divine supervision and intervention – the end of the story shows how all the preceding details, many of which seemed very negative, were perfectly planned and carried out in order to bring the protagonist to a wonderfully positive outcome. Megillat Esther is a perfect example of […]
By Sara Scharf
I thought you were a different patient when you called. I can’t fit you in today.
The doctor was too casual for a report as startling as the one he gave over.
There are many kiruv agencies... but I’m not sure any of their methods is more effective than that restaurant owner with the big white beard who made secular children believe that there was nothing sweeter than bringing Mashiach.
By T. Gestetner
The Rav, who had enjoyed the clear Torah reading expressed his wonder at the beautiful job. He also asked what brought the boy to the hospital over Shabbos.
By Ann Goldberg
Four times every Shabbos, while they were growing up, each child (and now grandchildren as well) are referred to by their full name. This turned out to be an especially good idea for several of our grandchildren who were known only by their second name.
What could David do? He wanted to help out a fellow Jew but he had waited for this opportunity all year, had scrimped and saved.
About two months later, she called to inquire if I want to work for her daughter. My heart danced at her thoughtfulness. Even though the job was not my line of work I enthusiastically accepted.
I turned to the safe and placed my hand on the lock. With one robust yank, the old safe opened wide. It hadn’t even been locked!
That evening, while her husband was out, in the private recesses of their bedroom, Esther sobbed, “Hashem, I am not asking You why You put us in this trying economic situation. I am asking You what You want me to do.”
My inability to lift myself from lying on the grass with his children happened before I began phone calls for him to put feet on a stepladder and change a ceiling light bulb.
And so it was that the rabbi thanked the bestial terrorist for his sick act of atrocity, for it was precisely that act which became the extraordinary link to the doctors' saving the rabbi's life.
I was in a place of bittul – of nothingness. I woke up each morning in a daze, not knowing what to do with myself. Life seemed eerily silent except for some annoying noise I heard every morning that I couldn’t place.
By Naama Klein
Did I mention that my daughter-in-law has seemingly unlimited excess energy, and is one of the best cooks and bakers I know?
It took approximately two weeks, but finally a doctor checked him out. He was given permission to sit down for guard duty, and he didn’t take part in various physical exercises and marches. There was no way that he could train other soldiers with this medical issue.
By Anonymous
Against all odds, again – since my husband was not religious – I got my wish. Miracle number one.
By T. Gestetner
Chava shook her head as if to show she understood, while wondering where this monologue would lead. Was this woman also here for a job interview?!
By Eliana Klein
Our lives have effectively been upended for many long and fearful months, and the toll in lives lost and disrupted is staggering indeed... And it is sadly not yet over.
By Ann Goldberg
I finally got it ( I think). It wasn’t enough to know that Hashem runs the world. I have to let go and leave it up to Him.
After my last visit, I was heading back home when I noticed a shiny object on the sidewalk. It looked like a hearing aid. My aunt wore hearing aids, and I knew they could be pretty expensive. I picked it up, wondering how I'd be able to find the owner.
I learned to tone down my expectations. All too often, we’ve fallen in with poor buys, bad tenants (or no tenants), unpaid rent and financial losses. Over the years, there have been more complications than I could enumerate.
By dvora
I ask only one thing from you. When you have the opportunity to help another person, don't hesitate to do it.
So here he was – a devout rabbi who had traveled far on a mission to save the life of a fellow Jew, and the wife of the only person who could change the accused man's sentence wanted to shake his hand.
By dvora
In the grand room where the chuppah would be held, chairs were spaced apart. In spite of this needed distance, we felt only closeness from our guests.
As the number of infected and deceased leaped up dramatically at the summer's end – together with a commensurate increase of protests, strikes and Covid-deniers – our government decreed the Tishrei lockdown.
Yehuda then tells me that it is perfect timing that he called. He says that it is from Heaven. He tells me to stop everything and try thinking why this happened to me.
By Naama Klein
The unique camaraderie and family atmosphere in the yeshivah resulted in many former students remaining connected over the years, and engendered spirited talk and brainstorming of forming a ‘kehilah’ for the extended yeshivah ‘mishpacha’.
“I’m not interested in long explanations!” the driver replied forcefully. “It’s not on my route and I will not stop!”
My mother often recounted this story because of the incredible hashgacha pratit.
By dvora
A few more days went by and I became more and more concerned. The burning smell was unrelenting. I again asked for an inspection.
Enjoy? I loved every minute. Wish I could go back. I still remember the songs we sang, the stories he told.
By Rochel Gold
Hi, I just received a delivery and I found quarter of a watermelon that I didn’t take. Can you check if I paid for it?
By Rosally Saltsman as heard from Nechama Cahen
Nice story. But how the shidduch came about… that’s something incredible.
One hot summer night Daniel woke up at about 4 o'clock in the morning and was terribly thirsty. Everyone else was sleeping and he knew he couldn't wake them up to say 'amein'.
We just need help in locating a nice place that meets the standards of the Health Ministry and is able to stretch to accommodate twice the size crowd if the rules lighten up.
By dvora
Family members, Baruch Hashem, came through lending the hosts two portable generators, which at the very least, could keep the seudot meals safe.
Time went by and one day Yaacov had pain in his abdomen, the same type of pain that he had before his operation. He thought and hoped that maybe it would pass, so he waited.
My first day at the high school was an eye-opener. As I walked into the large entrance room, I suddenly heard a door open. I heard a teacher scream at a student and physically throw him out of the class. What a welcoming!
The entire time we were all on the rock, we were in darkness, since we were trying to conserve the cellphone lights. Besides, there was nothing to see except the night sky, which was easier to see in the dark.
By T. Gestetner
The conditions at the school Devorah was employed at were great. Perhaps she too would be privileged to finally find her calling.
When Rabbi Margolin arrived home he sat down with his rebbetzin and they discussed what had transpired in the Rebbe's home. They talked, and thought and begged Hashem to give them the right thoughts so that they would make the right decision.
We loved hearing from our son by phone, and sometimes there was good enough reception to see him on WhatsApp. He was really having a wonderful time. He would plan his hiking itinerary around the goal of being in a Chabad House for Shabbatot.
I did not ask for parnassah or to find a new job. I asked The Rebbe that there should be a shul (synagogue) within 2 or 3 blocks from the place where I will eventually find work.
By dvora
Time has not lessened my longing for her however, comfort did come to me in a very unexpected manner.
By Risa Rotman
We called his phone, but there was no ring in the car. I knew Dovid had been fooling around with it in the car on the way over, so it wasn’t at home.
Oren pleaded with the department head to allow him to take this final exam either on Friday or on Sunday. His laconic reply was that this had never been allowed before and therefore could not be allowed now.
By Ann Goldberg
But they didn’t return it. I didn’t even know who the parents of the baby were and in any case I wouldn’t have felt comfortable bothering a new mother.
By Chava Dumas
We came to Israel for ruchniyus, for spiritual nourishment; physical comforts were irrelevant in our search for meaning.
By Eliana Klein
True, they agreed that the other was nice looking and the correct age and observance level. But a shidduch redt by a driving instructor who hardly knew either of them? Seriously???
The day after a wedding is not the best day to get a new air conditioning unit as we were still recovering from all of the wedding expenses, predictable and otherwise.
There was one guy in front of me in line, a thirties-looking man with an open-necked blue shirt. He’d seen the same scene I did, with an up close view right from the door. Like an angel to the rescue, he opened the door and stuck out a twenty.
Esther says that she’s had a few trials in her life and the key to her faith is looking at the positive and not harping on the bad. Something she’s worked on perfecting her whole life.
By dvora
For years I have been interested in stories about families that lost someone they loved, like the one I am compelled to write now.
By Ann Goldberg
They realized he must have got on a bus, but they had no idea which bus. They had no way of knowing whether it had been a bus to Ramot where we live.
I didn’t realize that the anecdotes I gave my offspring, and then grandchildren, would truly be heard and also remembered.
By Chava Dumas
I sat on the couch, surrounded by loved ones, so, so grateful for the beautiful Shabbos we would celebrate together, our first family gathering in many months, inspired by the upcoming occasion of one of our grandson’s upsherin on motzei Shabbos.
The scene of thousands and thousands of cranes, as well as other birds, was awesome. I thought that would be the climax of our three-day trip up north.
By Risa Rotman
Had we waited a day or two longer, the tooth would have died completely.
He reluctantly pulled himself up, slung his knapsack over his weary shoulders, and walked for several hours until he discovered that he was approaching the same big rock that he had passed several hours earlier.
As a visitor, one can often feel a sense of danger there, although if one’s Jewish radar is properly tuned in, one can feel the concentrated presence of Hashem in His Holy Land, more so than anywhere else on earth.
I’m not moving from here until the Baal Shem Tov gives me a blessing for a child. Either he can bless me, or he can step over me, but without his blessing, I’m not moving from here!
By T. Gestetner
Finally, with little time to spare, Pinchas steered his loaded minivan onto the block where their hosts lived. Then he started circling. “Who can spot a parking spot?” he called out to his restless crew.
By dvora
I think there were actually two criminals in my apartment that night, a man and a woman.
Abe and I were a bit surprised that Eliyahu Yeshaya would spend over a $1,000 on a half-week trip to the Ukraine. We didn’t know that he had his own itinerary in mind.
By Risa Rotman
My team leader and quality control checkers lived overseas. They paid little attention to the dramatic events I had just undergone. But they did sense that I was feeling vulnerable, and it was showing in my work.
By dvora
She called the woman over and asked her to wait. Mrs. H. went into a room and returned with a large bag, which she handed to the customer, telling her that she had already paid for it.
By dvora
Although it’s been more than 40 years since we last met, how could my husband and I forget Steve...
So along with my gratitude sessions, I decided to be more aware of saying thank you to people who deserve acknowledgment along the way – service providers, bus drivers, and the like – which I’m not always good at doing.
By Ann Goldberg
He reread it time and time again, but finally decided he’d just have to accept that he didn’t understand it and move on.
By T. Gestetner
Logically, it isn’t possible for you to make it to work on time. But there is a Creator. And nothing stands in His way.
When he first found out that his bar mitzvah parsha was Yisro, which contains the Ten Commandments, Yedidya felt that Hashem had been particularly generous with him.
By Naama Klein
Our wonderful founding bochurim were now by and large married with children of their own. So it was a magnificent ever-expanding yeshiva family that now populated the alumni gatherings.
By dvora
They rushed her downstairs to be X-rayed and were stunned to discover that their patient no longer had pneumonia; her lungs were clear. They could not explain or understand her sudden recovery.
He went with a measuring tape and a good friend, who always agrees to lug furniture home for me, and brought it home.
We were surrounded by honking cars and looks that could kill. I was guilty of gridlocking! I was the inconsiderate idiot, insanely selfish and stupid.
She would give them Chanukah gelt and donuts, maybe even latkes, and would try to make the festival as happy as possible. But it wouldn’t be the same without Abba.
By T. Gestetner
There was one man in a wheelchair, and some of the assembled were uneasy about leaving him behind. If they would begin pushing the chair, they would surely not make it to shelter quickly enough.
By Risa Rotman
We were heartbroken. Beyond the cost, who could deny the holiness and sentimentality of a boy’s tefillin?
When it comes to our health, hishtadlut often means going to and listening to a doctor.
By Eliana Klein
The bus driver signaled to the hordes of frustrated people at the various bus stops that he could not stop for them, but some brave/foolhardy souls literally stood in front of the bus trying to block its path in their frenzied determination to get on their way.
Abe started taking out the money from all of his pockets and passed it onto the two Russian-accented guards, who were wearing pouches. The two men looked bewildered and incredulous.
By T. Gestetner
If a person relies on human beings, Hashem will remove His hashgachah and leave the person in the hands of those whom he is depending on…
The next day, there was knock on their door. "Who is it?" asked Mrs. Levi, but no one answered. She asked again, and again no answer, so she looked through the peephole, but saw no one.
He had deposited Shlomo’s real, original check into his account, and when it had cleared he had made up this weird story to get an additional 3,600 shekels out of Shlomo!
With hope and a prayer, and the longing of a daughter to save her mother from the abyss of sadness, Laura drove straight to Minnie’s home and knocked on the door, her arms filled with unexpected packages.
Every so often I would sit down at the baby grand piano in my childhood home and play a few songs. I had learned enough to play piano on an intermediate level.
It was one of the few weddings, maybe the only one I’ve been to, where people weren’t talking to each other or on their cell phones during the chupah.
By Hodaya Lavie
The thunderous, urgently repeated “Ya’amod” precipitated a virtual kibbutz galuyos that made my heart skip a beat and my breath catch in my throat.
By dvora
To my shock, you see, after 21 years of living and working in the U.K., Rivkie, Yossi, and family announced that they were returning to live in the U.S.
It was already nearly a year, and I nearly despaired of ever seeing the money. I kept trying to recover it, calling him periodically.
By Eliana Klein
Because of his strong kesher to my husband, he and his family had opted to join our shul for Rosh Hashanah. So, serendipitously, he was available – not to mention ready, willing, and able – to don all the hats that had suddenly been vacated.
When she proffered a 20-shekel note to the bus driver, she couldn’t fathom why he wouldn’t accept it.
I then handed her the Shabbos candles and she froze right there. She said, “Now I will light. Thank you very much,” and then proceeded to kiss my wife on both cheeks .
July 10, 2026 
