A few short months ago I lost my one and only uncle. He was very special and a great void was felt. He left a wonderful wife, children, grandchildren and great- grandchildren – and, Baruch Hashem, even some great-great-grandchildren. My father, having gone through concentration camps, lost all of his siblings in the Holocaust, so this was my one remaining aunt (his wife) and uncle on my mother’s side. Unfortunately, this uncle also had his share of horror-filled Holocaust tales, but of the ones he was proud to share was the actual rescue of the Tshebiner Rav and, until the end of his life, he was a major player and benefactor in their yeshivas here and in Israel. Now his children and grandchildren continue this legacy.
On the day I paid a shiva call to my aunt, I noticed a pleasant young man sitting with her. This young man was my cousin, a great-grandson to my aunt. He was there paying one of his numerous shiva calls, and as a chesed kept her company that day. I had met him at previous family smachos, but he was not very well known to me. I knew that my cousin was divorced, and since I like to dabble in shidduchim, I promptly put his name and number in my cell phone. I called a few young ladies, but it didn’t seem to click for them.
My daughter told me one day that she had been walking in the park and had met, not for the first time, a lovely girl who, like my cousin, was divorced. She said, “Ma, she is co cute, they seem to have similar hashkafos, and I always enjoy talking to her. Why not try matching up these two people?” I quickly got the resumes together and forwarded them to the appropriate parties. Both parties said they would give it a shot.
Baruch Hashem, a few months later, I’m proud to say that this couple is happily engaged.
I really didn’t know either of these parties quite well, and in my usual shidduch attempts, I’m busy shuffling papers to see which ones are compatible with each other. This effort is usually to no avail. But I have made some shidduchim, all of which are berachos.
Now, back to my uncle. I feel that he is a major part of this shidduch. He suffered much heartache during the war, and was very fortunate to survive. Afterwards, he sustained several accidents and injuries while residing here and, with Hashem’s help, survived them as well. In the zechus of saving the Tshebiner Rebbe and with all of his tzedakah and chesed work that assisted so many people, I wonder if Hashem allowed him the zechus of being a quick meilitz yosher.
Why do I ponder this? We often hear (and say), “may he be a meilitz yosher,” during shiva calls and funerals. I believe that my uncle quickly became one, due to the fact that had I not paid a shiva call to my aunt when I did, this shidduch would probably not have happened.
This couple is now engaged through the “walk in the park” and the hashgacha pratis seen here. We see here how things come full circle. I wish this couple continued mazel, berachah and nachas.