Shaken To The Core

A very prominent Rosh Yeshiva in America used to rent a bungalow in the Catskills for the summer. He liked the feeling of seclusion so he would rent a bungalow far away from the others. One night there was a terrible rainstorm. He woke up from his sleep soaked to the core due to the rain that penetrated his lodgings. His yarmulke flew away as well.

Then he looked over to his Rebbetzin's bed and SHE WASN'T THERE. He began to panic! He looked under her bed and she wasn't there either. He looked outside where there was a light and he could see down the hill outside the bungalow and NO SIGN OF HER. His feelings of panic were quickly escalating.

Then it hit him. His wife had died two months before.

He then fainted.

At that moment, he later related, it hit him like two tons of bricks that his beloved wife was gone from this world FOREVER. He lost all ability to cope so he fainted.

This story has a mussar haskel. We can all have a moment that shakes us to our very core. A moment that can change us forever. A moment where the stark truth dawns on us and never allows us to be the same.

If a rasha marries a woman with the stipulation that he is a complete tzaddik she is married out of doubt [and must receive a get if she wants to marry someone else]. Why? שמא הרהר תשובה בלבו Maybe he had that watershed moment and he decided to change for the better. At that moment he is transformed into a tzaddik.

Lo bashomayim he! YOU can do it.

Love and blessings:)!!!