In my opinion - a TERRIBLE story on many levels [that I have trouble believing happened]:
At a schmooze last week at a Mesivta in Bnei Brak, Rabbi ---- told a fascinating story about an American bochur attending Rav Dovid’s Brisk.
Rav ---- said, “The bochur was visiting the Kosel, and saw an American goy writing a kvittel and placing it into a crack. The bochur was curious about what the goy could possibly have written.
After the goy left, the bochur pulled out the note and read the English message: “For the sake of G-d, there is a football game right now between team X and team Y in America, please let me know who won. Thank you, Alex.”
The goy went so far as to write his room number at the Plaza Hotel beneath his signature on the kvittel. The bochur decided to answer the man’s prayer. He called his father in the U.S. and asked him who won the game.
The father was taken aback.: ‘You’re learning in Brisk. What does this have to do with Zevachim and Menachos?
The bochur said that he would explain later, and again asked for the score. The father checked the results of the game and told his son.
The bochur took a taxi to the hotel, went to the goy’s room, knocked and asked: “Are you Alex’? The goy said yes. The young man replied: ‘I am a messenger of G-d.
The goy was annoyed and asked, “What do you want, messenger of G-d?”
The bochur replied, “You asked G-d who won the football game.” The goy was startled.
The bochur then said: ‘G-d sent me to tell you that team X won. The goy got excited and thanked the bochur emphatically. Then he pulled out a checkbook and wrote him a check for $2,000, saying “This is for the Messenger of G-d.”
The bochur returned to yeshiva, and his friends began debating whether he was allowed to keep the money. They said, “You lied about it, and also it was a gift from a goy.”
The bochur replied: ‘If I were to tell him that Hashem asked for $ 2,000 it would certainly be forbidden, but here the goy gave it on his own.”
Rav ------ said that they called to ask his opinion, and he paskened that he was allowed to keep it.
However the story does not end there.
Rav ---- continued: “When the bochurim were discussing the shaila in Bais Medrash, the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi ------- (zt”l) saw them arguing, and asked what they were discussing.
“And here we see how a Gadol looked at the story. Rav Dovid said ,’A goy just asked Hashem for something, and Hashem answered him.’
Rav ----- continued: “Now we see a new picture of this story. Who gave this guy a bug in his head to open the note, and travel all the way to see the goy? It’s all from Hashem.
“This means that the goy asked Hashem to tell him who won the game – and Hashem answered him.” Why Hashem answered him is not relevant, the lesson for us is that we see that even when a goy simply asks, he gets an answer, all the more so when a Jew asks Hashem, ‘I want to understand the Gemara, I want to understand the Chumash. He will answer, He has no shortage of ways and it has nothing to do with us – and this is the lesson for us, and this is what a yeshiva guy needs to know. ”
Rabbi ------- concluded the schmooze by saying that every yeshiva bochur should recognize the power of tefillah, and should ask Hashem to help him understand his learning, and ask for answers in areas where he is striving to succeed.
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Great comment:
This post is great! It serves everyone’s needs.