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20 Iyar 5762 - May 2, 2002 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Home and Family
A Change of Nature

Many are the miracle stories revolving around the Tomb of R' Shimon bar Yochai in Meron. The practice of distributing "Chai Rotl" wine on Lag B'Omer for a personal yeshua -- for shidduchim, children, parnossa etc. -- has already become institutionalized, and the giver need only send his check to have it done for him. In his magnificent collection of inspiring stories, Nifleosov Livnei Odom, B. Ben Zahav has captured the spirit of Lag B'Omer, the call to each Jew to unite with his fellow in song and dance, prayer and soul uplifting.

The author introduces the section on "Crumbs of Yeshuos in the Merit of R' Shimon" with a touching insight that sets the tone for the rest of the true stories, which are highly recommended for inspirational reading in Hebrew:

The Jewish people is a multi-colored one, each circle blessed with its particular shade, and all of them together constituting a spectrum extolling the Mighty One in Heaven. On this great day [of Lag B'Omer], however, all meld into one cohesive Jewish bloc, with no one sector preferred over the other. The circles at Meron are a powerful reflection of that dance which Hashem will make for the Tzaddikim in the Future. This is the Meron uplift that is experienced year after year...

It was R' Shimon who noted that a Jew does not say "I hail from the tribe of Reuvein or Shimon," but "I am a Yehudi," and this is seen in the flesh at the great Hilula anniversary at Meron. It doesn't matter whether your country of origin is Iraq or Poland, Persia or Galicia, Lithuania or the Ukraine. "I am a Jew." This says it all.

This is how we will make our Aliya Laregel, how we will greet Moshiach, in a vast mass of Jews who are equal, in a babble of languages and accents united by one Jewish identity...

A Change of Nature

It was in Iyar, 5759 when we sat opposite a famous specialist, fearful and frightened. The results of many tests lay on his desk, and in an incisive voice, he stated his unequivocal opinion, "A pity for all your efforts and for all the expense." Then he declared four words, in a cold, hard, threatening tone: "You -- Won't -- Have -- Children," punctuated by a bang on the desk. Final. As if the key to barrenness were in his hand and his was the ultimate verdict on the subject. That sentence still rings in our ears. Many were the nights that we couldn't sleep because of it.

A few days later, on Lag B'Omer, I went up to Meron. I stood among the thousands there with heavy heart. I buried my head in a Tehillim and wept bitterly, "See my misery and my toil..." I couldn't utter anything else, just those few words...

Oblivious to my surroundings, amidst the deafening tumult, I wept like a child, "Remember me, Hashem, with the goodwill of Your people, be mindful of me through Your salvation... to be proud in Your portion ... the Portion of Hashem is children, the fruitful reward of the womb ..."

I knew that I had no chance. Only one hope remained: the mercy of Heaven, the merit of tzaddikim, the great merit of R' Shimon of whom we sing, "`Let us make man' was said for his sake." I knew that I was not worthy of miracles; who better than I knew my lowliness, my lack of all merit. My tears were directed and supported only by the merit of the holy tzaddik and this holy site. In a sobbing voice, I portrayed my troubles and disappointments, I unburdened my difficulties and great despair into the pages of the Tehillim covering my face, like a child telling his mother the details of a difficult day. I continued to weep copiously. "Have compassion upon me, Hashem, for I am miserable, heal me for my bones shudder ... Hashem, how much longer ..." And then I declared, with all my heart, with full voice, that after I was succored, I would come here to thank and praise Him.

The words "After I am succored" had hardly left my lips when suddenly I felt a wave of great hope envelop and suffuse me.

When I am before that specialist, I have no prospects. According to his pronouncement, "I, won't, have, children." But when I am here, near R' Shimon, I have great hope. I am able to stand here and declare, "After I am succored," meaning, that salvation is something connected to me, too.

All of a sudden, my heart overflowed with joy. B'ezras Hashem, I WILL be helped. In the merit of R' Shimon, I, WILL, Have, Children! And from the midst of this sobbing of emotion, I thrust myself through the crowd till I reached the grave and declared aloud that I felt that with the help of Hashem, I will, indeed, be remembered for salvation and mercy. And then -- I would return ...

I left the cave, swept up with a joy such as I never have experienced in all my life. I elbowed myself into the circle and began dancing with a great jubilation, the likes of which I had not experienced for the longest time. "I am virtually helped!" I felt. "I am one who has been delivered." I shut my eyes and sang with all my might. "Ve'omar ve'omar bayom hahu... kivinu Lo veyoshiaynu -- And he will say on that day... we put our hope in Him and He shall succor."

"The joy experienced in Meron on Lag B'Omer," writes the Bnei Yisos'chor, "is metaphysical." I was able to imagine in my mind's eye that here I was, on the coming Lag B'Omer of 5760, dancing and praising Hashem, dispensing lechaims with overflowing soul to all those around me, now -- then that in my home resided a cradle holding a tender infant... I prayed and begged with all my heart and soul, "Let us rejoice, let us rejoice and regale in Your salvation..." Please, make it possible for me to rejoice...

I sang this song as I descended the mountain. I sang these words throughout the long trip from Meron to my home town, and suffused the walls of my home with this chorus-prayer for the months to come.

"Hey, Hey, this is Hashem in Whom we trusted and hoped..."

*

"I don't believe it!" shouted the specialist some three months after that dance, astonished, shocked. His voice reverberated thundrously as he shouted again, finding no other expression for his great surprise. "I don't believe it!" He looked at the tests and the sonogram and said, "Listen here, something happened. Something here has changed. There's been a transformation from one extreme to the other..." Tears threatened to choke him, his eyes reddened and he murmured in a very different, subdued tone, "Hashem loves you ..."

I am still singing, and I shall sing to Hashem so long as I am alive. I shall praise Him with all my might. I shall dance in Meron with all my soul, a dance that is beyond the physical, beyond nature, and I shall draw as close to Hashem as I possibly can.

I have a cradle in my home, with my tender son lying in it. "Lo, here is our G-d ... Shehechiyonu ... Lo, we had faith in Him and He delivered us..."

 

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