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15 Adar II 5763 - March 19, 2003 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Home and Family


Ayelet Hashachar

This is the story of the birth of a very special baby.

Two days before Purim I brought shalach monos to the owner of our shoe store, Sam. The shoe store was far away and I knew I wouldn't have time to go there on Purim, which was erev Shabbos. As I drove over the highways to the shoe store, I thought about Sam's family.

A couple of years ago, as Sam was fitting us with shoes, he told us how his sister-in-law Beth was in despair. Years had gone by and she was still without children. I offered to put her on our Tehillim list.

Months later, I found out that Beth was expecting. Wonderful! We put her on the list for a healthy pregnancy. She delivered but the baby was stillborn. This was devastating for Beth. Our Tehillim group cried with her and sent her our sympathies. Then we put her back on the list of the childless. When I brought my kids in for shoes last January, I found out that Beth was expecting again, and due in a couple of months.

We put Beth back on the list for a healthy pregnancy. And last Purim, I drove over to the shoe store with shalach monos. I felt funny. What if they thought it was strange for me to bring it? Then I told myself: It's my job to be the messenger and not to determine the outcome. I wanted to give this lady who had been through so much and who was so apprehensive about this pregnancy something special to show that we were with her in prayer and spirit.

I handed over the beautifully wrapped package to Sam with a special request to `share' it with Beth. Big smiles radiated all around the store and I was promised that it would be delivered.

A month passed. When I came back from Pesach, I found two messages. Two longstanding women on our Tehillim list had delivered -- one had had a boy and the other, a girl. A week later, I found out about a third delivery. Beth had given birth to a girl on erev Pesach. And a fourth person from our list had had a baby on Rosh Chodesh Iyar.

I called Beth to wish `Mazel Tov.' What a wonderful miracle that this baby was born healthy and fine. She had named the baby Anna Melissa.

"Are you going to give the baby a Hebrew name?" I asked, explaining why a Hebrew name was important: for identity, for blessings, for a marriage kesuba one day and so on.

Beth was interested in giving her daughter a Jewish name; the first name should start with an alef because Anna was named after a grandfather named Abraham.

"O.K. Let's look at some names," I said, pulling out our shul directory and the kids' class lists. We went through name after name and nothing sounded right to Beth. I was beginning to wonder if any name would be found. Finally, I said, "Ayelet."

"Ayelet," she exclaimed. "There's something very special about that one! I think that's it! What does it mean?"

I explained what kind of animal an ayelet was and how gentle, and Beth said, "That's exactly my baby."

I also started to explain to her about Ayelet Hashachar, how just before dawn, the stars recede and the darkness seems its blackest. At exactly that point, the Ayelet Hashachar, the morning star, appears, to bring light at the darkest point. The darkness represents our exile, and at one very dark point of our exile, the Ayelet Hashachar was represented by Queen Esther, a bright point of light, giving us hope.

"Oh, that is exactly my baby, too," Beth said with tears. "She is the bright light of hope after all the darkness I've been through."

"In fact," I continued, "one of the chapters of Tehillim mentions the Ayelet Hashachar; it was recited by Queen Esther as she approached the king to try to save her people. That's Psalm 22." Suddenly, I stopped. I realized how I knew that information. On erev Pesach, my friend, a distinguished lady living in Yerusholayim, and I were devastated by all the very difficult news from Israel. We wanted to say extra chapters in addition to our usual Tehillim but we were so busy getting ready for Pesach that we didn't have time.

"How about your picking two chapters for us to say and we'll both say the same ones, as a form of solidarity," I suggested to my friend.

She picked numbers 22 and 33, the first as a statement of hope, because we seemed to be at such a dark point in the golus.

"So you see," I told Beth, "that's how we came to be saying Tehillim #22 on erev Pesach while you were in labor! And it's because of our saying it then that I read the commentaries on Ayelet Hashachar, the name you want to give your baby."

We marveled at that and then I said, "Now how about a middle name for her?"

Beth wanted a name that started with mem because the baby's middle name was Melissa. "I heard of a nice Jewish name that I've always liked for some reason," she said. "It's Malka."

"That means `queen'," I explained. "Let's see, then. Her name would be `Ayelet Malka'. Ayelet for Queen Esther and Malka for Queen! What a perfect name!"

*

Our tradition teaches that a degree of prophecy descends to parents when naming their child, and I believe this was true for Beth, who has no background whatsoever, but still knows she's Jewish. Now I saw that it was really hashgocha that I brought shalach monos to Sam and Beth that Purim. It helped maintain a special connection, probably in ways I don't even completely understand.

Ayelet Malka was given her beautiful Hebrew name shortly after that. And that is the story of the second special event from last Purim. [Readers may recall the first story by this anonymous writer about the Chinese Purim seuda that was the turning point in the life of an entire Russian immigrant family that made its way back to YIddishkeit due specifically to glatt kosher Chinese cuisine! How now Chin chow!]

So, please, next year, give shalach monos to those who are not yet frum and invite them to your seuda. Better yet! Invite them for Pesach! You never know what can happen with Hashem's help.

 

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