I am using variegated yarn to knit a crib blanket for my new
granddaughter.
This particular batch of variegated yarn was dyed in the
manufacturing process in the following way: The first nine
inches are colored pink. The next strip of equal measure is a
second pastel color, followed by a third, fourth and fifth.
The sixth length is pink again, and the sequence continues on
and on.
As I knit, I am amazed at the color combinations that are
appearing in this blanket. The first half-a-dozen inches came
out in narrow horizontal stripes of color. Then I tied on a
new ball of the same yarn, expecting more of the same. To my
astonishment, the next few inches developed as bands of
pastel tweed side by side. There is one band of yellow
flecked with green. Sitting next to that is pink dotted with
blue. In the middle is another mixture and then back to
yellow/green.
I am still using the second ball, but now I see dots of solid
color as the yarn has begun to repeat in the same place in
successive rows.
*
Life is a lot like this blanket. We do our bit as faithfully
as we can, and then stand back and marvel at the way events
develop, all orchestrated from Above.
When a new neighborhood is being built, people come to the
contractor's sales office, pick a floor plan that suits their
needs and start the process of purchasing what will be their
new home. Months, or sometimes years, pass and construction
on the apartment house is completed. It is time to move
in.
A group of people who have never even met now find themselves
living under one roof. Over a very brief period, the new
neighbors find things they have in common. Two families come
from the same city, state or country of birth. Another two
have daughers the same age. Still another pair have the same
hobby or interests.
Friendships begin. By the time they have been living here for
a few years, the families at that address have become closer
than many relatives. They share their simchas, cook
meals for each other when blessed with new arrivals, and
comfort each other in time of need.
On Thursday evenings, when everyone is cooking for Shabbos, a
procession of children climb up and down the stairs. One is
borrowing an onion for her mother's soup; another is in
search of an aluminum pan, a third is hunting for an egg or a
recipe.
A knock at the door. Do you have any extra potatoes? We just
need two more potatoes for the kugel.
In the secular world, they call the phenomenon `coincidence,'
or, if they are more generous, they deem that it is
`serendipity' that has brought these people together.
We, in the Torah world, know that it is Divine Providence.
Right now, many of us have stocked our pantries with staples
such as rice and pasta, plus various sauce ingredients, to
provide last-minute meals in case rain, snow or cold weather
might make it difficult to get out to the grocery store.
However, what is a boon now can become a liability, if we are
unable to use these goodies before Pesach.
One of my daughters-in-law told me that her building has a
food exchange chart from Purim to a few days before Pesach.
Each family writes down a couple of chometzdik items
that they acquired during the year and found they didn't
really like, or bought in too large quantities, or received
for Purim...
Suppose you sampled a special barbecue sauce at your friend's
sheva brochos in February, and the next week saw what
looked like the very same thing at your supermarket. You
bought a big bottle of it and tried it out, using a quarter
of a cup on roast chicken. Unfortunately, your family rated
it a unanimous `thumbs-down.' Now what? You don't want to
toss it in the trash. That would be wasteful.
You go down to the lobby and write on the food exchange list,
"Three quarters of a bottle of X barbecue sauce" and next to
it, you add your name or apartment number. What one person
considers bland or unappetizing may be positively delicious
to someone else. After all, there are people buying it at the
supermarket...
There are a host of other benefits that accrue to families
that make up the average Israeli apartment complex. Because
of your varied contacts outside of the building, you may know
just the right shidduch for your neighbor's son or
daughter. And she may know the perfect babysitter,
cheder, summer camp or chug for your child or
cure for her ailment.
Here in Israel, when something has to get accomplished, the
situation often calls for Protectzia, or Vitamin P. If
our own contacts and those of our extended family are not
enough, a neighbor may just know someone who is close with
the person in charge.
As I sit here knitting my granddaughter's blanket, I realize
that I cannot take any `credit' for the designs that are
forming in this work. It is only the needles and yarn that
are "in my hands." Everything else comes from a Higher
Power.
We are constantly watching the unfolding of events that are
beyond our expectations as well as our control.
What is left for us is simple this: Learn to appreciate the
Hand that is guiding all of the events that occur because we
"happened" to meet a neighbor on the stairs and told her
about a problem we were having.
See the miracles, great or small, when things move right
along "just" because we "happen" to live two floors up from
the Goldbergs, or one entrance over from the Weisses, who
were the agents in providing a solution for us.
In this period between the miracles of Chanuka and Purim, let
us learn to give credit to the One Above for all of the
amazing miracles in our lives.
