A king once offered his faithful servant the prize of his
choice. The clever servant made a modest request: He "just"
asked for two grains of wheat to correspond to the first
square on the chessboard, two times two — four —
to correspond to the second square, four times four —
sixteen - - for the next one, and so on. The king agreed to
the "modest request," before realizing that long before they
reached the sixty-fourth square, the numbers would grow so
large that all the wheat in the universe would not suffice to
pay the prize! This is one vivid example of the amazing
growth of a geometric progression. Mishmeres Hashalom is
another!
The Mishmeres Hashalom is an organization founded about four
years ago with the ambitious goal of making all Jewish
communities Loshon Hora free and bringing peace and
love into each and every Jewish home. The goal is ambitious,
but the methods are very practical: bringing the message of
the Mishmeres Hashalom into each community — one
street, one home, one family at a time.
From a modest start, the program has mushroomed. Today we
have close to 2000 volunteer building representatives, and
over 35,000 families across the globe are already being
reached by the Mishmeres Hashalom, bringing the Shechina
into their homes and radiating the light of Kedusha,
unity and love to the entire community.
It starts with one energetic volunteer. With persistence and
dedication, she approaches the families in her building,
slowly building up a kernel group of women who embrace the
program of learning two halachos a day of Shemiras
Halashon with their family.
But it doesn't stop there. One woman from the building shares
the undertaking with her sister in another neighborhood, and
that sister shares the beauty of the program with her aunt.
Before long, another group begins to sprout, and another.
Each member who tastes the sweet flavor of a loshon hora
free home and radiates a new inner peace becomes an
instant ambassador of Mishmeres Hashalom to all who meet her
— and the ripple effects continue to grow in clear
geometric progression, doubling and tripling membership in
short spans of time.
It may be an enthusiastic member, a rousing kenes, a
Mishmeres Hashalom magazine casually picked up, or perhaps an
attractive poster that catches the eye and captures the
heart, setting off a new, flourishing branch. Consider the
following true incidents:
* Who can imagine what a single magazine — a simple
printed piece of paper folded in three, weighing a few grams
— can initiate? One husband found a Mishmeres Hashalom
magazine in shul and brought it home. His wife read it
and was so impressed that she started the program in her
neighborhood. Another magazine came "by chance" into the
hands of a woman from Netanya, and led her to open a huge
branch in her city, as well as another branch, founded by her
friend, in a neighboring town.
* The latest kenes for Yiddish speaking women inspired
48 (!) women to volunteer as representatives, and 200 new
participants began to learn the halachos
regularly.
* One woman from the Minchas Yitzchak area who attended the
gathering resolved to work to make her whole community
loshon hora free. She got the program started in her
neighborhood and has already appointed building
representatives in her entire area. Her dream is within
reach!
* Another woman at the Kenes, from Beit Shemesh, was so
inspired that she organized 20 women in her building to learn
the halachos each day together. In addition,
she set out to recruit a representative in every building in
the Beit Shemesh Yiddish-speaking community. Before long she
was joined in her efforts by the original Beit Shemesh
coordinator, who had been on leave after giving birth to a
"miracle." This woman's previous babies had all been born
prematurely and suffered from many difficulties in the first
weeks and months. This child, the first after her Mishmeres
Hashalom involvement, was also born prematurely, yet did not
need any of the expected help. She calls him her "Mishmeres
Hashalom baby"!
* All told, in the recent months, we have over 100 new
representatives in the women's and children's programs from
Yerushalayim, Petach Tikva, Bnei Brak, Netivot, Beit Shemesh,
Kadima, and many more places.
* One school began a school-wide program of Mishmeres
Hashalom. Before long, another and yet another school asked
to join. Remember — in each case, we welcome into our
ranks hundreds of new members at once, and we initiate a
change in the atmosphere of an entire tzibbur!
* One neighborhood representative works in a Kupat Cholim
laboratory. She got the women who work with her, coming from
very different backgrounds, to learn the halachos
together for a few minutes a day. The atmosphere at work
has changed; they all think twice before they speak!
* The growth in membership has been matched by a
corresponding growth in yeshua stories, big and small.
One of our very devoted secretaries was asked to come back to
the office in the afternoon after having worked there all
morning. Although it was very difficult for her, she agreed.
When she got home from the morning shift, she realized that
she had left her pocketbook in the taxi. Efforts to trace the
taxi were unsuccessful. As she waited for the bus to return
to work in the afternoon, she noticed a cab that looked
familiar. The driver recognized her as well, stopped and
returned her pocketbook. In the zchus of her
dedication to Shemiras Halashon, she found her pocketbook.
* A member of a family was concerned that there were a few
couples in her extended family who did not yet have children.
She decided to raise money for Mishmeres Hashalom in their
merit. Within a period of time, three couples from the family
were zocheh to children and a fourth who had married
more recently also gave birth. The woman who organized the
whole thing had another baby herself in the meantime.
One building, whose members have been dedicating their
learning each month to different people they know needing a
yeshua, has already been zocheh to six
shidduchim for older singles and two amazing incidents
of refuah shleimoh.
There can be only one explanation for the amazing growth of
the Mishmeres Hashalom: siyata deShmaya and the
brochos of the gedolim that accompany us at
every step. The Manchester Rosh Yeshiva Rav Segal zt"l
said that the zchus of the Chofetz Chaim will
stand behind us. Our magazines have included enthusiastic
endorsements and a message of chizuk from numerous
gedolim, including HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, HaRav Wosner
and HaRav Abuchatzeira.
As you read these lines, another family is probably joining
the chain of Mishmeres Hashalom, and the ripple effects will
continue to extend, and grow, and grow . . . It's a matter of
simple arithmetic — and isn't it time you put yourself
in the equation?
