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Inspiring story



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amother
OP


 

Post Fri, May 21 2021, 12:27 am
I want to share a delightful story I just heard in a shiur from Rabbi YY Jacobson, which he heard from his friend, Meir Goldwasser.

When Meir Goldwasser was a bachur, he used to call Rav Moshe Feinstein (zt"l) on occasion, whenever he had a halachic shayla. He learned in Telz Cleveland for a few years, and after that, went to Eretz Yisrael to learn in Telzstone.

One day, while learning in Eretz Yisroel, he had a shayla and he decided to call Rav Moshe in America. Rav Moshe picked up, and Meir could tell from the way Rav Moshe answered the phone, that he had just woken up. Suddenly Meir remembered that there was a time difference, and he had called Rav Moshe when it was 2 am for him!

He was so embarrassed! He quickly apologized for waking him up and said he is calling from Eretz Yisroel and forgot the time difference. He was about to hang up, when Rav moshe said, "Don't hang up. Give me a few minutes, I'll be right back."

Meir understood that Rav Moshe probably needed to wash his hands, maybe say the birchas Hatorah. Finally a few minutes later, Rav Moshe came back on the line.

He apologized for keeping him waiting and then asked how he could help him. Meir asked his question, Rav Moshe gave an answer. Afterwards, Rav Moshe asked Meir for his address where he is staying in Telzstone.

Meir wasn't sure why he was asking, but he assumed that maybe Rav Moshe had a practice to write the question and answer and maybe send it to the person so he has it in writing. He gave him the address.

A few weeks later he received an envelope in the mail from Rav Moshe. Enclosed was a check, with a note attached.

He wrote, "I know that I kept you waiting for a few minutes on a long distance call. The check is to cover the extra charge that you incurred as a result. "

Meir was flabbergasted. Not only did he not yell at him for disturbing his sleep, he needed a few minutes to answer a question, so Rav Moshe felt he needed to pay for the surcharge.

Rabbi YY concluded by saying, this is what Torah does to a person.

You can watch the shiur here:
https://youtu.be/NO_y7Zc9kYk
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BokerTov




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, May 21 2021, 12:29 am
Amazing! Thanks for sharing!
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shanarishona




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, May 21 2021, 12:37 am
Wow! Thank you for that inspiration!
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member




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, May 21 2021, 12:51 am
What a BEAUTIFUL story! Thanks for sharing
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amother
Amethyst


 

Post Fri, May 21 2021, 12:57 am
That whole shiur is amazing. This rabbi gets what it means to suffer from a narcissist. Most don't.
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Crookshanks




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, May 21 2021, 1:49 am
Wow that's gorgeous! Please share more nice stories 😊
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amother
OP


 

Post Fri, May 21 2021, 11:03 am
Crookshanks wrote:
Wow that's gorgeous! Please share more nice stories 😊


Ok. So here's another story I recently heard that I've wanted to share.
I heard it from Rabbi D. From the Zone.

He shared a story about a man who had a small makolet with a pay phone at the back of the store. The store used to sell special coins that were needed to use the payphone.

Every week, on Thursday, a man used to come in and buy some coins for the phone. Then he would go to the back of the store and make phone calls.

The store owner overheard what the calls were about. The man was a gardener and was calling up potential clients, offering his services. He went down a list of people and would ask each client if he needs a gardener. If the person said he already has one, he offered to do the work for much cheaper.
Invariably, the homeowner said, "No, I'm happy with my gardner. He does a great job."

The owner of the store felt sorry for the gardner, so one day, after overhearing another round of rejections, he asked the gardner if he could work for him. The gardner apologized but he said he had no time in his week.

The owner said, "I dont understand. Each week you come in here and call people begging them to switch to you, but you're telling me you have no time to do my garden?"

The man said, "You dont understand. I am very busy. I have a full schedule of properties I take care of. But I never see the owners; they are not home when I come. I come, do my job and leave. They dont know me, they don't know my voice. They leave me a check in the mailbox, but I never see them. But also, I never hear a good word from them. I never get a compliment.

These people I'm calling are the customers that I service. I call them and offer to work for cheaper, and they tell me that they are very happy with their current gardner- they dont know they are talking to their current gardner! It feels so good to hear them tell me that they like my work. Even when I offer to make it cheaper, they say, "No, I have the best guy. " they are talking about me but they dont know that. Every week I make those phone calls to get those compliments. "

He finished by saying that every single person needs compliments. No matter how accomplished they are, everyone needs a good word. We have so many opportunities every day to make people feel complimented, and we should thank Hashem that we have the ability to give others strength.
Chazak Chazak v'nischazak- give chizuk to other people and you too will be mechuzak.
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Crookshanks




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, May 21 2021, 11:10 am
That's really nice! I actually do try to send followup thank you texts after someone has helped me. A lot of times 'famous' or 'big' people don't get any recognition for what they do, even though they help people all the time.
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amother
OP


 

Post Fri, May 21 2021, 11:12 am
Crookshanks wrote:
That's really nice! I actually do try to send followup thank you texts after someone has helped me. A lot of times 'famous' or 'big' people don't get any recognition for what they do, even though they help people all the time.


It's true.
My husband is in askanus. He does a lot for people. So often people just take what he does for granted. A good word is always appreciated.
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Crookshanks




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, May 21 2021, 11:14 am
amother [ OP ] wrote:
It's true.
My husband is in askanus. He does a lot for people. So often people just take what he does for granted. A good word is always appreciated.

This really rings true for me since I've been working on saying thank you to people even and especially for things that I believe are regular, or I have coming to me. For example, when someone at work takes care of something that I would otherwise have to do, I'll put in an effort to say thank you and not just "kay."
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Zeleze




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 23 2021, 5:20 am
Thanks

Enjoyed greatly
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Goody2shoes




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, May 23 2021, 5:40 am
amother [ OP ] wrote:
It's true.
My husband is in askanus. He does a lot for people. So often people just take what he does for granted. A good word is always appreciated.

Oh wow! I loved the stories but I wanted to add onto this post that growing up in a family of askanim and marrying into a family of askanim I can relate 100 percent to what your saying. The men in my life always tell others that look at them with envy for being so "cool" and knowing everything that askanus isn't so much funand most of the people can call at any given moment no matter the circumstance but when it comes to thanking its little and few
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amother
OP


 

Post Sun, May 23 2021, 8:56 am
Ok, here's another beautiful story, also from the same shiur by Rabbi YY that I linked above.

The Lubavitcher rebbe used to learn in beis medresh late on Friday nights, after which he would walk home alone. He did not want or need a bunch of people escorting him, so he would walk alone. However, a few bachurim used to follow from a distance, just to make sure the rebbe got home okay.

One Friday night, it was exceptionally cold, with a wind chill factor that made it seem like 20 below zero. The rebbe walked home in this cold, without adequate protection. He had a coat, but not much else. The bachurim walking behind him noticed that a woman approached the rebbe on the street to ask him a question. The rebbe stopped to talk to her. She kept him there for what felt like a half hour. The entire time, the bachurim were besides themselves with worry and anger. How dare the woman keep the rebbe standing in the cold? The rebbe was already in an advanced age at the time.

The bachurim were furious at the chutzpah of this woman and decided to give her a strong rebuke for detaining the rebbe in this bitter cold. As soon as she finished the conversation she started to walk towards them. The rebbe turned to watch her walk. As long as he was watching, of course the bachurim couldn't give her a dressing down. The rebbe continued watching her as she went past the bachurim, and kept walking until she was a long way off with no way to catch up to her anymore. Only when she was completely out of sight did the rebbe resume his walk to his home.

Rabbi YY concludes that the rebbe obviously knew that the bachurim would rebuke the woman, so he stayed there until he knew she was out of range.

What I love about these stories is that it's not a miracle story, or a story of hashgacha pratis (though those are nice too). But these stories show the gadlus ha'Adam, how the greatest among us, who have their heads in the highest spheres, can simultaneously be so aware and sensitive to the feelings of others and to matters we might see as small. And their actions are without fanfare, not for kavod, since there is no one there to observe.

(By the way, in this shiur Rabbi YY makes a reference to the terrible aguna situation and how people use the Torah to allow women to be abused. )
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amother
OP


 

Post Mon, Jun 07 2021, 11:46 am
I want to share an amazing, inspirational story I just heard from R' Dr. Yaakov Seigel on Torah anytime, who says he heard it from R Meilech Biderman. Rav Biderman heard this story from the grandson of the Skulener rebbe.(This is a story within a story within a story.)

The grandson of the Skulener Rebbe was getting married, and the night before his wedding, his grandfather called him into his room to talk to him.

He gave him divrei mussar for a while, and then in the end, he told him that a certain Rosh Kollel in Eretz Yisroel came to the him, (the Skulener rebbe) and told the following story: He once took his kollel to the Steipler Gaon to be tested on what they recently learned. When the testing was over, the Steipler sent all the avreichim out, but asked the Rosh Kollel to stay behind because he wanted to talk to him.

Then he asked the Rosh Kollel what his name was. Since the Steipler was hard of hearing, the man wrote his name down on a piece of paper. The Steipler said "No, what's your name?"

The man was puzzled, and wrote his name again.

The Steipler said, "No, this is not your name. How come I see on your forehead that your name is Shlomo, but you wrote a different name on this paper? How come you wrote one thing on your paper and your forehead says Shlomo? Who is Shlomo?"

The man said, "I don't know!" he thought about his life and then he said, "I can only recall one story I had with a guy named Shlomo..."

"Years ago, I used to travel to fundraise for my Kollel. I came to a certain town, and, for some reason, the president of the shul took a disliking to me and my Kollel. He told me that I shouldn't collect in his shul or his town because I won't make any money there. I decided to try anyway, and I went to several people and they all pledged to donate some money. When the president of the Shul heard this, he approached each of these people, and told them all not to give me money, and they all withdrew their pledges.

"I left the shul with no money, and I was very upset. So I went to another shul, and one man gave me a very large check. I was happy with that and flew back to Eretz Yisroel. Turns out that the man who gave me the check was the brother-in-law of that President who was against me, and he convinced his brother-in-law to put a stop order on the check to stop the payment. So when I went to cash the check, I didn't receive any money because of the stop order. I was very frustrated about all my wasted efforts. Soon afterwards, the president died. His name was Shlomo."

The Steipler told him, "You should know that when the president put a stop order on the check, he also put a stop order on his own life. He died right after because he cancelled the check that was given to tzedaka and he was chayav missa.

"You should also know that you were supposed to die young as well. Your years were up. But when Shlomo did the stop order and lost his life, you got his years. So right now, you are living Shlomo's life. That's why I see Shlomo on your forehead, because you are living on his time. "

The Skulener rebbe tells his grandson, the chassan, "I want you to know that if you do teshuva, you could wipe off the thing that's on your forehead. " Evidently, The rebbe was able to see something on his grandson's forehead that he didn't like and he was telling him to wipe it away by doing Teshuva.

Rav Meilech says we can learn two things from this story:

1. Tzaddikim can see things that we can't. There is much more than meets the eye. We live in a world of teva, where we think we understand why things happen. But it's not like that. The tzaddikim, the Steipler, The Skulener, even today's tzaddikim can see things about us and about the world that we would never know.

2. Sometimes bad things happen to us and we are so frustrated. We work so hard to do things and other people interfere, to stop us from succeeding. When somebody else comes and ruins what I'm trying to do, instead of getting upset, remember that person might be giving me his life. Hashem runs the world, there's more than meets the eye. Instead of getting upset at Shlomo for ruining everything I tried to do, years later I can find out that he gave me life itself, and whatever happens to us, its happening for a good reason.

We may never know the reasons, but there is a deeper world, and everything happens for the best.
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amother
Amethyst


 

Post Mon, Jun 07 2021, 11:57 am
Thanks OP! I really needed to hear this chizzuk right now. May Hashem repay you for taking the time to post this story today.
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amother
OP


 

Post Mon, Jun 07 2021, 12:08 pm
amother [ Amethyst ] wrote:
Thanks OP! I really needed to hear this chizzuk right now. May Hashem repay you for taking the time to post this story today.


Amen Smile
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