LOOKING AT A MALACH
By Roy S. Neuberger
“Vayishlach … Yaakov sent angels ahead of him to Esav….” (Beraishis 32:4)
When our children were young, I would stand and watch the school bus leave each morning and say over these words, “Hamalach ha goail osi mi kol ra …May the malach who saved me from all evil bless the [children]….” (Beraishis 48:16) I asked the malachim to guard them, today and every day. (I still do it, although school bus days have passed.) Every Friday night I try to make “Shalom Aleichem” as real as possible; I do believe that angels enter our home.
Our Avos taught us that we need these malachim. We need shmira. We need heavenly protection.
Recently, my wife and I passed a minor traffic accident. The occupants of one car were gathered around the other car, yelling, jumping up and down, until one of them started banging the side of the second car, very close to the driver’s face. It was ugly. I called “911.”
We need the Heavenly 911 to protect us in this darkening world.
You may remember that, last week, I quoted President Harry S. Truman’s words to the late Rabbi Shlomo Lorincz, explaining the reason he officially recognized the State of Israel in 1948 despite the fact that, in his words, it was “against the better interests of the United States!” His reason was astounding. President Truman told Rabbi Lorincz that he placed his hope in “you Jews and your Torah” as the only way to protect the world against “wild mankind!”
A few weeks ago, I was driving on a highway way out in Eastern Long Island. I ran over a pothole and ruined a tire. As I waited on the shoulder for roadside assistance, a car pulled up behind me. Then I saw a smiling face, topped with a yarmulke, looking in the passenger window.
“On these roads,” he told me, “the only people driving black Toyotas are Yidden! After I passed you, I got off at the next exit, turned back and came around again. I am a member of Chaveirim. Do you need your tire changed?”
I want you to know that I felt like crying. One can feel so vulnerable in this world. And then a Holy Yid comes along, and you feel that you are looking at a malach.
Chazal tell us that the way to protect ourselves during Chevlai Moshiach is to occupy ourselves with Torah and gemilus chassadim. (Sanhedrin 98b) It is so dangerous out there, but if we act toward each other like angels, then I am sure Hashem will send angels to watch over us.
I am upset that, in the circumstances, I forgot to take a picture of this Holy Jew changing the tire. Nonetheless, I am quite sure that his picture is emblazoned across Shomayim. When Hashem sees such Holy Yidden showing love for their brothers, I believe that His feelings, kaveochel, must be aroused. This is how Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov acted, and it is in their merit that Hashem “recalls the kindnesses of the Avos and brings a Redeemer to their children’s children ….” May we greet him soon in our days!
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Roy Neuberger, author and public speaker, can be reached at roy@2020vision.co.il.
© Copyright 2018 by Roy S. Neuberger
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