The Meeting of a Lifetime

When Darren [name changed] first met Rabbi Dovid Weinbaum, it was at the CTeen Shabbaton last January. As the only representative from his Chabad Center in Hillsborough, NJ, Rabbi Shmaya Krinsky arranged for Darren to join Rabbi Dovid’s group from Montreal.

During the electrifying weekend, Darren made many friends, learned an enormous amount about Yiddishkeit, and began to find comfort and meaning in Jewish teachings and practices, including his first ever Shabbos experience.

As part of the shabbaton, Darren visited the Ohel. Before writing his letter to the Rebbe, Darren confided in Rabbi Dovid about a personal quandary. While Darren had recently received a full scholarship to a prestigious college, he wished to take a year off and study in Israel. However, if he were to do so, the college’s policy would be to revoke his scholarship.

The shabbaton had only reinforced his desire to spend a year in holy surroundings, and Darren wondered if it would be appropriate to write to the Rebbe about such a matter. “You may ask the Rebbe anything,” counseled Rabbi Dovid.

Days after the shabbaton, Darren received word from the college that his request had been approved. He would be allowed to take a year off and travel to Israel, and keep his scholarship, too. “This is a special reprieve that we have not granted any other student,” he was told by the college dean. “If you publicize this in any way, permission will be revoked, and we will deny that it was ever offered.” [For this reason, Darren’s real name, along with the name of the college, is not being mentioned.]

Darren was thrilled. He joyfully told Rabbi Dovid that the Rebbe had clearly answered his request, and he resolved to increase in his performance of several mitzvot.

Though Rabbi Dovid and Darren had spent a wonderful Shabbos together, they didn’t really plan on keeping up with each other. Darren was going home to New Jersey, Rabbi Dovid to Montreal. Yet, unbeknownst to them both, they were about to get a firsthand demonstration of one of the lessons learned over the Shabbaton: that everything in life is orchestrated by G-d.

Almost a year later, with this episode long forgotten, Dovid found himself at the Kotel for Neilah at the end of Yom Kippur. How did he get there? Well, he was not quite sure. He had never planned on davenning there on Yom Kippur; an hour-long walk in scorching heat on a fast day did not seem like the greatest idea. But somehow, he deiced to make the trek, and after davenning Shacharis, Musaf, and Mincha in the famed Tzemach Tzedek Shul, he made his way to the now packed Kotel for Neilah.

Thousands were there alongside him dressed in white, solemnly praying at the conclusion of the holiest day of the year. It was, in a word, awesome.

The fast was over; it was time to return home. Dovid was working his way through the crowd when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Excuse me sir, what time…”

“Darren?!”

“Rabbi Dovid?!”

The scene was theatrical in its absurdity. Out of literally thousands of options, the one man Darren chooses to ask for the time was none other then is long forgotten friend, Rabbi Dovid!

“What are you doing here?” asked Darren.

“What are you doing here?” came the immediate response.

Darren, as it turned out, had joined a program with little Jewish study or practice. Desperately wishing for a more spiritual experience in the Holy Land, Darren made his way to the Kotel for Yom Kippur.

Dovid and Darren met once again a few days later in Jerusalem, where they rekindled their friendship, discussed ways of strengthening Darren’s Judaism, and resolved to keep in contact.

We all love a good miracle story, a tale with supernatural circumstances that astounds and shocks, one that forces us to look above and beyond our natural senses. Well, this story might not be a miracle. Perhaps it was pure chance that the dean of the college chose to break his general rule. Maybe it was coincidence that two men met at the Kotel. But for Darren and Dovid, this was a miracle.

Perhaps such is life in general: a series of seemingly random, arbitrary events, which, beneath the surface, are truly miraculous in nature.