Parshas Vayeira 5787
Updated: 10 minutes ago
ותשב מנגד ותשא את קלה ותבך... וישמע אלהים את קול הנער (כא-טז)
MASHAL: A family lost their father young, r"l, leaving behind a widow and three daughters. Beyond the grief was another lingering pain: Who would recite Kaddish at their father's grave? The first year, they arranged a minyan for the yahrtzeit. But as time went on, those who were once eager to help weren’t as easily motivated and it became increasingly difficult to arrange for ten men to gather at the grave on the day of the yahrtzeit. The daughters were heartbroken.
One year, the sisters stood alone beside his grave. The cemetery was silent. No crowd. No minyan. Just three daughters longing to honor their father along with their mother. And then suddenly, one sister broke down. Weeping uncontrollably, she cried out to Hashem: “We ask only from You. Please let us merit ten sons who will stand here and say Kaddish for our father!” It was a cry from the depths of her heart.
Years passed. All three daughters married. The first had four sons, the second had four, and the third had two; exactly ten boys! A complete minyan! Afterward, they primarily had daughters. Those ten boys grew up to become the very minyan prayed for beside that lonely grave.
NIMSHAL: When Hagar was stranded in the wilderness without water, she wept. The Torah tells us that Hashem heard "the youth’s voice" and opened her eyes to reveal a well. Even when the natural options seem exhausted, tefillah from the heart opens pathways we could have never anticipated. Chazal teach, that a sincere, tearful plea from the depths of the heart is never turned away.