Gas & Geula

I just found out the hard way that when an Israeli company wants to get something done, they ain’t gonna stop at nothin’ to get ‘er done, even if it means using mafia-esque tactics. It turns out that every five years, the gas company sends over a technician to check the gas line to the stove and change it out. A few weeks ago, the company made an appointment with my husband to send the technician.

The morning of the appointment, I remembered that the technician was supposed to stop by – that is, until I forgot five minutes later. So I left. When I returned, I saw Gasman walking over to his Gasmobile. I stopped him and told him that I am home now, so he can come in. “Nope,” he shook his head. “But, you’re right here. Can’t you just come in for a minute?” I was getting annoyed. “No. I have other appointments. You’ll have to call the company to reschedule,” he muttered, as he hopped into his car. Seriously? I rolled my eyes as he sped away to fight crime and restore gas and order to the masses.

Two can play at this game, I thought. Gasman came by another two times and left two love letters, telling me how much he missed me and how sorry he was for bailing on me (notices letting me know that he was here. Again.) He even left roses. I decided to keep the roses and ignore the love letters, because I like playing hard to get.

Hold on – I think I heard an intelligent question from someone in the audience. What was that, you asked? Why didn’t the gas company call me to reschedule an appointment? Well, as I wrote in “Savta Psycho” – that would make too much sense! What are we, in America, here?

Since I didn’t call my beloved superhero and beg him to come back, he had his revenge. Yesterday, I arrived home with the kids in the late afternoon, ready to make dinner. I went to turn on the stove, and voila! No gas. I tried a different burner. Nothing. I tried all four burners and finally understood what the stove was trying to tell me: “Woman, you’z outta gas!”

You’ve got to be kidding me. I immediately called the gas company, and of course they were closed. The kids were all excited for macaroni and cheese, as the supermarket finally started carrying the cheddar cheese from the States after six months of not having it in stock. There was almost rioting in my house when I told the kids I couldn’t make it.

I called my husband and told him. He didn’t believe me. He was convinced that it was because I didn’t pay the bill on time. I told him that I did. He didn’t believe that, either. I went to the neighbor’s house and knocked on their door to ask if I could use their stove. No one answered.

In the end, we had grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. It was actually nice, not having to do so many dishes. Maybe I’ll pull the “outta gas” card more often.

Later that evening, when I had time to think, I realized that I had many opportunities to get upset and frustrated. Sure, the gas company was playing dirty. But, then I realized – isn’t this little aggravation much more preferable than something worse? So I couldn’t use the stove for one night. So what? Thank You, Hashem, for this minor tribulation!

I also realized that this was a huge opportunity to teach my kids emuna by example. If I would have reacted negatively and been upset, blaming the gas company and their personally offended technician, what would that have shown my kids? It would have shown them that I believe there are other forces in control besides Hashem, and that it’s okay to tell people off when they do something that upsets you.

Believe me, many times I have to remind myself that it’s not okay to let someone have it when they do something inane – but we’re talking about my kids here. Instead of jumping on the complaining bandwagon, blaming Gasman for my troubles, I found myself telling the kids that this is what Hashem wants, and it’s really not a big deal.

Maybe there was a golem who took my place last night, because that sure doesn’t sound like me! But, you know what? I realized that I saved myself tons and tons of stress and aggravation, simply by accepting the reality for what it was, and not trying to fight it!

This is exactly what Rav Arush refers to when he says he’s already living with Mashiach. It means that, even though we haven’t experienced the complete Geula yet, it doesn’t mean that we can’t live with a Mashiach consciousness! And, what exactly is this Mashiach consciousness?

It’s emuna! Everything Hashem does is with a purpose and is for your best!

Everyone is waiting for Mashiach to come and rescue them from their troubles, just like a real superhero. Although he will bring us to another and better reality, it doesn’t mean that all of our problems will simply and instantly vanish. Yet, the difference will be that at that time, we won’t need emuna, because we’ll see clearly that Hashem does everything for the best.

Until then, let’s activate our own superhero powers and use emuna to save ourselves from, well, ourselves!