Heaven “CENT”

The generation post-Holocaust has a very special mission. That mission is to get closer to Hashem (the Almighty), to place Him at the forefront of our lives, and to think and speak of Him as well as act towards Him in positive ways. Developing a personal relationship with Hashem and recognizing Him in all that occurs can best be accomplished by speaking to Him in our own words, calling out to Him, being cognizant of how He communicates with us on a daily basis (i.e., spiritual awareness), and strengthening ourselves in the three key principles of emuna (faith). It is my hope that the true stories presented will, with G-d’s help, assist our readers to become more consistently aware of Him in our daily lives. Enjoy the initial story presented for the first time on Breslev Israel.

It was a bright and beautiful Sunday in sunny California. Our eldest son had, a few days prior, announced his intention to marry a girl he knew for a very short time. Understandably, I, as his mother, had many questions. As a ba’alas teshuva, a Jewish woman raised secular and discovering the true meaning of Judaism later in life, I was just learning how to remain calm and anxiety-free by way of the power of emuna. Thankfully, our eldest son was on board and growing in his connection to Hashem as well. So, I decided, before all else, to ask Hashem to give me a sign that, indeed, this union was what He wanted and that He was a partner in setting it up just at this opportune time when our son, his father, and I had made a commitment to study Torah, to learn to read Hebrew, and to grow in observance.

I spoke to G-d in my own words and expected, without a doubt, to receive an answer in some fashion. G-d has His ways:  Sometimes He leads us to open a book, and the answer is there. Sometimes a thought enters our mind when we least expect it or when we first wake up in the morning in a way that we intuitively know Hashem placed there as the answer to our question. Other times, He surprises us with a clarifying event or sends a human messenger with the answer. The mere act of speaking to Hashem calmed my nerves, and on that eventful Sunday He answered me in the most amazing way.

The story continues as follows:  Three of us (my daughter, my future daughter-in-law, and I) went shopping for dresses for the wedding at a retail store in the area. The bride-to-be had clipped a picture of the wedding dress she had decided she wanted and put it in her purse for reference. When we arrived at the store, she busied herself looking for a dress that would approximate what she had envisioned for herself. After several minutes of searching, she decided to pull out the picture she had in her purse. She proceeded to show it to the sales lady, who responded with a dubious look on her face, but then, on second thought, directed Liat, the future bride, to another rack. After perusing the wedding dresses there, Liat pulled one out. It matched exactly the one in the magazine clipping.

When it was time to place the order, it was determined that this dress was no longer in stock and could not be ordered. Interestingly, the one dress that was on the rack fit Liat perfectly with no alterations, so the decision was made to just purchase that one. When it was time to finalize the sale, the sales clerk discovered that because the dress was no longer in the system, she was unable to ring it up. As she thought about the dilemma, she remembered that the one on the rack was a returned item. She then recalled that a woman had returned the dress on the previous Friday. Being unable to ring up the sale because the dress was no longer available indicated that we had hit a stumbling block.  Hope was not lost as we were informed that the store’s policy in rare cases such as this was to offer the item for a single penny!!  Never in our wildest imagination could we conceive that the first store we visited would have the identical dress Liat desired, the perfect size, in need of no alterations, and the only one available simply because it had been returned two days previously. The culminating miracle, of course, was that it cost a mere penny, a coin we frequently deposit into a tzedaka or charity box. What a blessing for a family on a tight budget! How could this be? 

When minor miracles and uncanny occurrences make you wonder how an event could possibly happen, our first thought needs to be to look heavenward. Could there be any doubt that Hashem orchestrated this scenario?  It was at that precise moment that I remembered my question to Hashem, and I felt His embrace and His loving reassurance.  G-d wants to give us pleasure, both spiritual and material. Because He is the Ultimate Giver, He receives great pleasure in return when we acknowledge His communication with us. Without exception, everything in our lives, both the great and the small, is unequivocally from the One Above to Whom we owe the utmost gratitude. G-d smiles upon us, often with a sense of humor:   The Heavens, indeed, sent the Heaven Cent as a confirmation of Hashem’s ever-present personal involvement in our day-to-day lives.

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Lori is an educator and advisor, previously with the Los Angeles Unified School District, and is currently a certified life coach, writer, and spiritual mentor.