Dear Friends,
In the midst of days that we have been horrified with terrible news, I would like to share a story that came to a very happy ending this week.
A year ago, a woman who lived in New York whom I never met, wrote to me on Facebook with an unusual request:
"Rabbi, whenever I see your beautiful children's pictures, I feel moved to write this message to you. I would like to request that you pray for me. I've been married for a long time and we don’t have any children, even though me and my husband don't have any problems.”
The first thought that came to my mind was the story that I heard first hand from a woman in our community. She was married for many years and wanted desperately to have children but wasn’t blessed with any. A friend suggested to her to visit the Rebbe. The Rebbe received her graciously, gave her a blessing, and suggested that she should start keeping the Mitzvah of Taharat Hamishpacha and use the Mikvah. Shortly after she and her husband started to followd this Mitzvah, they were blessed with a beautiful baby, who until today she calls, “The Rebbe’s boy.”
“We will definately add you to our prayers,” I wrote back to my new Facebook friend. “But I would recommend that you start following the laws of Taharat Hamishpacha, and may we hear good news".
To make a long story short, this week I got a message from the lady that she gave birth to healthy twins, a boy and a girl, with beautiful pictures attached.
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I don’t dismiss anymore the concept of Facebook “friends” or the idea of posting statuses or pictures; I know that any tool that can connect us could have startling results.
I just sat down and she started directly to tell her life story, as if she was waiting a long time to share it. She was born in the mid 20s to an observant Jewish family in Paris. At age 13, shortly after the war broke out, she was taken to a concentration camp, and eventually she arrived at Auschwitz. She went into the gas chambers, but moments before hundreds of Jews including her immediate family were gassed, she and another girl were taken out and her life was saved.