A SINCERE CRY

By D Chaim

Remember me? It’s me, Mendel, who found a special clock in my grandfather’s shed (issue 983). It is an amazing clock that in a moment had transported me to the Kinus HaShluchim in Russia. Don’t tell me you don’t remember … nu, the Kinus is from a time when we are on the threshold of the Geula and even the Russian government helps the Rebbe’s shluchim and respects them. That’s that, I’m sure you remember.

After I returned to my grandfather’s shed, I calculated again and set the clock’s dials properly. I intended on pressing the buttons and instantly reaching my destination but an inadvertent motion of my left hand made some object stick to my sleeve. A quick glance and I saw that it was an old rectangular sticker. I peeled it off my sleeve and read the two words on it: AD MASAI?!

At once, I found myself in the middle of a typical village. Around me walked gentile Russian farmers. I went over to one of them to find out what era I was in. The farmer scratched his head but could not remember communists. I realized I had made another mistake. Since everything is by Divine Providence, I asked whether there were any Jews in the area and he showed me an old house on one of the streets.

Before I managed to plan my next move, there were knocks at the door. R’ Moshe hurried to open it and a group of men entered the small home. The guests looked distinguished. One of them in particular stood out and I could see he was their leader. I heard R’ Moshe apologize to them, saying he was just about to go out to the market to buy some food. He returned a short while later with a loaf of bread and some vegetables, cheese and milk. They spent a few days in his house, learning and davening. Throughout that time, R’ Moshe took care of all their needs, selling his few remaining belongings for this purpose.

R’ Moshe said, “That is the town of the Baal Shem Tov. Ask him to bless me.” Through the narrow space between the door and the door post I noticed a handsome man who said to him, “I am the Baal Shem Tov.”

A loud cry interrupted my thoughts. I saw R’ Moshe’s children sitting on the floor and wailing. They were starving and their father did not find anything of value to sell after everything had been sold when he hosted the Baal Shem Tov and his Chassidim. R’ Moshe sat at the table and leaned his head in his hands. It looked as though he could not bear the crying of his hungry children.

I shuddered. I felt as though R’ Moshe’s cry had burst forth from the depths of his heart and I hoped with all my heart that his salvation would come.

“What extraordinary vodka,” he marveled. “I haven’t drunk anything like that in a long time. Tomorrow I’ll be back,” he said as he pushed a coin into R’ Moshe’s hand.

Then one day, Ivan came and asked R’ Moshe to go with him to the forest. R’ Moshe went out and I was nervous, but not long afterward he came back with a sack full of gold coins, Ivan’s gift.

I pressed the buttons on the time piece though not before thanking R’ Moshe for his hospitality, and I returned to the dusty shed. I was about to walk out but I suddenly noticed a book lying on one of the boxes. It was a book of stories about the Baal Shem Tov.

“Now that he was rich R’ Moshe hurried off to Mezhibuzh. The Baal Shem Tov welcomed him and said that in heaven there was a treasure waiting for him that had not reached him since he, R’ Moshe, was satisfied with little and had never asked for more. Therefore, the Baal Shem Tov and his talmidim had gone to his house in order to empty it of anything of value. This was to get R’ Moshe to ask Hashem for a plentiful livelihood. His request was fulfilled and he became a rich man.”

The power of prayer is enormous. Like in the story of R’ Moshe who asked for a livelihood for his children’s sake and who became rich, any Jew, especially a child, a soldier in Tzivos Hashem, who asks and prays sincerely, from the depths of his heart, to Hashem that He bring the Geula, makes a “commotion” in heaven. The prayer has the power to bring the Geula in the blink of an eye and to bring salvation to the Jewish people and the entire world. It will also enable me to meet you in the Geula shleima at the third Beis HaMikdash.