PURIM TURNABOUT

MIRACLE BIRTH

I heard this story from a friend who heard it from the person it happened to. A shliach was busy doing what shluchim do and he was successful. There was just one source of aggravation. There was a certain Litvishe fellow, a man of means and influence, who did all in his power to interfere with Chabad’s work. What made this man’s opposition even more painful was the fact that his name was Yosef Yitzchok, since he had been born through a bracha from the Rebbe.

His parents had waited for years for children, but all the woman’s pregnancies ended in miscarriage. Top doctors oversaw her pregnancies, but nothing they tried helped.

The couple spoke to the local community rabbi who, although he served the entire community, was an ardent Chassid of the Rebbe and tried to direct everyone who came for blessings to the Rebbe. He advised them to get a bracha from the Rebbe. Having no other recourse, the couple flew to New York to get a bracha.

When they had yechidus, they asked for a bracha for children. The Rebbe told them to be particular about observing the laws of family purity and blessed them with a son. He asked that they name him Yosef Yitzchok for the Previous Rebbe.

A year went by and the couple had a son whom they named Yosef Yitzchok. The child grew up and became a successful man. However, not only did he not feel gratitude towards the Rebbe and Lubavitch, his Litvishe chinuch made him hate anything associated with Chabad. He directed this hatred towards the shliach in his city.

SUDDEN ARREST

Then one day, without prior warning, Yosef Yitzchok was slandered. Because of the suddenness of his arrest, as well as the fact that on his official papers his name “Yosef Yitzchok” did not appear, but rather it was a gentile name that he used for business purposes, the police did not inform the Jewish community of his arrest as they usually did in this country.

What would normally have taken place is that the Jewish leadership would have done all it could to have the Jew released on bail until the trial. However, due to the lack of timely notice, the man was taken to jail like a criminal. Consequently, his ability to go free until the end of the legal process was complicated and nearly impossible. At this point the community leadership was afraid to get involved due to the publicity that had developed around the complex case and because of the status of the incarcerated Jew, i.e. the criminal.

It was Erev Purim when the shliach heard what happened. He hurried over to the jail and asked permission to enter so he could read the Megilla. According to the rules, the prisoner was not permitted visitors until the conclusion of the proceedings. However, due to the importance of this religious matter, and the connections the shliach had with the prison chief, he was allowed entry but was not allowed to talk to the inmate. “Just read the Megilla and leave,” said the warden.

The shliach agreed to the condition, but pointed out that there were certain parts of the Megilla that the listener repeated. The warden said that was okay.

THE STORY OF THE MEGILLA REVISITED

The shliach walked down the long corridor leading to the cells. Yosef Yitzchok, seeing the shliach whom he had harassed come to visit him and enable him to perform the mitzva of Megilla, was mortified. Fortunately for him, he was not allowed to say anything, which prevented him from further embarrassment.

The shliach read the Megilla which took about half an hour. At the end he read the final lines, “And Mordechai the Jew was second to the king Achashverosh, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by most of his fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all their offspring.” In the same breath, the shliach said, “Do you need to speak to anyone? What needs to be done to have you exonerated?”

Yosef Yitzchok, who was a seasoned businessman, immediately caught on and said, “Speak to Yankel and ask him … and Moshe can also help … my lawyer is Mordechai from the Shoshanas Yaakov shul and tell my wife that I hope all will be straightened out soon with G-d’s help.”

The shliach left and did what he could to help Yosef Yitzchok. Thanks to his contacting those people mentioned, Yosef Yitzchok was able to prove his innocence and he was released.

Since that Purim, Yosef Yitzchok has done a “turnabout” from being a bitter antagonist to one of the big supporters of Chabad’s activities. As people know, “True mesirus nefesh and Ahavas Yisroel, even for someone you know well, even for an enemy and one who seeks to undermine you, exists only in Lubavitch.”