THE REBBE TOOK CARE OF EVERYTHING

The trip was smooth and uneventful and this was obviously the Rebbe ’s doing. The Rebbe has broad shoulders for all of us. I saw divine providence in even the smallest details, like the fact that the children always fell asleep as they should… It was all amazingly easy. It unified us, it built us up, it strengthened us, and this experience is constantly alive and branded within us. * Chaim and Elinor Belila share their Hakhel experience

By Yaron Tzvi

Chaim and Elinor Belila live on a moshav with two little children. They met many years ago as they were becoming interested in Chabad through the Mimaal Mamash center in Tel Aviv.

At the end of 5770, Chaim went from Beer Sheva, from a traditional home, to Tel Aviv to study communications and cinema. Elinor lived and worked there as a social worker for a nursing service. She came from an irreligious home in Petach Tikva. Both of them became mekuravim to Chabad and met at Mimaal Mamash. They married in 5773 and moved to the moshav Gamzu.

“The idea of flying to the Rebbe was something we spoke about often. It was our dream since we became involved but the time finally came to make it a reality. I got a push to fly during the Hakhel year from two dear people, R’ Itai Gabbai of Yaffo, my mashpia, who had also urged me to study in the yeshiva in Ramat Aviv to acquire a broader Jewish-Chassidic education before I got married, and R’ Ami Baram, the Rebbe’s shliach in Gamzu. They told me about Hakhel and that this is the time to go. So my wife and I decided we’re going.

One of our concerns, of course, was money, and we even considered dropping the idea altogether. But something kept us going. We knew that children under two don’t pay for tickets and our children, Talya and Yonatan, met that criterion, so that was a good start. Then, surprisingly, the bank contacted us and said we could have an interest free loan as a member of an organization of teachers. We immediately took the loan and in our minds this was it, we were going to the Rebbe!

“From that point on, everything went smoothly,” said Elinor. “We got visas, passports, and tickets within two weeks.

“There were three things that prompted this trip: the significance of a Hakhel year, the time we were traveling – 12-13 Tammuz, and the amazing bank loan that came at a time when there was no charge for tickets for our children.

“When we arrived in Crown Heights, at first we stayed at Eshel for a few days and then at R’ Gavriel Avichzor’s Merkaz Dovrei Ivrit with whom I had been in contact ahead of time. There was a special feeling of unusual siyata d’Shmaya. Here in Eretz Yisroel, I am afraid to stay alone with the children for even two hours when my husband is in shul, but there it was so easy. The traveling, the waiting for the connecting flight, for nine hours!

“At Moshav Gamzu the local women are not Chabad and they said it was crazy that I was traveling with babies, that even if someone paid them, they wouldn’t do it. They called me the heroine, but the trip was so easy that it was clear it was the Rebbe’s kochos. The Rebbe has broad shoulders for all of us. I saw divine providence in even the smallest details, like the fact that the children always fell asleep as they should… It was all amazingly easy. It unified us, it built us up, it strengthened us and this experience is constantly alive and branded within us,” said Elinor emotionally.

“Another amazing thing that happened is that when we decided to go, I thought of renting out our apartment in Gamzu in order to earn some money that would help us with the trip. I was nervous about what kind of tenants we would get, but in the end, Hashem sent us a wonderful couple who rented our apartment for precisely the three weeks that we were away. Thanks to staying in our home, they changed their plans of moving to Tel Aviv (we were a stopover on their way to move there). They canceled their contract and remained to live at Gamzu and now it’s an opportunity to be mekarev them to Chabad. So the help and benefit are mutual. Hashem’s ways are remarkable.

“As for the trip, I want to tell families that want to go but are nervous, there’s nothing to fear! Going to the Rebbe is the safest thing in the world. When you have a true desire everything works out, easily.”

Chaim said, “It was our first trip and we handled our ‘plunge into the water’ by arriving there with everything fully arranged. We are very happy we did it this way.

“The truth is that the first two days were a bit strange for me, but the Rebbe wrote me an encouraging letter in the Igros Kodesh about a ‘change you are experiencing.’ I was very moved by this personal comment and internalized the message in the letter. Everything, in fact, worked out.

“I heard a farbrengen of the Rebbe’s from 13 Tammuz in Yiddish and didn’t understand any of it, but it made me happy. It’s hard to describe the incredible atmosphere in Beis Chayeinu. The minyanim, the singing of Yechi, the nonstop activity in this place that is always hopping. They told me on Shabbos to be next to the aron kodesh and the Rebbe’s bima for davening, and I tried. You sense G-dliness there. I saw the children come in and proclaim Yechi with unusual chayus.

“Our children made the difference on this trip. Without them, it would not have been the same. We saw their growth, their development, they got to be with the Rebbe and for us there was suddenly this new dimension of time which enabled us to look at them and see their process. It really did a lot for us.

“Those were three weeks that solidified the family, just by being there, at this G-dly factory, this assembly line of light and chayus. Don’t think twice; go to 770.”