Inspiring Stories and Trusting Your Path

Today I want to share stories of how we find our unique path, and if it is a challenging path, and you are not sure, trust the messages and signs all around you.  This Jewish story below is complex, there are certain laws that are followed completely, even if they do not make logical sense.  These laws are what has helped Jewish people survive as a nation, and although to others seem not to understand their significance or importance, these laws are what keep us completely connected to our soul and our purpose in this world.

GlamourizeNow 
A couple that had been married for fifteen years without being blessed by children, decided to divorce, despite their harmonious marriage. Shortly after the get was completed, the woman discovered that she was expecting a child. The joyous news had a very sad side, as the husband was a Kohein and was forbidden to remarry his wife. Their pain and heartbreak knew no bounds. The husband described his painful situation to Rav Chaim Kanievesky Shlita, who told him that he couldn’t see any way that he could remarry, but suggested that the man consult with his father in-law, Ha’gaon Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv Zatzal. The man went to Rav Elyashiv and repeated his tale. R’ Elyashiv told him with great pain that it’s definitely forbidden for a Kohein to remarry his former wife. “The only thing I can tell you is that you should go to the Kosel HaMaaravi, and daven to Hashem that he should save you.”

The Kohein regarded R’ Elyashiv’s words as a direct instruction, and immediately went straight to the Kosel. He approached the stones and poured out his heart without restraint. After davening for a lengthy period of time, the Kohein felt a hand on his back. He turned around and saw an avreich talmid chacham, who inquired what had happened to him.

The Kohein repeated his story, and the stranger asked him, “Do you have a father?” The Kohein didn’t understand the point of the question, but he answered that of course he had a father. His father was very old and was living in a nursing home in America, and could barely communicate with those around him. “In my opinion, you should fly to America, and tell your father what has happened to you,” said the man and he turned to leave.

It didn’t seem to matter that the father’s condition made it almost impossible to communicate with him at all, and the avreich still
recommended the trip.

The Kohein reasoned that if Rav Elyashiv told him to go to the Kosel to daven, and if this stranger approached him while he was davening and advised him to fly to America, maybe it was worthwhile for him to go to America, and decided to heed this man’swords.

He arranged a flight, and a day and half later he was at his father’s side, in the nursing home. The medical staff had informed the son when he first arrived that his father had not uttered a word for many months, and that he shouldn’t expect his father to speak to him. The Kohein began telling his father the story, and his father didn’t respond,but seemed to be listening to what his son was saying.

As the son continued his story, he began crying uncontrollably. Then, unbelievably, his father began speaking and said clearly, “You are not my biological son, but you were adopted after the Holocaust. You do not have the status of a Kohein, and there is no reason that you couldn’t remarry your former wife!”( As recounted in the Sefer Barchi Nafshi)

FIND YOUR PATH,

TRUST YOUR PATH,

Coach Yulia

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