Kitchen Miracles

However, it’s important to know that emuna and thanking Hashem works for EVERYTHING. Moreover, we need to ask Hashem for everything, without feeling ashamed over “bothering” Hashem over even the smallest things in our lives. 

If Hashem was a human king, then we would be correct. After all, the President can only deal with the biggest, most global problems, and the Supreme Court handles only the toughest cases – after all, we are only flesh and blood, and we have limited available time. 

But Hashem is infinite, and manages billions and zillions of creatures, including the smallest detail of our everyday lives, in mind-blowing detail. He is not limited in any way. Therefore, Hashem WANTS that we should turn to Him with our every need. 

There is a story that Rabbi Natan of Breslev once came to Rebbe Nachman and his shirt was missing a button. Rebbe Nachman said, “Have you asked Hashem to send you a button?” Rabbi Natan asked incredulously, “I have to ask Hashem for a BUTTON?”  Rebbe  Nachman  retorted,  “What, is it beneath your dignity?!” 

In this light I am happy to present you with some real stories about everyday, and not–so–everyday, miracles of “the smaller things in life.” 

The Miracle Fridge 

The first story was told recently by Rabbi Arush by one of his students in the Yeshiva. On the Friday night before, the husband came home to find his wife stressed and upset. “The fridge and freezer are dead! I didn’t realize it before, but it clearly hasn’t been working for hours already. All our food is going to spoil and I don’t even know what we’ll have for Shabbat lunch besides challah and cholent!”  

After assessing the situation and finding that his wife was correct, they strengthened each other. They decided to each do the Chok Todah – after all, what did they have to lose? They thanked Hashem for the money they would need to spend on a new fridge, and the money they would lose in all the food that would spoil, the lost time and energy, how difficult it is that it died on Shabbat when they can’t even try to fix the situation quickly or move most items to a neighbor’s fridge, etc.  

And guess what? THE FRIDGE STARTED WORKING AGAIN!!! 

I don’t know about you, but I have NEVER heard of a fridge that died for hours that suddenly started working again… 

Eggs for Passover 

The next story comes from this Corona year 5780/2020, just before Passover. Every year there is a great need for eggs before Passover, since they need to be bought before the holiday and should not be bought on the holiday itself because of issues with the stamping on the eggs, besides which Passover cooking requires a crazy amount of eggs. Additionally, I personally boil up insane amounts of eggs so that in the pre-Passover craziness, at least we can sit down and eat some hard boiled eggs and get some fast and easy protein into us. If my doctor knew how many eggs I eat in those two weeks, he might have a heart attack… 

However, this year in Israel and I believe around the world, there simply were no eggs to be found!  

The exact cause of the problem is unknown to me, but the reality was clear: NO EGGS. Small amounts of eggs would come into a store and be bought basically instantly. Even more awful was the long lines to get into grocery stores, where only so many people could come in at a time. I heard many stories of people waiting 3 hours to get into the store, only to find that the eggs were long gone… 

So here I was, boiling up my last dozen eggs, absolutely freaked out. So, I said to myself, “Rabbi Arush said to do the Chok Todah on any suffering we have… so I am going to do it on the fact that I have no eggs!” My husband balked when he heard. I was insistent: “For me, Passover without eggs is suffering! I simply must have eggs! If Rabbi Natan can pray about a button, then I can do the Chok Todah for eggs!” 

Within 2 days, I had all 8 dozen eggs I needed safely in my fridge. Not only that, but I had incredible Divine assistance finding them. My husband had to run all over the city to buy them, one, two, or three at a time, but never once did he wait outside of a store. Even more, a number of stores even agreed to save them for us! Granted the desperation for eggs, that in and of itself was a minor miracle! 

I joked to my mom, “I said Psalm 100 8 times, and I got 8 cartons of eggs!”  

Then my husband said, “Well, I want to eat more eggs than usual this year. We need more than normal!” So I said Psalm 100 4 more times – and by the next day we had 4 more cartons of eggs – and then I said, enough already… I have no more room in the fridge!!! 

Salvation in the Kitchen 

The last story happened to me today, and it is only incidentally related to the kitchen, but I still think it’s worth mentioning. I accidentally forgot my cell phone at home, and then while making a delivery of Rabbi Arush books, got delayed for hours. Even more strange, where I was there was no phone of any sort! Nor was there a clock. I had no idea what time it was, and I had no ability to tell my husband what happened to me. 

Finally, I was able to leave and started the long walk home. Along the way, I stopped by a friend and used her phone to tell my husband that I was OK and on the way home, just so he wouldn’t be frantic. As I continued on my way, I thought to myself of the hell that was waiting for me at home. My husband had clearly picked up the girls from preschool hours before, and now, where was Imma to feed and take care of them? Normally in similar situations, I came home to the kids starving, and my husband yelling at me for taking so long, for forgetting my phone, for not fulfilling my duties as wife and mother, and not letting him go for his normal afternoon nap… (he works late hours and gets up early to help with the kids, so he makes it up during the middle of the day). 

I laughed, remembering a funny story Rabbi Arush once told, about when he forgot his cell phone in the car on the way to a class, and the driver was very late to pick him up. “The Rabbanit is for sure trying to call me over and over, and what is going to wait for me on the phone when I finally get to it, while I try to explain why I didn’t answer all this time…” 

So, I decided to just thank Hashem for whatever greeted me at home while walking home. Thank you Hashem that surely my husband will be livid, thank you Hashem that it is so crazy late, thank you Hashem that I forgot my cell phone specifically now when I needed it so badly… please help me just to accept it all happily and with a smile. You did this to me, You made me forget the cell phone, You set up the circumstances… I just want to accept it with emuna and say thank you… 

I walked into my kitchen, and only realized the magnitude of the miracle some hours later. My husband did not say one word to me. No complaining about picking up the girls when it’s my job, no remarks about forgetting the phone, nothing. He was busy making grilled cheese sandwiches for him and them, and the girls were loving it. He even offered me a sandwich when I walked in the door! No yelling, no complaining, no blaming, no fighting, no cranky kids… in short, I said thank you and all the suffering was cancelled!