Caught by the Silver Badge

When we first read Rav Arush’s books, we think, “Wow this is amazing stuff.” Some of the miracle stories and examples are so explicit and seem to be the stuff made of spectacular movies.  Certainly, we think, these kinds of miracles can never happen to us!

 

I have to tell you all an amazing thing that just happened to me.  I was sitting at a meter and I saw the sign that said, “No Stopping from 4p.m. to 7p.m.” Nevertheless, like a good Jew who’s always in a hurry, I stopped there. I had to drop a package off to someone across the street. I called them, and they came out to pick it up.  I was still in the car, when 2 minutes later an inspector comes walking up to my car, his silver badge glistening around his neck. I roll down the window, and he says confidently, “The sign says no stopping or standing from 4p.m. to 7p.m.”  

 

 “I know,” I said. “I was just dropping off a package for someone, I was only here for a minute, and I’m leaving right now.”

 

“I have to write you a ticket,” he said.  “It says no stopping or standing from 4p.m. to 7p.m.”  He went on to say, “If you’re sitting, I have to write you a ticket.”

 

I lowered my head for minute, and said, “I’m sorry.  You’re right.  I definitely did the wrong thing.”

 

I saw him walking to the back of my car with his pad in hand, and was waiting for him to write down my license plate number.  But he walked past the back of my car.  And just kept walking.  And walking!!

 

It was such an amazing thing to me, because it was exactly Rav Arush’s words coming true!  In Garden of Emuna, we learn that there is no such thing as Double Jeopardy!  If we confess our sins to Hashem, he won’t punish us for them.

 

And he gives the EXACT example of someone being pulled over in a car, and instead of fighting with or trying to convince the officer (which only makes things worse), he does teshuva (atones for misdeeds).

 

It took a split second for Rav Arush’s words to kick in.  My knee-jerk response was, “I didn’t do anything wrong!”  Or really what I said was, “I was only here for a minute…just dropping something off (translated as “I didn’t do anything wrong!)  

 

In the next second however, I became a live character in Rav Arush’s book.  It was actually quite exciting!  “Let’s see if this works,” I said to myself.  That’s when I lowered my head, changed my tune, knew that I had to regret my misdeed, and voila!  The officer walked right past the back of my car and kept going!

 

When we do this, we are showing emuna that the situation comes from Hashem, and we are not fighting it.  Rav Arush says, “With emuna, we see any outcome for the best:  If the state trooper lets us off with a warning, then we’re certainly jumping for joy…”  (Garden of Emuna, P.103).

 

Later, as I thought about the change in the inspector’s mind, I saw so clearly that we are all puppets in Hashem’s hands.  Wow, I thought…just like that, he changed his mind. When Hashem heard me cleaving to the holy teachings of Rav Arush, and Rebbe Nachman of Breslev, he directed the “puppet” to walk the other way.

 

On one of Rabbi Brody’s CD’s, he tells a story that Rav Arush was in a car with a group of people, none of whom had their seat belts on.  They got pulled over.  Rav Arush was sitting in the back.  While the officer was talking to everybody, Rav Arush was doing teshuva in the back seat.  Everybody ended up getting a ticket except him!

 

Rav Arush lists three principals of emuna (ibid., P.102):

• Believe that our current predicament is from Hashem, and exactly what Hashem wants.
• Believe that what’s happening to us is for our ultimate good.
• Believe that everything in life has a reason and a purpose.

 

“If we’ve succeeded in remembering the above three lessons of emuna while focusing on Hashem, and we’ve avoided the pitfalls of anger, blame, and negative emotions, then we score an A-plus in emuna.  Passing the the test of emuna brings the rewards of happiness and emotional health in this world, and indescribable bliss in the world to come.” (ibid., P.103)

 

Would it be too much for you all if I told you that the exact same scenario repeated itself to my friend and her husband regarding a speeding infraction?  Just a few days after I told her my story.  It did!

 

May we all merit to see the mini miracles Hashem performs for us… And may Hashem guide us through the special teachers he sends us, to always cleave to Him.

 

 

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Hinda Sheva Lieberman M.S. Sp. Ed., is a practicing certified Life Coach for 8 years, with advanced coach training.   She specializes in partnering with women to achieve their spiritual and practical goals.  For more information, please see http://www.orthodoxjewishlifecoach.com/.  She can be reached at Hindys77@gmail.com.