Eikev: 5782 - Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld with a wonderful story for the weekly parsha from his grandfather, the Rav of Jerusalem Rabbi Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld. At the conclusion of Rabbi Betzalel Mizrachi's daily Daf Yomi class in…

00:01 Speaker 1 Please, Rabbi Sonnenfeld.

00:06 Speaker 2 They tell a story about the rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld. Once, he was walking through one of the neighborhoods that were new at the time, outside the Old City, and saw a little girl sitting in a corner crying. He went over and asked her why she was crying. No one had come to pick her up from kindergarten. So he said, “Would you like me to take you home?” He took her hand and led her home. When he brought her inside, he understood what had happened. Her mother was dangerously ill and lying in bed. She couldn’t take care of the children, and apparently she had asked someone to pick the girl up, but for some reason that person had forgotten. When he saw the situation at home and her condition, he blessed her with a full recovery and blessed her that she would merit to bring this daughter to the chuppah. Years passed, and the girl grew up. She reached the age for shidduchim, and various matches were suggested, but she turned down every one with one pretext or another. They were respectable matches, but she always found some reason to decline. Time passed—one year, then another. Meanwhile, she had younger brothers and sisters, and they were waiting for her. Eventually there was no choice. As is customary when a younger brother or sister marries before an older sibling, they had to ask her forgiveness and permission. And that’s what they did. When they asked whether she agreed, she readily said yes. Her two younger sisters then married. After that, several of her brothers asked as well; each time she agreed, and they married too. Eventually all her brothers and sisters were married, and she was still single, in her thirties—which in Jerusalem at that time was considered a very advanced age. After all her siblings had married, a shidduch was suggested to her, and she agreed immediately. No one understood what had happened.

02:40 Speaker 2 Suddenly, as soon as a match was suggested, she agreed without making any inquiries or anything. They didn’t know why. The day after the sheva brachos, her mother passed away. At the funeral, the daughter who had just married eulogized her mother. In front of everyone, she asked her mother’s forgiveness for the distress she had caused her by not marrying until then, and explained why she had done it. The blessing the rabbi of Jerusalem had given her mother—that she would merit to bring this daughter to the chuppah—had been etched in her memory. She wanted her mother to merit bringing all her children to the chuppah. So she had refused every proposal until all her brothers and sisters had married and her mother had merited to bring them to the chuppah. Then, when the first shidduch was suggested to her, she accepted. It’s true that she had caused her mother distress, but she had done it for a good reason. Still, she had caused her distress, so she asked her forgiveness.

03:57 Speaker 3 That takes great strength.