Community Magazine November 2008

46 Community magazine It Happened to Me! W hen I purchased the airline tickets in May, I thought I had planned it all out to perfection. My parents and I would travel to Israel in August, when my newest grandchild was expected, so that if it would be a boy, we could attend and celebrate the berit together. As the famous proverb says, “Man plans, and Gd laughs.” Hashem had other ideas, as my daughter-in-law deliv- ered her first son one month early. The newborn infant required urgent medical attention and spent some time in the ICU. This meant that we had no way of knowing when the berit would take place. My son’s rabbis ruled unequivocally that the berit must be performed as soon as the mohel deemed him fit, and it could not be delayed even a day for family members arriving from abroad. So, we just had to wait, however anxiously. Finally, the mohel determined that the boy would be healthy enough for the procedure on Wednesday morning, the day before my scheduled arrival. My reservation was for a Tuesday night flight with a 12-hour stopover in Prague. Touchdown in Tel-Aviv was scheduled for early Thursday morning, seem- ingly leaving no hope of my attending my grandson’s berit on Wednesday morning. The mohel reconsidered his decision after another examina- tion on Tuesday morning. He felt that the baby needed a bit more time to develop, and therefore planned the berit for late Wednesday afternoon – just several tantalizing hours before our scheduled arrival in Israel! My hopes were shattered – but not completely. “Everything is in Hashem’s hands,” I kept telling myself. “If my parents and I are meant to be there at the baby’s berit , Hashem will find a way.” At the time, I pinned my hopes on the remote possibility that the airline would allow us on an earlier flight from Prague to Israel. This earlier flight could have perhaps gotten us to Israel just in time for the berit by the skin of our teeth. We hoped, we prayed, and we prayed some more. The odds were heavily stacked against us, but that wouldn’t matter if Hashem was on our side. Somehow, He could get us there. We didn’t know how, but we knew it could happen. In the end, whether there was room on the earlier flight from Prague proved immaterial. At 9:00 am Tuesday morning, as I made my final prepa- rations for the trip, I received a frantic phone call from my mother. “Did they call you yet?” she asked, hardly containing her excitement. “Did who call me yet?” I replied. “Our flight has been canceled, and they rerouted me and your father on a direct Delta flight this evening!” The direct Tuesday night flight would land in Israel with some time to spare before the late Wednesday afternoon berit . My heart began racing. Could it be that I, too, would be placed on that flight? Had my prayers been answered? Would Delta let me on the flight with my parents? I immediately phoned the airline and begged to be placed on my parents’ flight. Once again, Hashem came through for us, and the airline agreed. We arrived at my daughter’s home in Israel two hours before the berit , and were treated to an exhilarating and festive simha . Nothing is beyond Hashem. If He could create heaven and earth, He could most certainly find a way to get me across the ocean so I could attend the berit of my dear grandson! Mrs. Mozelle Seruya Perfect Timing Your Stories of Everyday Miracles