We all remember the famous Gemara (Brachos 6a) about Klal Yisrael wears Tefillin (the last Passuk in Parashas Bo) and at the same time Hashem, too, “Wears Tefillin.” Our Tefillin speak about Hashem, teaching Hashem’s Oneness, and Hashem’s Tefillin, as it were, tell about us, His People, and our uniqueness. We are גוי אחד בארץ, one nation upon the earth.
Listen to this Fantastic story about our achdus and Hashem’s response.
Rafi was only 17, and he was looking for a mission. He had been reading about the Middah of Chesed and taking responsibility for fellow Jews, and he now wanted to put it into action.
And then it happened.
He was sitting on the bus in Yerushalayim on the way to Yeshiva while listening (together with all the other passengers) to the bus driver’s radio. Staring out of the window, he heard a sudden break in the program. “Dear listeners, we have to cut in with a live broadcast. A ten-year-old boy has come into the studio in crisis. Can people please listen to this and help!”
The boy gets onto the radio and starts crying: “I am one of five children. My father died a year ago, and my mother is not coping. The Electricity Company just shut off our electricity because we owe 1,800 Shekel. Can anybody please help us?!” The radio host cut in and said, “Dear listeners, if anyone is listening and is able to help, please call our radio station.” He gave the phone number, repeated it several times, and the show went on. (Only in Israel!)
Rafi sat frozen. Moments later, he sprang out of his seat and signaled to get off. Right after descending from the bus, he found himself at a payphone (this was before cellphones), dialing the number of the station. “Hi, my name is Rafi. I was listening to your show. I heard the 10-year-old orphan. I will raise the money.” With that, Rafi put the phone down.
Rafi was energized. He started running from store to store, from person to person. It turns out that many people had heard about the orphan’s plea – and many gave him small donations. Some 10 shekel, others 50. Slowly but surely, he started building up his own little private Kupah… The radio station put out more and more messages: “There is a boy named Rafi who is collecting in Yerushalayim for the orphan who came in yesterday… please open your hearts and purses!” Wildfire. Rafi went into a furniture store, and the owner, after asking, “are you Rafi?” after verifying, pulled out seven 100 shekel bills. “I was waiting for a worthy cause to give to!” Soon enough, all 1,800 Shekel was raised, with a little to spare.
Rafi made his way crosstown to the Radio station, knocked on the door, and handed in the envelope. “What is your name?” “My name is Rafi. The last name doesn’t matter – we are all Jews, and we are all family.” With that, Rafi left.
*
Fast forward ten years.
Rafi is now married and learning in Kollel. Finances are not easy for many people who choose to dedicate their lives to learning Torah. For Rafi, it was doubly hard, and he had just received an astronomical electricity bill that he simply couldn’t pay. 3,800 Shekel!! And the IEC had just sent him a final warning before shutdown. The winter had been cold in Yerushalayim, and the heating had gone through the roof ????. He simply couldn’t pay.
While making himself a coffee in the Yeshiva dining Hall, Rafi was telling his friend about his predicament. As he was telling his friend, a stranger, also making a coffee, “couldn’t help but overhear.”
Rafi feels a tap on his shoulder, and the stranger says, “Could you please step outside for a moment? I have something I need to ask you.” Rafi obliges. “I couldn’t help overhearing your electricity bill. I have a strange family agreement. My aunt – Doda Shoshana – told me that if I ever hear of anyone who is having trouble paying their electricity bill, she would like to help them out. Do you happen to have the bill on you?” In a trance, Rafi pulls a well-thumped bill out of his pocket. “Of course.”
The stranger takes the bill, goes out to make a short phone call to Doda Sarah, and comes back a few minutes later. “The bill has been paid in full. You need not worry about it any more!”
Almost crying at the crazy hashgacha and a little stunned at why Doda Sarah had made this strange request to her family, Rafi turns to the stranger: “I have no words to thank you and your Doda Sarah! I would love to have her number and thank her in person!”
Rafi gets onto the phone with Doda Sarah and makes up a time to come with his wife to see her and thank her in person.
*
Rafi and his wife Devorah arrive at a well-furnished apartment, and the conversation begins. It turns out that Aunt Doda hadn’t always been a lady of means. Her fortune had come to her only relatively recently, and, in truth, when her husband had passed away many years earlier, she had been quite poor.
“But why specifically pay other people’s electrical bills? Sounds funny, but there are many ways to help people,” asked a suspecting and hopeful Rafi.
“Well, like I said, about ten years ago, I was a young mother of 5, and our electricity had been cut off. Someone anonymous collected money for us, and I was so touched that I made a promise to Hashem. If I ever hear of people who have trouble paying their electricity, it is part of my shlichus to help them out!”
Rafi, trembling, asked the lady his question – “Do you know who it was who collected for you?”
“All we know is that his name was Rafi.”
Rafi looked at his wife and then at the lady. “Did this Rafi, by any chance, collect 1,950 Shekel for you?”
The lady looked at him, shocked. “Yes. We needed 1,800 Shekel, but Rafi collected extra. How did you know?”
“I know, you see, because my name is Rafi.”
*
True story. Only among Klal Yisrael. One People. Together we left Mitzrayim. We became a Nation. The Korban Pesach is eaten “together” as a “chabura.” We are all counted. We are all one, part of the Klal. When we live up to that achdus, Hashem responds with special hashgacha, with special supervision.
מי כעמך ישראל גוי אחד בארץ.
