Daily Chidush: Miracle Story Of Teshuva, Tzdaka & Tefilla (10 Minutes MUST HEAR)

0:01Hello, how are you? I hope you had an amazing week. We're only a short while before Shabbat comes in, but I must give you this extraordinary chidush, a real-life story. You know, everyone keeps asking me for miracle stories, and even though, Baruch Hashem, they're happening every day, once in a while, they're so miraculous, they're so amazing, I just have to tell you. So this is actually live—it happened today. Now, as we learned in this week's parasha, Parashat Vayetze, after Yaakov Avinu...

1:01The Rasha, he goes to the yeshiva of Shem and Ever and learns there for 14 years of Torah. Fourteen years of Torah without sleeping, according to Chazal. This is something beyond human, something beyond our understanding. And we talked about it in this week's shiur; that's a couple of shiurim that are must-hears, but the chidush doesn't have to do with just this. After he finished the yeshiva, after he finished learning Torah for 14 years without sleeping, he falls asleep... he falls asleep and he has this dream that everyone knows about, and then he wakes up and realizes he has become scared because he acknowledges that this place is the place of God. It says in Chapter 28, verse 20: and He gave me bread to eat and clothes to wear, and if I return in peace to my father’s house, and Hashem will be my God, then this stone which I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.

2:09Then Yaakov took a vow. He made a vow here. He's saying, if Hashem will be with me, will guard me on this way that I am going, will give me bread to eat and clothes to wear. Look how modest he is. He's just learned Torah for 14 years and he's not like us asking for 15 buildings. What is he asking for? He's asking after 14 years of learning without eating, without doing anything, just learning to learn non-stop. What is he doing here? He's asking just for clothes to wear and food to eat. then it continues in verse 21, it says, "and I return in peace to my father's house, and Hashem will be a God to me. Then this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, shall become a house of God," which later becomes the Beit HaMikdash. "And whatever You will give me, I shall repeatedly tithe it to You." So here... is one of the sources where we learn about tithing, where we learn about giving Maaser, where we learn about giving 10% of our income to Tzedakah, to Torah, to Kiruv. Now, there is a saying in Masechet Sanhedrin and Gemara Masechet Sanhedrin and also several other places where it says Teshuvah, Tefillah, and Tzedakah will

3:27Change and lower the meaning that when there's a heavenly decree, there's a heavenly decree in shamayim against somebody for a sin they've committed, maybe in the past. It's put on hold. Hashem doesn't punish everyone right away. Sometimes it takes a while; sometimes it’s for a sin we committed 15 years ago, and we haven't paid for it yet. Hashem is giving us an opportunity to do teshuva. And he's giving us an opportunity to not get punished for it in this world, or at least lower the amount of punishment. Chazal tells us that if someone does teshuvah, prays tefillah, and gives tzedakah, they can change any of the heavenly decrees that are judged against them. Here, Yaakov Avinu is telling us that after learning his Torah, after doing everything he's doing, all he's asking from Hashem is just to give him some food to eat. Perhaps if there was a gezeira to kill him from Shamayim for taking the blessing of Esav, that will change. Really, all he wants is to just survive, and he promises to give a tithe.

4:54Today was a special day that happens, I believe, once every several years, where there was a segulah, a time when a prayer is meant to be recited for nine minutes. This morning, it was from 6:44 AM to 6:53 AM. Everyone stays tuned to these different segulot or these different opportunities. Things that you can do to pray to Hashem. Some people hold by it and are very, very strong, and this is a time when the heavenly gates are open to listen to a prayer extra more than usual. Well, someone called me and asked, "What is it? Is it six? Is it based on Israel time?" Where that would mean that she would do it at 6:44 in the morning in New York. Or would it be at 1:44 pm because that's when it's 1:44 pm in Israel? New York, or would it be at 1:44 PM because it's 1:44 PM in Israel?

5:57So, would it be the same time as it is in Israel? Would it not? And she asked me this yesterday, and I actually didn't know the answer right away. I didn't know whether it would have to be at the same time as it's happening in Israel, or at the same hour. Meaning if it's at 1 o'clock in the afternoon in Israel, then it's 1 o'clock in the afternoon anywhere else you live, whether it be New York, Florida, or Arkansas, or wherever. I didn't know the answer. And to get the answer, I needed to ask my Rav, because this is just not something that I learned yet. And I couldn't reach my Rav because it was already in the middle of the night. So, I suggested to him, I said, you know what? You really can't lose by praying anyway. So you don't lose out. And this woman holds by this. I said, you know what, so you don't lose out, why don't you just wake up early, pray at the 6:44 minyan in the morning, and also do the 1 o'clock minyan in the afternoon as well. So, in the worst-case scenario, you pray twice. You can't lose out by praying; you can't lose out by talking to Hashem an extra nine minutes a day. What's the big deal? And he said, you know what, good answer, that's what I'm going to do. And that's what she did. Now, before that day,

7:19A lot of things happened. Her husband has been taking his teshuva much more seriously. Much more seriously. He's always been a very generous person and always gives tzedakah. But it has gotten to a point where he is now involved in kiruv, and he's helping with kiruv on a regular basis. He is giving his tithe, his 10%. On top of that, the kiruv that he's doing and he's involved in is... Helping him get stronger with Torah is helping us to get stronger and stronger, and the gradual, huge improvement that's happened over the last couple of years has been amazing. So now we have three pieces to the puzzle: we have the teshuva, we have the korech that's already been happening, and now we have this special prayer for nine minutes, but we're just not sure which time. Well, as we find out...

8:21I spoke to my Rav, and the real time was actually 6:44 in the morning. The 1:44 wasn't necessary, but I didn't get a chance to call her and tell her. Then, I got a call, and they said, "You wouldn't believe what happened." I asked, "What happened?" She said that exactly at the time I was praying in the afternoon, her husband got into a car accident. He fell asleep on the way home from work to get home, you know, uh, before Shabbat, and he fell asleep on the road. Uh, the car hit the side of the road. Everything's okay, the car is a little messed up, but he is 100% okay. Everything's okay, and exactly when that happened was when I was praying in the afternoon at 1:44. So was that the right time? And I said, no, actually it wasn't. The right time was 6:44. But Hashem made it so that even though the prayer was at 6:44, apparently there was already a decree in Shamayim.

9:31Needed you to pray for an extra nine minutes at exactly that time, at 1:44, to complete the three [components] to complete the teshuva. That's the car and the tefillin, because apparently, there was a decree in Shamayim from many years ago due to some sin, who knows what? But we needed to complete the three at that very moment. So yes, there was going to be an accident, but Baruch Hashem, nothing bad will happen, just material will get destroyed. That's exactly what happened. And for anyone who's saying, "Oh, is he making this up? Is this just a story to get us stronger? Is this a story that, you know, is this a fairy tale?" Well, it's not. Because those two people that called me, the woman that called me and asked me about the prayers, and the man that got into an accident, they're my parents. May Hashem bless them. May Hashem continue to bless you and all of the things that you do and show you that Hashem's Torah is real.

10:34Our Teshuva is real. Our Kiruv is real. And Hashem wants to only give you all the good that's in this world. There are miracles that happen every day. You just have to pay attention to them. Shabbat Shalom. Shabbat Mevorach.