I came home
from the break in shul after Shacharis on the first day of Rosh HaShana
to find out that our 25 month old very large and expensive fridge was
making sizzling noises and give off a terrible burnt smell. I was
worried that aside from the damage to the fridge, this could be
dangerous and cause a fireChas V'Shalom. I ran to the Rav, who turned out was not home for Rosh HaShana to ask him what to do. I then went to
another Rav a little further away. The Ra told me to call the Shabbos
Goy to pull out the plug. He told me that there was a Shabbos Goy
downstairs that I should speak to.
After telling the Shabbos Goy
my story he took care of a few things and then asked me where I live.
I told him our address and we started to walk together. While walking, I
saw him head in a direction that I was not planning to go because I had
a faster route. Because it was only a little longer, I decided it
would be easier to just follow him rather than argue the merits of my
route versus his. As we got closer to the house he asked me what
number building I am in. After telling him, he turned to me and said
"you know it would have been faster to go the other way." I then said
to him, "We spend half our lives arguing about which direction we
should go in, so I decided that I will just follow quietly."
He
smiled and then these words started echoing in my head, louder and
louder. I thought of an article I read from Revach that gave me the
chills all over my body. In the article it said that Rav
Shlomo Zalman Auerbach said that the best way to be assured of a good
year is to accept whatever plan Hashem has in store for you without
arguing. My own words shook me to the core, "We spend half our lives
arguing about which direction we should go in, so I decided that I will
just follow quietly." We think we know the best direction our lives
should take. Hashem often has a different route that he takes us. We
should not argue and follow quietly! There it was, I said it with my own mouth!
PS My wife was a big winner thanks to Revach.
As it turned out, although I asked her to pay for the extended warranty
that the manufacturer had offered us two months ago, without mentioning
it to me, she decided not to pay because money was tight. You could
imagine her horror at having to break this to me. Thanks to your
inspiring article, we made it through three more meals (with 13 people
at each meal) with perfect Shalom Bayis.
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