The Wedding Miracle
From the Memoirs of Rav Moshe Fhima
It was the year 2003 and one of my best students, Simcha, had become a Chosson. Simcha was an orphan and his bride to be had also lost her father when she was young. Yet they were as wonderful as could be and everyone agreed that the match was made in heaven. However, they were also basically without any money to begin life.
I was in Israel at this time and I was asked how much I would take upon myself to sign for, for the wedding or for a house, so that we could enable him to sit and learn for many years of his life. Not thinking too much about it, I came up with the number of $35,000 which I would try and raise so that we could put a down payment for him for an apartment in the city of Beitar where he could sit and learn Torah.
As the months passed however, I had had no luck at all in finding them any money. I found myself at Rosh Choidesh Sivan, the wedding was meant to be in two weeks time and I had not even found one cent towards the $35,000. My failure at having done so was playing heavily on my mind.
At this time there was another student of mine in Pinsk, who wanted to have a Brit Milla, a circumcision. Of course circumcisions are not so common in Belarus, so I asked around and heard that just before the Rosh Choidesh Sivan that there would be circumcisions going on in the city of Korestien. So I decided this was the answer to this problem and that I should take the boy down there to be circumcised.
On Friday the circumcisions were performed, and on Saturday we were praying and blessing the coming month. And we were saying the “Yechadeshehu”, the prayer for sustenance during the coming month. It is commonly known that this prayer is made for financial betterment (Yachodeshhu hakodesh boruch hu alenu v’al kol amoi beis Yisroel… l’parnosah toivah u’lecholkolo… -May the Holy One, Blessed is He, renew it upon us and upon all His people, the family of Israel…for good sustenance and support…), and I remember that I was praying extra hard at that moment that G-d should help me meet the commitment of the $35,000.
After the Shabbos meal there was a group of American Jews, wealthy American Jews, who had also come to spend Shabbos over there. However, as they were not with my organization, I decided it was not fair for me to come to them. They had obviously come to decide if they would donate money to this other organization. But then all of a sudden one of the businessmen, we’ll call him Mr. Simons, came over to me.
“Reb Moishe, may I speak with you for a moment?”
“How can I help you?” I said.
“Listen, I am trying to find something that will help me cover part of the pain that I have in my soul.”
“I don’t understand.”
“My daughter was married last year but unfortunately, she died shortly after the wedding. And however much I believe in G-d’s will and how I know that somehow this event must have happened for the good, but no matter what I do, I cannot overcome the pain and the anguish I have. Perhaps you can think of something that I can do to help the Jews that will help lift this burden from my heart.”
For only a moment I stood there amazed at how G-d sometimes hears our prayers. I told him that I knew of a young couple who were to be married. I told them that they were wonderful children and that neither of them had a father in the world. I offered that perhaps he should offer to take both of them under the arm at the wedding. Perhaps this would be like taking a new child of yours to their wedding.
He told me that he didn’t feel that this was what he had in mind. I understood what he was saying and decided that this was indeed a situation given to me directly by G-d.
“Well you see,” I began, “I was supposed to have held their arms at the ceremony because I had offered to support them with $35,000. But I have been completely unsuccessful finding the money to help sponsor them. At this moment I am thinking that this is why G-d had asked that you come and seek me out today. I am thinking that this is the answer to everyone’s prayers. The wedding you see is only two weeks away…”
He said he would have to think about it. He went off to speak with his advisor, a man who always went around with him, and after a few minutes came back and said that he agreed, but only under a single condition: My daughter’s name was Freida Rivkah. If this couple would agree to name their first daughter Freida Rivkah, I would agree to help them.
“Listen,” I said, “I am only a guardian of these kids. To tell them how to name their children is something that I cannot do.” He asked if I would at least speak to them. I agreed to do this as soon as Shabbos was over and this made them happy.
Later that night, we sat in an office and called the chosen on the speakerphone. I didn’t really know how to approach the question and I remember that I stammered a bit when speaking to him. Finally I found the words and simply asked what name they were thinking of for their first child, should that child be a girl. There wasn’t even a second’s hesitation.
“You know, I would love to give my girl the name Rivkah.”
I looked at Mr. Simons and saw that his eyes had become red with tears. I said thanks and hung up and then called on the wife and asked the same question. She thought for a moment and then said that she would like to name a girl Freida. This was an amazing moment and for a while we all just sat and smiled at each other in that office. Surely this was a moment such as one might never have in a lifetime and was far too great to be considered a coincidence.
“Why Frieda?” I asked.
“It was the last Jewish name in my family. My great grandmother was Freida.”
Simons was beside himself but I offered that really, we were not done yet. He asked why and I told him that regardless of this miracle, essentially they had not agreed up the name you mentioned. He told me to forget it and that he was beyond words already. But I insisted that we call back the chossen.
“What would you name the child,” I asked when I had him back on the line, “if your wife wanted the name Freida instead?” He thought about this for a moment and then answered clearly:
“Well, if that is what she wanted, we could call her Freida Rivkah.” And that was that.
Simons was in Israel two weeks later and walked the couple under the Chupah and I am happy to say that the couple is doing fine and they are living happily in Israel.
And as for Simons, at the wedding he came to me and told me that a friend of his had told him, just before his trip to Belarus, that he had had a dream that Simons and his daughter were dancing together in Israel. At the time, he had thought that this dream was only from sadness and that this was a picture that he had wanted to see. But now, he knew that this was G-d’s way of letting him know that all would be ok and that he would find himself a new daughter.
All I could say to this was:
Baruch Hashem.