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| From Behind The Curtain: Shalom Aleichem: Have You Seen An Angel Today |
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| Written by Heshie HaGibbor |
 The other night I went shopping for some last minute trip details. It was cold and raining and dark. I was in the left lane, wanting to get home quickly as I had a lot of packing and other
things to take care of. The person in front of me was going slow and my mind was on fast. It was hard to see clearly because of the rain and the darkness and the reflections of other driver’s headlights and some brights. I checked my rear view mirror, then my right side view mirror to see if it was safe for me to move one lane to my right. I looked over my right shoulder as is my habit from many years of driving and from Driver’s Ed, to see if there was anyone in my blind spot, and I didn’t see anyone. Considering the weather, it looked about as safe as I could see. So I started to turn slightly to the right. Suddenly, something or someone made me abort the lane change and get back into my own lane. Kind of like a reflex, a twitch, an intuition perhaps, stopping me from changing lanes. As I made that sudden correction to go back into my lane, I saw the short, low car exactly in my blind spot on the right side of my SUV. I hadn’t seen it at all. Had I completed my move to the lane to the right of me, I would have certainly sideswiped him, and would have caused damage to both our cars, not to mention the people involved, like the other driver . . . and of course, ME. And the hassle that would have ensued – pulling over, exchanging licenses, calling the police, time lost , then dealing with the insurance companies, etc. My avoidance of that lane change at what would have been exactly the wrong moment, was . . . what? An Impulse? Intuition? Carefully planned by me – No. A malach, an angel nudging or shoving my hand, and turning the steering wheel to avoid an accident? I had an anatomy professor in Tufts Medical School, whose name was Dr. Pai. An Indian fellow who was very smart and an excellent teacher. Sometimes anatomy can be confusing. Whenever any of us would ask a question, like “Why does this structure pass by that one?” His answer would always be the same. “G-O-K” What? “G-O-K . . . G-D only knows.” Angel? Malach? Intuition? Eliyahu HaNavi? G-O-K . . . G-D only knows. Has something like that ever happened to you? What did you think it was that got you that parking spot right in front? Or that made the cop pull somebody else over instead of you –“Whew! ! ! That was close “ Or the wrong turn you took, that got you the flat tire , that made you stop in a certain restaurant to grab a bite to eat, and then you met the love of your life in that restaurant and have been happily married for ten years. Who or what made you take that “wrong” turn? Angel, Intuition, Fate? Maybe it wasn’t really a “wrong” turn, but The RIGHT turn. Maybe that turn was planned for you and just waiting for you to come by so you could finally meet your true bashert (intended). Angels, Demons, Intuition, Eliyahu haNavi? G-O-K . . . G-D only knows. My wife and I got engaged on the first night Chanukah. The next day, we went to Syms in Manhattan to do some shopping. I parked my car a few blocks away, and as we started walking to Syms, there was a group of black men, disheveled looking and perhaps happily inebriated. It was Sunday, and it was Chanukah – the time of miracles, the time of unlimited sheffa – flow from HaKadosh Boruch Hu. In front of the group was one fellow who stood out, miles above the rest. Beautiful smile, neatly trimmed, long white beard, casually dressed and well groomed, bright eyes full of light and sparkle. He was an anomaly to the group. As we passed by, he caught my eye, and in a deeply melodic voice, he said to me, almost in a command tone, kind of like just do what I tell you – he said to me, “Marry that girl!” I said, “OK!” We went shopping at Syms. When we came back to the car later, the same group of black men was there, all except for the man with the white beard and the smiling face. Was he a malach, An angel? Eliyahu HaNavi? G-O-K . . . G-D only knows. But it was an affirmation of our decision to get engaged. So who have you met lately, that kind of made you think for a moment and go “Huh?!” Are we ever really alone? Or . . . are we always being protected in some way. Like when Yoseif had his dreams and his father, Yaakov reprimanded him in front of his brothers. . . but the verse finishes with, v’aviv shamar es hadavar – and his father guarded the thing – meaning his dream, or hadibur, his words. Never alone, always guarded, frequently nudged or pushed to do this or avoid that. How many angels have you met today? Copyright 2009, Heshie Klein, MD This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  |
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