Hashgacha Pratis

     Mordechai is a cheder rebbe, a charedi teacher of small children. He is really a great guy. One of the things that makes you love him is that every morning when the small children come into the classroom he welcomes them with the warmest, most loving song, "Good morning dear children welcome to class today". The guy is unique.

     A year or so ago he was having a tough time with money and he asked me if I had any "extra" money. He indicated that he wasn't asking for a coin or two. I told him that if Hashem had someone give me anything I would save it for him. Sure enough within a couple of days, someone came up and gave me $100 for tzedaka (charity). The next time I saw Mordechai I happily gave him the money telling him that Hashem sent it.

     A couple of days ago, he came up to me at the Kotel and hinted that again he could use some money… if anything showed up.

     Yesterday, I was putting tefillin on someone and I thought, "If he gives me 20 shekels I will give it to Mordechai. Usually, if an Israeli appreciates his experience with tefillin he will put a coin or two into the charity box. But when this Israeli finished he reached into his pocket and gave me 20 shekels. I thanked him and told him that I would give it to someone for him. It made me so happy to see that Hashem also thinks that Mordechai is a great guy.

     Then I put tefillin on another guy and sure enough when he finished he handed me 20 shekels, too. I told him that I would give it to someone for him and I thought how really sweet it is to see Hashem helping Mordechai even more than I had thought.

     Hashgacha pratis is Divine Providence. It means that G-d does something in such a way that He lets you see that He is doing something. I love it when Hashem allows me to help Him in this way, and I really love it when I see that He likes one of my ideas, too.