Rabbi B, a friend of JFX,
contacted me recently to tell me about a girl whom he had recently
met. Her name, he said, is Hope, she had met an Israeli fellow and
expressed a serious interest in Judaism, and asked Rabbi B to help her
convert. She seemed really sincere and interested in converting. He
told me that he had referred her to JFX as a resource to facilitate her Jewish journey and quest together with her Jewish boyfriend.
A week later, Hope sent me an email when I
was on my way to Israel last month, and I saw it just as I was headed
abroad. I didn't get a chance to reply. I returned from Israel on a
Friday afternoon.
On Sunday, my family and I went to the
Strongsville mall to spend a rainy afternoon, and I found myself
wondering if there were going to be any Israelis here selling products
at kiosks, as many Israelis do. Could it be, out here in Strongsville?
If so, I wanted to invite them for Shabbos. 50 feet into the mall, I
got a big hearty hello from one "Ilan" - an Israeli in Strongsville! On
the way out, I stopped to invite Ilan for Shabbos, but Ruchi said,
"Nah, why do you bother? You always invite them and they never come."
I said, "Listen. I'll do mine. The rest
is up to them. I'll give them my number and see what happens." But as I
approached their booth, I saw it was unmanned... however, the key (with
a hamsa) was hanging off the cash register, so I knew they couldn't be
far. I loitered around the area, waiting for them to come back while
the rest of my family was signaling with their eyes: Can't we go already??
Well, Ilan finally came over, and asked me
what I staring at. I explained my interest in the hamsa and followed up
with an invitation to come for Shabbos. I mentioned that I live in the
Green Road area, when Ilan said, "Oh, I know where that is because I go
to Rabbi B sometimes for Shabbat!"
To which I said, "Well, that's interesting."
To which he said, "And this is my friend Hope. She's in the middle of a conversion."
To which I made a very quick mental
calculation and realized that this is the very same Hope that Rabbi B
referred me to and who sent me an email not even a week prior!
"Hope," I said, "You know who I am. You sent me an email."
And Hope replied, "Me? I never sent you an email."
Well, good thing for BlackBerries, because I
pulled up her email right there, and shocked poor Hope! We have since
followed up and exchanged various correspondence.
What did I learn?
Firstly, God wants us to make our efforts.
We don't know how things will end, but we have to do our share. Also:
Divine Providence was clearly at work here, and I was amazed anew at its
influence. And finally, how much it makes a difference to put a face
to an email and show people that you are a real person.
