Jingle of the Heart

There is no one happier than the person who realizes that he is owed nothing

When you finish reading this moving column, there will be a musical gift waiting for you that will drive home the message that is a deeply Jewish concept

It was during Selichos three years ago. I was driving to the Zoharim youth village. On the way, I listened to the story of Mrs. Miriam Gabbai, a life story that kept me riveted. This story was publicized on various platforms, and I will present here just a brief version, with excerpts of her own words.

For ten years, she was barren. Ten years of challenges. And then, “One stormy night, my husband went to sleep and I remained alone. Suddenly, the pain came. ‘Hashem!’ I cried, ‘How long will I stay this way, without children?’ I walked out of the house with three binders containing all the medical paperwork I had amassed over those ten years. I stopped a taxi and said to the driver, ‘Take me to the home of the biggest rav you know.’

“The driver said to me, ‘The biggest rav I know is almost one hundred years old. I bring people to him from all over the world. They come to him from the airport. He’s probably gone to sleep already.’