Offering My Apology on the Altar of Torah
Sometimes, even an ordinary conversation carries the weight of a Torah topic.
One day found me very harried and hassled about our institutions. I was very tense. Just then, a fellow Jew approached me with a request. I answered him curtly, in an impatient manner.
After I had calmed down somewhat, I recalled the incident. Was it this man’s fault that I was busy with other matters? Why should he suffer or feel hurt because of me?
I was very pained by this matter. I always try to help any Jew in need in a pleasant manner and truly participate in his predicament. And now I had hurt the feelings of a fellow Jew. The matter gave me no rest, and at the closing of Tefillat Minchah, I added a request. “Ribbono shel Olam,” I began, “I truly regret the way I acted toward this man. Please help me find him quickly, so that I can ask his forgiveness and appease him.”
I looked around for the man and saw him walking by. I hurried over to him and succeeded in mollifying him and obtaining his forgiveness for my unpleasant attitude toward him earlier.
This was certainly not a Torah talk. Yet, without doubt, it was fulfillment of Hashem’s will. He surely wanted me to make amends. Therefore, it can be considered a Torah conversation.
