Staying on Safe Shores
The first day of the new secular year is a day of merry making. Many go on vacation at this time. Regrettably, this custom has crept into Jewish society, as well. Jews who admire the gentile culture above true Jewish values celebrate New Year’s Day, just as their fellow patriots.
A few days before the secular New Year, a woman phoned me and stated that she had booked tickets for a one-week cruise with her family. Each ticket cost over twenty-thousand dollars.
“This cruise was planned down to the finest detail, so that it should be perfect for all the family members,” she explained. “But my older daughter is spoiling everything. She simply refuses to come along!”
When I heard this, I offered a silent prayer of thanksgiving. At least she will be saved from all the abominations guaranteed to take place on board.
“What is so terrible if your daughter does not come along?” I asked.
The woman explained, “So-and-so (a very famous gentile) offered to pay for her ticket. I am humiliated by her refusal of his kind act.”
I was shocked. “Were you planning for your daughter to consort with a gentile throughout the duration of the cruise?” I asked, horrified at the thought.
The woman honestly did not know what I found wrong with such an arrangement.
I tried a different tactic. “What do you want me to do?”
In all sincerity, the woman replied, “I thought you might prevail upon my daughter to come along and celebrate the New Year with this fellow.”
“Chas v’shalom!” I yelled into the receiver. “Never! Do you think I am willing to take upon myself responsibility for all the aveirot which will be committed on the cruise?! Don’t you realize that this type of holiday is a hotbed for the worst forms of sin? If you have an ounce of intelligence, you would cancel all your tickets immediately. You are bringing upon your family a spiritual holocaust!”
B’chasdei Shamayim, my words pierced her heart. Although she lost thousands of dollars, she cancelled all of the tickets at the last minute.
This woman’s strength of spirit taught me a lesson about the power of the Jewish neshamah. Even if it falters, the spark of spirituality still burns. My words of rebuke entered her heart and ignited a light that illuminated the dark abyss which had been there before. She and her family merited salvation at the last minute.
