Blessed in Disguise
I once attended a function on behalf of a Torah institution in France. The mayor of the city, an atheistic gentile, was also in attendance.
Throughout the evening, many people approached me in order to receive my blessing for success and siyata di’Shemaya, in the merit of my esteemed ancestors. I was surprised to find this agnostic also waiting to receive my blessing. This was quite surprising. I knew this man to be an out-and-out Communist, a categorical condemner of anything hinting to religion. What was he doing asking for a blessing from a rabbi, cut from a vastly different cloth than himself?
Unable to contain my curiosity, I asked, “Tell me, please, how do you have the audacity to ask for the blessing of an Orthodox rabbi, when you clearly denounce the existence of G-d?”
He enthusiastically replied, “For some time now, I have watched you dispense blessings to anyone and everyone who comes your way. I finally realized that so many people cannot be asking for blessings which are empty. There must, therefore, be validity to your blessings.”
As I thought over his words, I strongly felt the power of Torah, which has the ability to breathe sanctity even into a gentile soul. I also realized that this power of holiness is capable of changing one’s atheistic outlook, even that of a gentile. Certainly, then, it has the ability to bring back the soul of a Jew, which was hewn from the Heavenly Throne itself.
