Taking the Time to Save a Marriage
One winter Friday, when the day is short and the work is great, a woman called me up for advice. I preempted her by stating that there was hardly any time before the onset of Shabbat. I could not afford to hear her out patiently and offer her sound advice. If she could wait until after Shabbat to call back, I assured her that I would give her all the time in the world. But she did not let up and insisted on telling me her story immediately.
“My shalom bayit is gone. My husband left me ages ago. One day, I suddenly remembered a man I had been engaged to in the past. He had been a good man, and successful. But we broke our engagement for various reasons, each going to build his future home with someone else.
“Since my husband and I do not live peacefully together, and I found out that this man also has marital problems, we decided to meet again. All I want now is the Rav’s opinion in the matter.”
I understood that she and her previous fiancé were standing at the cliff of the abyss of sin. I began trembling at the thought of what they were about to do. In order to save them from sinning so terribly, I immediately forsook all my obligations for Shabbat. In spite of the late hour, I spoke with the woman, explaining the severity of the sin she was about to commit.
I spent an inordinate amount of time with her on the phone. I also made contact with her husband and spoke with him for a long while, bent on restoring peace to their marriage. Baruch Hashem, after much exertion, they began living together peacefully again. Their marriage recovered its former luster.
After finishing this urgent matter, I shuddered to think of what would have happened had I not taken the call. The episode would have spiraled to uncontrollable proportions. Two Jewish families would have been destroyed on account of serious Torah prohibitions, rachmana litzlan.
Hashem arranged that I should listen to the woman’s tale in spite of the late hour. For this deed, I merited bringing peace and blessing back between them. How important it is not to postpone a good deed! Later might prove to be too late.
