A man who had sinned terribly approached me. When I heard about his sin, I explained the gravity of his actions and chastised him severely. Then I added, “You should know that if the Beit Hamikdash would be standing, the Sanhedrin would kill you for what you did.”
But sadly to say, I could not discern a trace of remorse on his face.
Suddenly, we were interrupted by the sound of screeching brakes. Then sounds of tumult reached our ears from the street below. A pedestrian had been crossing the street and did not notice a car speeding toward him. Had the driver not slammed on the brakes, the man would have been killed on the spot. I turned to the man sitting in my office. “See the great miracle which happened to this man,” I pointed out. “If the car’s brakes would have failed, the man would have died immediately.”
I watched in wonder as the man began to tremble, his teeth chattering violently.
“What happened?” I asked concernedly. “Why are you shaking?”
“Just this week, I was saved from a similar situation,” he replied. “I had bought a new car and on one of my very first trips, the brakes suddenly went! I was a hairsbreadth away from death. Only by a miracle did nothing happen to me.”
“You should know that due to your sin, you deserved to die. But Hashem had mercy on you and gave you another chance since you might still do teshuvah. Resolve to do teshuvah and Hashem will have mercy on your soul!”
Then and there the man accepted upon himself the yoke of Heaven. After showing him how to make restitution for his deeds, he merited doing complete teshuvah.
I have no doubt that the merit of my fathers stood in this man’s stead. Hashem sent a car accident, right outside my window, in order to shake his soul into submission. My words entered his listening ears and succeeded in causing him to improve his ways.
