{"id":98274,"date":"2022-11-20T00:13:46","date_gmt":"2022-11-19T22:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/?p=98274"},"modified":"2022-11-20T00:13:46","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T22:13:46","slug":"taking-the-plunge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/taking-the-plunge\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking the Plunge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taking the Plunge<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was a young boy, I was quite rambunctious. One Friday evening, in a spirit of adventure, I fell into the chimney of the Beit Hakeneset of the tzaddik, Rabbi David Chazan, zy\u201da, the noted chavruta <\/em>of the tzaddik, Rabbi Chaim Pinto Hagadol, zy\u201da.<\/p>\n

I held on, for dear life, to a portion of the chimney which was made of glass. I was deathly afraid of falling down the chimney, which was long. I remained in this precarious position interminably, feeling my strength waning with each moment. I knew that eventually, I would plummet downward.<\/p>\n

During those fateful hours, Father was busy learning Torah, oblivious to the danger which faced me. In the merit of his pure Torah study, I was granted a second chance. Finally, someone released me from the chimney, and I returned home, safe and sound.<\/p>\n

Many years later, after I matured from my childish pranks, I decided to enter the world of business. But Father advised me against this, asserting that I would not see blessing in this area.<\/p>\n

\u201cWas I born with no mazal<\/em>?\u201d I demanded. \u201cWill I always be met, regardless of which direction I take, be it business or Torah study, with failure and disappointment?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course not,\u201d Father reassured me. \u201cThat was not what I meant at all. You are full of mazal<\/em> and good fortune. But your calling is only in Torah.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I asked how he was so sure of himself, Father reminded me of the incident in the chimney. He said that I would not have been saved in the merit of his Torah study, had I not been destined to devote my life to that very vocation.<\/p>\n

With the wisdom of hindsight, I see that Father\u2019s words were true to the last detail. Although I tried my hand in the business world, giving it my very best, time and again, I suffered losses. They were distinct signs from Heaven that I was chasing the wrong dreams.<\/p>\n

Once, during my days as a businessman, I ascended to the grave of my grandfather, the tzaddik, Rabbi Chaim Pinto, zy\u201da, in Morocco. I wondered if my grandfather was proud of such a grandson, or was ashamed of my chosen career. I asked myself if it was appropriate for a grandson of such a virtuous man, a veritable wonder-worker, to be involved in transient pursuits. Maybe a life devoted to Torah would be more fitting.<\/p>\n

Then and there, I resolved to spare my holy grandfather shame in the Upper World. I made a turnaround in my lifestyle, abandoning the glitter of the business world and immersing myself in Torah, for it is the best merchandise.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taking the Plunge When I was a young boy, I was quite rambunctious. One Friday evening, in a spirit of adventure, I fell into the chimney of the Beit Hakeneset of the tzaddik, Rabbi David Chazan, zy\u201da, the noted chavruta of the tzaddik, Rabbi Chaim Pinto Hagadol, zy\u201da. I held on, for dear life, to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1064],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-merit-of-torah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98274\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}