{"id":98578,"date":"2022-11-20T02:18:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T00:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/?p=98578"},"modified":"2022-11-20T02:18:00","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T00:18:00","slug":"extremely-agitated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/extremely-agitated\/","title":{"rendered":"Extremely Agitated"},"content":{"rendered":"

Extremely Agitated<\/strong><\/p>\n

In my teenage years, my parents lived in Eretz Yisrael. I would often travel there to visit them, and then return to the yeshiva in France. I was once scheduled to return precisely on the day of the hilula<\/em> of my grandfather, Rabbi Chaim Pinto Hakatan, zy\u201da, the 15th<\/sup> of Cheshvan. Father suggested I postpone my trip and celebrate this day with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot to do in France,\u201d I explained, and took my leave of my parents. Then I rode to the airport.<\/p>\n

After an hour of travel, the weather turned ominous. Storm winds rocked the plane, and the flight attendants stopped serving the meals. Everyone was instructed to stay seated and fasten their seat belts. Everyone was fearful as to what would happen next.<\/p>\n

They did not have long to wait. The plane gained altitude very quickly, rising up and then suddenly heading downward. The shaken passengers began to scream. Many placed kippot <\/em>on their heads, and many began reciting passages of Tehillim aloud.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, amid the hubbub, I heard a woman telling her husband, \u201cPromise me that from today onward, you won\u2019t eat unkosher food, even outside the house.\u201d The man replied, \u201cIf I get out of this alive, I promise to eat only kosher food.\u201d After a moment\u2019s thought, he told his wife, \u201cNow you promise me something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think I should undertake?\u201d she asked. But before she got the words out, the plane took a dive of a few hundred meters. The shouting grew louder and turned into hysteria. But over the din of the crowds, I was able to make out the woman\u2019s resolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sister observes taharat hamishpachah<\/em>. I, too, B\u2019ezrat Hashem<\/em>, will begin keeping it,\u201d she averred. \u201cDo you think that is a good idea?\u201d she asked her husband, hopefully. Her husband merely nodded in agreement. Out of fear and fright, he was too scared to speak.<\/p>\n

By that point, I myself was worried for my life. I felt like Yonah Hanavi, who was responsible for the storm on the seas which threatened to capsize his boat. Maybe this entire turbulent situation was due to the fact that I had not heeded my father\u2019s request to remain for the hilula<\/em> of the tzaddik, Rabbi Chaim Pinto, zy\u201da.<\/p>\n

I immediately set forth a prayer in the merit of my holy ancestors. I asked forgiveness for all my sins. If I had mocked the memory of my grandfather, I asked to be pardoned. But it seemed as though my prayers went unheeded, for, each time I trembled in prayer, the plane trembled from the winds, seeming to fall apart from the shaking.<\/p>\n

I suddenly remembered Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Sanz, zy\u201da. He lived in Poland one hundred and fifty years ago, at the same time that my holy grandfather, Rabbi Chaim Pinto, lived in Mogador. I decided to add a prayer, \u201cIn the zechut<\/em> of Rabbi Chaim Halberstam, may it be Your will, Hashem, to change the weather for the better. When I land safely, I promise to purchase all of this tzaddik\u2019s holy writings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then I added, \u201cToday is the hilula<\/em> of my grandfather. Just as a celebration is arranged in this world, surely the tzaddikim on High are arranging a celebration, as well. Certainly, the tzaddik, Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Sanz is participating in the hilula<\/em> in the Upper World. If that is the case, I ask that he ask forgiveness in my name for not remaining to celebrate in Ashdod.\u201d<\/p>\n

After I finished this little soliloquy, I noticed that the weather calmed down. The airplane, which just moments before, seemed about to be torn apart, flew normally.<\/p>\n

All of the passengers breathed a sigh of relief, pleasantly surprised at this turn of events. The captain, as well, expressed his amazement at the entire episode. He could not fathom how the plane had hit such a maelstrom. The control tower had not predicted such stormy weather, and the state-of-the-art radar system never signaled such turbulence.<\/p>\n

The stewardesses returned to distributing the meals. I was shocked to see the man, who, moments before, avowed to eat only 100% kosher, digging into his nonkosher meal like a hungry raven.<\/p>\n

\u201cDear fellow passengers,\u201d I addressed the couple, \u201chave you forgotten your promises of a half hour ago? You undertook to eat only kosher if the storm would abate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple merely stared at me in anger. They thought I had no business meddling into their affairs. They continued eating their meal with gusto.<\/p>\n

But their punishment did not take long in coming. A moment later, the plane lost altitude at a terrifying speed. It took a five hundred meter dip. All of the food trays went crashing to the floor, and the flight attendants instructed everyone to fasten their seat belts as the plane, once again, began rocking to and fro.<\/p>\n

I immediately began praying that we arrive safely in the merit of the tzaddikim. The couple looked at each other and then at me. They seemed to get the message sent to them from Heaven. I think they were thinking, \u201cHow unstable we are. In a moment of panic, we make all sorts of promises to do teshuvah, but when things stabilize, we completely forget our former promises and return to life as usual.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t humiliate yourselves,\u201d I called out to them. \u201cEither you believe in Hashem, to Whom you prayed and made all sorts of resolutions, or you do not believe and do not undertake any mitzvot. But if that is the case, you have no right to ask Him for favors when things are tough.\u201d They finally nodded at me in agreement.<\/p>\n

I will never forget those fateful moments in the airplane. All the passengers clearly felt the danger they were in. They were keenly aware that there is life after death and a future accounting for all their deeds. The cries of Shema Yisrael which emanated from many lips were perfect proof.<\/p>\n

I heard an elderly Jew ask someone, \u201cPlease say the Shema with me. I never said it before.\u201d Even a man who never said the Shema in his life clearly recognizes the Creator when he is facing terrible danger. He asked to say at least one prayer before his soul departed.<\/p>\n

After the couple determined never to eat nonkosher again, the weather turned pleasant. The winds stopped, and the plane continued calmly. The stewardesses, once again, distributed meals. But this time, many Jews who had donned kippot<\/em>, headscarves, or whatever they could get hold of, were ashamed to eat nonkosher food. The couple I kept a vigil on refused to finish their meal. It was sordid to them now, in more ways than one.<\/p>\n

We got to talking. They told me that for the past twenty years, they had not been meticulous in the area of kashrut.<\/em> They had always refrained from eating treif<\/em>, but never distinguished between milk and meat. From now on, they proclaimed, they would be scrupulous in all areas of kashrut<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Baruch Hashem<\/em>, we merited a safe landing. As we stood on terra firma, our faith was re-affirmed. Each person knew what he needed to improve, and made firm commitments to do so.<\/p>\n

This trip taught me a powerful lesson. Heavenly-sent tribulations are meant to imbue a person with yirat Shamayim and bring him back to the correct path. On the other hand, the Yetzer Hara is extremely powerful. He casts a person into forgetfulness, thereby causing him to repeat his sins.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

Extremely Agitated In my teenage years, my parents lived in Eretz Yisrael. I would often travel there to visit them, and then return to the yeshiva in France. I was once scheduled to return precisely on the day of the hilula of my grandfather, Rabbi Chaim Pinto Hakatan, zy\u201da, the 15th of Cheshvan. Father suggested […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":28111,"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":[1076],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fear-of-heaven"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98578","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=98578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}