I was scheduled to fly to the States in order to raise funds for our institutions approximately two weeks before my daughter was due to give birth. On the Shabbat before my flight, during one of the seudot, I turned to my family and said, “May the merit of the Torah allow Sarah to give birth this week, so that I should not be tense and be able to travel peacefully on behalf of Torah study.” My wife said that since there were another two weeks yet until our daughter’s due date, maybe it was not so wise to make such a request. But I was firm in my request, and even repeated it.
The following Tuesday, Sarah indeed gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. But he was born without a heartbeat, rachmana litzlan. As soon as my son-in-law reported this to me, I immediately reached for a sefer Tehillim and beseeched the Creator to have mercy on this newborn and his family. I regretted my former request that he be born early.
Hashem’s kindness is never-ending. His salvation was not long in coming. We were informed that the baby’s condition had improved. Baruch Hashem, he had a heartbeat, and all was well with mother and child.
The entire family was happy at this turn of events. Moreover, the doctors claimed that if the baby had remained in utero another two weeks, as was originally expected, he would have been in critical condition. The umbilical cord had become wound around his neck, and any movement on his part could have caused strangulation, chas v’shalom. As soon as he was born, the doctors noticed his distress and unwrapped the cord. He began breathing normally, like any other healthy baby.
This was all in the merit of prayer. It was because I asked that the baby should be born early so that I could travel in peace for the sake of Torah that the story ended happily.
>I was scheduled to fly to the States in order to raise funds for our institutions approximately two weeks before my daughter was due to give birth. On the Shabbat before my flight, during one of the seudot, I turned to my family and said, “May the merit of the Torah allow Sarah to give birth this week, so that I should not be tense and be able to travel peacefully on behalf of Torah study.” My wife said that since there were another two weeks yet until our daughter’s due date, maybe it was not so wise to make such a request. But I was firm in my request, and even repeated it.
The following Tuesday, Sarah indeed gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. But he was born without a heartbeat, rachmana litzlan. As soon as my son-in-law reported this to me, I immediately reached for a sefer Tehillim and beseeched the Creator to have mercy on this newborn and his family. I regretted my former request that he be born early.
Hashem’s kindness is never-ending. His salvation was not long in coming. We were informed that the baby’s condition had improved. Baruch Hashem, he had a heartbeat, and all was well with mother and child.
The entire family was happy at this turn of events. Moreover, the doctors claimed that if the baby had remained in utero another two weeks, as was originally expected, he would have been in critical condition. The umbilical cord had become wound around his neck, and any movement on his part could have caused strangulation, chas v’shalom. As soon as he was born, the doctors noticed his distress and unwrapped the cord. He began breathing normally, like any other healthy baby.
This was all in the merit of prayer. It was because I asked that the baby should be born early so that I could travel in peace for the sake of Torah that the story ended happily.
