Rabbi Eliyahu Maksumov - Divine Intervention

one of the blessings that we make every morning and one of the things that we think a shame for every day is Baraka Tasha I'm a locator melech ha'olam how my him is today Gavea that God you guide the footsteps of man and no matter where we go and no matter where we are Hashem is always orchestrating every event in every part of our life but in order for us to truly appreciate this blessing I want to share with you just a few stories and what's called hashgacha party divine intervention divine providence when you hear these stories you're gonna tell yourself Wow a Shem is really involved with my life and it really micromanages every step along the way so listen to this first story I have a friend who's a travel salesman and he travels from city to city from state to state and wherever he would go he always puts on a Torah class this way you could make use of the time and you can learn something at the driving and there was just one time as he was driving you could imagine it gets extremely tiring to drive for so many hours he started falling asleep on the road and before he knew it his eyes are closing it completely knocks out he falls asleep while he's driving 70 miles per hour and he hears a honk he quickly wakes up he's looked at himself he sees a car right in front of him he slams on the brake you could hear the screech from about a mile away and he was about a half an inch from hitting the car in front of him and then he's looking to his left he sees there are no cars he looks to his right he sees there are no cars the car flutters and just drives off he has the car in front of him had no idea that somebody was about to back into him and he looks in the rearview mirror he sees there's nobody behind them and he's trying to figure out where did that honk come from I know somebody hocked me something woke me up so he quickly pulls over to the shoulder to the side of the road and and it all the sudden occurred to him that the only place that he could have possibly heard that honk from was from the Torah class that he was listening to so he realized the tape 30 seconds back and he hears that honk again now this lecture that he was listening to was given about 30 years prior to this incident and the name of the rabbi who was speaking was the closing burger ever and as the rabbi was speaking outside of the room where he was speaking a certain car was driving by at the perfect time and at the perfect location he honks his car and the honk was so loud that it picked up on that tape recorder so that 30 years later it could wake up with this person and save him from a car accident that could have cost him his life coincidence I think modes and when we hear stories like this it gives us a certain sense of contentment a certain sense of security and we could feel that confidence that a sham is really always by her side but I want to share with you yet another story on how party divine intervention just about a few years ago here in New York there was a major snowstorm and it was extremely difficult to get around and the sanitation department wasn't able to send around their garbage man you know being that was so difficult to get around and finally a few days into the snowstorm when the snow calmed down they started sending out their garbage man and it took like in the morning there is a rabbi here in Queens his name is Rob common Epstein and of common is up two o'clock in the morning I don't know why he was up two o'clock in the morning I assumed he was learning and he here's the sanitation you know the garbage men are coming so as a good husband he gathers all the garbage in the house and he puts it into one bag he runs downstairs and just that he's about to put the garbage into the garbage bin the garbage man comes and he grabs it from his hand and as he's about to turn around and run into the house is two o'clock in the morning it's freezing the garbageman turns to the rabbi he says excuse me but are you a rabbi now he's thinking what can a sanitation man want from a rabbi two o'clock in the morning you know in this weather so it turns out of curiosity says the amur rabbi and the garbage man says rabbi I'm a Jew and my name is Theodore my mother just passed away a few hours ago and I didn't have much of a relationship with my mother but my siblings they want to cremate her and I'm the first one to find out that she passed away and I know although she wasn't religious and she never passed down to us any of these Jewish values she would want a Jewish burial rabbi she was very careful every single week Friday she would light the candles who will bless the candles every Friday before Shabbat rather can you please make it that my mother should get a proper burial a Jewish burial and hope common is a very big Pakal he was a very he loved every Jew and he was very assertive when it came to this type of things that a thousand listen to me carefully tomorrow morning as early as you can call up they have a condition here is a number and here's number two the funeral home arrange it at your mother's they should find her body wherever it is and that they should have her have her buried but an hour before the funeral is ready to proceed call your siblings and tell them you know mom just passed away please be here on time so he thinks were tutors like okay that's interesting that's what I'll do and that's exactly what he does next morning he goes up to have a khadija he calls up the funeral home they arranged that the mother that his mother's should get a burial and then an hour before they were able to proceed with the burial they call up he calls up the siblings and he tells them you know mom just passed away please be here on time now the siblings they're not gonna make a big deal about it you know at a moment like this their mother just passed away so they let her go though they wanted to cremate her and and split the ashes amongst themselves so what which they understood that would be a way to connect to their mother have a part of their mother but they left her alone and the next morning web comment gets a phone call from Theodore and Theodore tells a rabbi thank you so much everything worked out exactly as planned you know the funeral is about to proceed within about an hour there's just one more problem he tells them rabbi I don't know when he rabbis maybe you can come and eulogize my mother now what in the world can this guy talk about by this funeral he never met the lady he never spoke to her in his life what can you possibly say about a person that you never met so what would you have done so he goes ahead and he goes to the funeral he gets up and this is the words he says he says we reap in death what we sold in life and this woman although she wasn't religious and she didn't have any Jewish values that were passed down to her and she wasn't able to pass them out to her children she had a connection to Judaism you know this woman she would light the candles every week and I'm sure and dad married God orchestrated that I should meet her son Theodore and that we should arrange it that she should get this burial and he went any elaborated about this beautiful beautiful mitzvah of lighting candles and that was that was a speech and afterwards he returned home he was hoping he that he'll keep in touch with clear door to see how his mother he's coping with his mom mother's loss but for whatever reason he wasn't able to reach the other and about a week later he the Sanitation the garbage men are coming so it quickly runs out he's running after the garbage man he starts screaming Theodore and the one of the garbage men turns around he's thinking like who's Theodore and he looks at him he says for we looking for he says I'm looking for two towards one of your buddies he's a garbage man he was just here last week and the garbage man says she told that guy Theodore Theodore doesn't live around here he lives about a hundred miles away from here it just happened to be last week there was a major snowstorm we were going over time we needed backup so there were garbage man they were coming from all over to come and help us with the situation here in New York but teaser doesn't live here he's never coming back to New York again and suddenly a hitter of comedy he realized how many him--it's that I gathered that God guided the footsteps of Theodore rights of his doorstep the same moment the same timing where his mother passed away so that it sort of calm and come out at the perfect time and they should meet and that he could help him with his mother situation and get her the proper burial now this story is an incredible story of shahe petite but this story has been going around for some time and he came across a certain rabbi his name is Rob David Cohen I'm a double colon heard the story he said you understand the move on the depth of the story he said this woman what what merit did she have that she was saved from cremation you see God works a measure for measure Millikan Eggen meda what what what what did she do to merit to get a proper burial and listen to his words he says as follows she was careful with the mitzvot she was meticulous with one Mitzvah and that Mitzvah was the lighting of the candles she was careful with fire and so she was saved from the fire the fire of the Crematory in the fires of those ovens I think that's a credible story because that really shows us that a Shem is really managing every step of everybody's life and many times when I share this type of stories I get the feeling that most of us are thinking these stories are way too good to be true so I want to share with you a story that personally happened with me and if it wouldn't have happened to me I would have believed in it but because it happened to me I'd look but to believe it every year me my wife and my kids we head to a camp called camera shot it's an upstate my wife is a teacher and a school called Ohana and they have a four-day show but don't start from Thursday until Sunday and never did we have a problem with the GPS never did we have a problem with the gas but for whatever reason about two years ago as I was heading upstate I realized that it was not enough gas to figure when I get up to to the camp I'll fill up somewhere there that gas is cheaper there at after all but it completely slipped my mind I got to the camp and I never ended up filling up I figured you know Sunday will come I'll make sure to fill up come Sunday everybody packed out of the camp me my wife and my kids we get in the car and I'm setting up my GPS and I realized it's just not roaming it's not catching service so I turned to my wife and I said you know I remember the last time we left the camp I made a left turn and I'm sure if I make a left turn now you know eventually we'll get to the road main road we'll hit the highway and the GPS will direct us eventually okay it'll catch service and all direct us to to help together to get to the nearest gas station and we'll get home now the first miracle of the story is then why why is it even argue with me so I'm driving 5 minutes 10 minutes and it's way past the e the gas is getting over and over driving there's no there's complete the gas tank is completely empty and I know I have maybe another 10 15 minutes to drive and suddenly my wife you know starting to me and she says you know we just got a Dom into Hashem and the only thing I could think of is maybe to head back to the camp but I don't even know how meet so many turns I don't know how to return have to get back and I believe my wife or my kids in the middle of a forest and I might get lost along the way and the only things I'm I started seeing gas stations all I'm seeing his trees and my wife says wait I just saw a house I said a house in the world of forests suggests trust me I just saw a house so I go towards the direction that she pointed out and lo and behold a house in the middle of the forest I come out of my car I run up to the door knock on the door an American guy comes out with his dog he's looking at me like I'm crazy like what he doing in the middle of the forest I'm looking at him like it's crazy who lives in the middle of the forest and then I explained to my situation I didn't want to make myself sound that crazy I just told him that I'm looking for a nearest gas station and he says nearest gas station the nearest gas station is an hour away from the camp ages came from but from the other direction and then he looks at me and he says do you even have enough gas to get there I said no I don't he looks at me he looks at my wife he sees my Twitter's and kids in the back says I'll be right back he goes into the house and I'm thinking what in the world is this guy gotta come out with a map or a shotgun and you wouldn't believe it he comes out with exactly five gallons of gas which was exactly the amount of gas that I needed to get to the gas station and as he's popping the car is filling it up but we're just so thankful we couldn't stop thinking I mean he said don't worry next time you see someone else someone else is in need make sure that you do them a favor and you don't expect anything back in return we said of course and my wife says one minute look at the look at the GPS I said I know it's not working but you have to remind me and then she says no it's catching service just when we got the gas the GPS starts roaming it catches service we're driving off my wife says did you understand what just happened I said yes I understood what happened it's a crazy story what are the chances we found this guy in the middle of nowhere and she says no you see every year we never had a problem with the gas we never had a problem with the GPS but for some reason this year when we had a problem with the gas we had a problem with the GPS because what would have happened if the GPS would have worked able to direct me to drive for an hour I would have never gotten to the gas station because I didn't have enough gas to get to the gas station I could have ended up getting stuck while driving and cast a bit end up in a car accident or pull over and who knows if I would have gotten on that day but by be making that left turn which I thought was the wrong turn was in reality the right turn and God said today I'm gonna be your GPS but you know what's great about the story when did the GPI start working right when I got the gas because God says now that you have enough gas we get to the gas station now you could have a GPS to get there and the credible story of oshkosh al partido divine intervention and when we look at stories like this and we think we'll make this bra honey hey mr. Gabbert that God you guide the footsteps of man and we're looking to our lives just like God guided the footsteps of that man who was driving by and he honked his horn to wake up this man 30 years later and saving from a car accident so to that God guide the footsteps of Theodore to Robin's house and of karma came out of the perfect timing and the first steps were guided as well today they could meet you meet each other at the perfect time and a perfect moment so that he could help his mother get a proper burial in the merit that she was careful with the lighting of the candles so to the god guide my footsteps who end up fighting this person so I could get home safely that day and so too does God guide the footsteps of every one of us but when we don't look out for these type of play times when we don't look around ourselves we miss the boat you don't have to look too far to see a Shem in your life I'll just tell you a small story that happened to me this morning every morning I take my daughter to the bus and she has to walk to school but out of all the days that my daughter could have missed the bus it was today when I was running late to work so I had to drive her to school and then I had to head back to work by the time I got to work I had literally five minutes to get into the classroom and I know if I don't get there in time the kids are gonna destroy the classroom so I'm driving and I'm trying to get past the school because they will never find parking around the block of the school not in a million years so I have to get past the block to find parking somewhere else around all the blocks and there's a garbage truck right in front of me and I'm thinking out of all the days the garbage truck would have been in front of me it was today when I'm late to school finally I somehow squeeze my way through the garbage truck and then I see us a school bus picking up kids in front of me and I see I have exactly about a minute and a half to get into the classroom and suddenly as I'm complaining a car pulls out of its spot I quickly take it spot I come out of the car I'm running to class I have 30 seconds to get into class and then I stop and I realized if that school bus wouldn't have been there if that garbage truck wouldn't have been there you know what would have happened I would have drive right back and I would have missed that spot because someone else would have taken it I would have had the parking somewhere else but I chefs are just wait a few more minutes the guys coming he's gonna take out his car you'll park that's seeing a chef in your life you know the other day my wife sent me to Walmart and I figured there was a easy request one pant buy a pair of pants on my son so I was I had headed there I get to the store and I'm looking for a pair of pants usually they have it in stock but I can't find it anywhere and then from the corner of my eye I see from a distance the pants that I need and I'm thinking like what are the chances there's so many depends these pants come in so many different sizes what are the chances that I'm gonna find the pants that I need in the size that I needed and I come up to the parents and I see that it's exactly says I need size 2 so we think that God is too busy for us and his his running the world and he's too busy with the big things in life with the nuclear bombs and the wars but God is just as busy with me in Walmart when my kids pants just as he is with the big things in life he's just as busy with the micro ideas with the macro and I always bothered me how is it possible that people could be so passionate about that there is no God in this world and they could be a self-proclaimed atheist how could you be so sure of yourself there is no God I think the question could be answered with the following analogy has it ever entered at all process of your mind that how is it possible it could be standing here on earth facing the song which is a thousand times greater and more massive than the earth itself and all it takes to cover up something so gigantic is to pick up your hand and all of a sudden the Sun is gone how is it possible to cover up something so huge something so so ginormous and the answer is rather obvious but the farther we are from something the smaller it appears and the closer we are the bigger it appears and that's the same the same works what I relationship with Hashem the closer we are to God as great and big and massive as he is the farther away from him although is so huge it's easy for us to block him but the more we relate we open up to him and the more we pray and the more we develop our relationship with him the more we look around us look around ourselves and we see God in nature with the nature and we seek out within our own lives the more we develop that relationship with God that God so much longs to have with us the more bigger and the more closer we are to him and the more harder it is for us to deny that he's there so you know what the problem with all this God deniers are the problems with them is they don't have a relationship with God they're so distant from him they never look around to see God in their lives because they don't look around themselves it's so easy for him to block him so I want to give everyone a blessing here yet every morning when we make this blood sing how my him is to the gobbler that God guides the footsteps of man keep in mind those incidents in your life where God is guiding you and he's micromanaging and orchestrating every event and every part of your life and with that I want to leave you off that you should develop that relationship with Hashem and become the people they never tell you because it can become and develop that relationship with Hashem where you could be so close to him that no matter how much you can deny he's there you'll know with a hundred percent certainty that he's around and he's watching over us and supervising over us and I saved maybe we can look into those moments in our lives Hashem is gonna say if already I'm so obvious to you and it's so obvious that I'm there for you then maybe I don't have to hide myself and I'm gonna perform opening blatant miracles for you and all those things that we'd never thought were possible all of a sudden will become possible so let us develop that relationship with Hashem and God is gonna perform miracles for us that we never thought could happen thank you for listening [Applause]