Five for Five - Rabbi Yirmiyahu Abramov

[Music] shallowness I want to share with you a remarkable tale story real live that I heard recently from a social worker in the city of Na brac the social worker told me that there's an elderly lady living him lay brac a survivor of the Holocaust who told him the following story it begins or ends in Miami there was a young couple married thorough observant living in Miami he was struggling to make ends meet he had some kind of a job but it wasn't going that well but that was only one one challenge in their lives they had another challenge and the years were going passed and they were childless they had no children and this went on for several years a lot of pain a lot of suffering a lot of prayers until one day the wife comes home from a visit to the doctor with a delightful news she's pregnant not only is she pregnant but they suspect that she has quintuplets five little babies inside her she's carrying and bearing five children amazing the pregnancy goes without any issue and at the she gives birth to five little girls this was big news doesn't happen often that you have quintuplets and it was obviously it was broadcast in the media the the Quinns of Miami and she gets a letter in the mail because they were now in pretty deep financial stress as it is they weren't making it and now was suddenly another five children five little babies and to buy the equipment and feed etc is that they open up a letter anonymous no they don't recognize the name and inside is a very large check of many thousands of dollars and there's a little letter attached to it and it's coming from a lady who is they lives also somewhere in Florida and she heard of their situation of their joy and their plight and she said I'm an elderly lady and I I mean I have wealth and your problems or financial problems are over I will support your family and you can expect to check from me every month and so it happened this went on for many many months lapsed in two years every month like clockwork there was a there was a significant check which kept a family very comfortable and going through all the travails and challenges of life one day in the letter there was a short note from the benefactor saying that she's going to be in Miami in the area of their home and she'd love to meet up with her little girls five girls who's been supporting of course this great joy and she designated the day and the big day arrived and the five little girls are dressed identically standing at the door and and this lady arrives and of course there's tears and these hugs and kisses and introductions and the lady standing in the front at the front door bends down and she's hugging these children and as she approaches herself she sees a portrait on the wall a picture on the wall of a lady she sees this picture she looks she stares and she says with a shaking voice she asks the mother of the Quinns who is that lady and the mother says that's my mother she passed away recently this benefactor almost faints she's let me tell you a story about your mother and she tells us the following when she was a little young teenager she was captured by the Nazis together with the entire family she never saw the rest of her family or parents but she was together with a group of her school friends a group of young teenage girls and they were in this terrible campuses death camp called suburb or rather were in subsidy Bor suffering tremendous agony and pain but five of them were very close friends and these five decided whatever happens they're gonna try and maintain their dignity they're gonna try and maintain their beliefs and they're gonna try and observe whatever they can of the torah's commandments happened that they were now approaching Chanukah and they decided how can we light the Chanukah lights the fennekin lights will bring light to us and light to the other girls in these sad days how can we light the Chanukah lights so they decided they'll conserve the marjorine that they get once every two weeks they'll conserve this marjorine pull it together and they'll have the fuel for the candles wicks is no problem they're wearing these threadbare clothes these tunics that they were wearing I'll just take off a little thread and make a wick but the big issue is where do they find the container where they can house that the oil or the margarine into which they can put the week where do you find containers in there in a world of concrete they decided one of them had a brainwave she said let's go to the kitchens and outside the kitchen or the garbage cans and there are discarded rotten potatoes and let's take potatoes hollow them out and there the the shell of the potato what's left inside that can become the house for the oil and we can put the wick in there and we can light the candles great idea that night the five girls sneaked out of their barracks very illegal and they go to the bathroom to the kitchen there's the bar the garbage cans the rummage around and they find old potatoes and they cure them and tans and they're just about to walk off when they are caught by a guard the guard says aha I've caught five little thieves he takes their numbers and he says probably the Commandant is going to execute you tomorrow so this is your last night on earth these girls go back and they're very concerned very concerned what's gonna be one of them has a brainwave perhaps we can go there's a lady a young lady slightly older than us who has a special status in the camp because she knows several languages she was given by the Commandant of the camp she was given a radio and her job is to listen to the broadcasts BBC and let him know coz was towards the end of the war what's going on in the war front are the Allies approaching what's happening in the war front knowing that Germany is on the retreat and that was her job to listen to the radio and every day she had the ear of the Commandant gave him a digest of the news she has the Commandant ear said the girls let's go maybe she can big four hour for a reprieve for us so they sneaked out again and they go to this to this girl's little barrack and there they find her and they tell her we've been sentenced to death for tomorrow can you ask for a reprieve and this lady says it's absolutely impossible there's no way because every time I've tried to ask something on behalf of my fellow inmates I'm beaten savagely and threatened to be killed I can't help you I'm sorry the five goes dejectedly go back to the barracks knowing that the morning is going to bring the last day of their lives on this earth and comes dawn they're all summons to the big courtyard for the Appel they called it for the way everyone stands and there they see true enough five gallows are erected in the centre of the courtyard for the five girls to be hang publicly and that's it it's the last there is their last day on earth the commandant before proceeding he has these five girls stand come up and walk up and stand on their fire on these five gallows and the Commandant proceeds first to give a talk about the thieving Jews and just as he finishes and is about to give the command to hang them this lady who has the radio this young lady comes running across the camp and she comes the commandant whispers something into his ear he goes pale and he immediately tells the girls get off the gallows sends everyone back to the barracks she had obviously told him that the Allies were approaching and this way it wasn't in his interest to have have this public hanging a few days before the end of the before they would be captured that's the story these five girls were saved and this lady says this benefactor says I was one of the five girls and you know who that lady who saved our lives oh that's your mother who just recently passed away amazing it's now the turn of the mother of the Quinns to almost faint and she says I want to tell you something the night before I gave birth my mother came to me in a dream she had just a part of this world she came to me in a dream and she said to me five four five and she disappeared and now I understand five the five who were saved and she gets in return five grandchildren she saved five and she has five little girls and the idea is that everything in life is designed by the Almighty and he's guiding and direct lives and sometimes it takes a long time everything is only always for the good he has a great love for his people for mankind and everything is being done for the good sometimes we don't see it immediately sometimes it takes part takes time but ultimately every Jew can walk with the confidence that and walk through life with the confidence knowing that there's a divine God who's looking after us [Music] [Applause]