Chayei Sara
The pessukim mention that Eliezer – on his own – asked Hashem for a specific method how to find a bride for Yitzchak. It should happen today, by way of drawing water, and she should say “you and your camels should drink.” HaKsav V’haKabalah brings b’shem the Rama; Eliezer was worried that the family of the bride would refuse and hold back from sending her. Therefore, he davened and asked for a specific way to find the bride. He wanted that there should be hashgachas Hashem throughout the entire search from beginning to end in order that the family of the bride would accept without having any opening to decline. The Griz al HaTorah adds, Eliezer asked for everything to happen in all of “היום, on this (one) day,” which needed unusual success from Hashem to be able to accomplish this. This is indeed what happened, the exact way that Eliezer davened to find the shiduch, was how Hashem made it happen, all in one day! There is no greater way of knowing that this is the true match, than by seeing the clear cut hashgachas Hashem!
I heard b’shem HaRav Hirsch that the words הקרא, call, and הקרה, chance upon; are both 2 types of calling. The calling with an א’ is a known call, loud and clear. Whereas the calling with a ה’, is a quiet, hidden call of Hashem hinting. Avi Mori shlita added that the letters of מקרה, chance, spells רק מה’, only from Hashem. Both callings; the clear and hidden are from Hashem.
Rabbeinu Bachya explains that there are 2 types of miracles. One is signs and wonderous things that Hashem performs publicly that change the nature of the world. A second is hidden miracles, that are within confinements of nature. Although Hashem doesn’t generally perform open miracles, only on special occasions, He does performs hidden miracles. Says Rabbeinu Bachya, every single person of Yisrael has hidden miracles which happen to him daily. Often, people do not notice these miracles, as Rabboseinu say, a person who has a miracle happen to him, doesn’t recognize it. One needs to put in effort to notice and realize, that, yes, Hashem specifically caused this to happen; it was indeed hashgacha pratis. If we pay attention to our daily occurrences, and see how things clicked into place, we often can notice the hidden miracles that Hashem performs for us.
About a week ago we were invited to our daughter’s sheva brachos in Kiryat Sefer. We planned on taking a 9:15 bus back to Beitar Illit, which is about an hour and a half trip, after the sheva brachos ended. The sheva brachos finished a bit before 9:15 and my family and the new couple tried rushing to catch the 9:15 bus. As we came near the bus stop, we saw the bus zooming by and passing us; we just missed it. The next bus was in another hour and fifteen minutes, and we were uncertain what to do. The Chasan and Kala started going back to the hall to see whether there was another option for them, while the rest of us continued walking to the bus stop to figure out what to do. I decided to call a 12-passenger van to take us back to Beitar. We called the new couple a few times to let them know they could come with us, but they did not pick up the phone. A few minutes later the tender came, and it seemed a bit small for a 12-passenger van. He said it is a 10-passenger van, just like you asked, you have children which you will be able to squish inside. Had we reached the new couple and invited them to join, it would not have been possible to squish all of us inside. Hashem helped that they did not pick up the phone and be saved from having to deal with more issues.
Let us pay attention to notice the hidden miracles that Hashem performs with each of us daily!
