Last Wednesday evening, Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser, world-renowned author and speaker, spoke at the Young Israel of Forest Hills on behalf of Chazaq on the subject of preparing for Rosh HaShanah.
He began with a personal story. Someone called him in the middle of the night and said he wanted to do an aveirah. Rabbi Goldwasser told him to come to his house right away. He waited a long time in the middle of the night because he was afraid if he didn’t tell him to come, a neshamah would be lost. “Before he fell in, I still had a chance to pull him out,” Rabbi Goldwasser explained.
An hour and 45 minutes later, there was a knock on the door and a precious young man entered. “He was caught by something that had sway over him.”
Rabbi Goldwasser told him, “You are on top of the world because you reversed your way.” The young man slept over and Rabbi Goldwasser got him back to yeshivah.
Hashem says that if you create an opening for me the size of a needle, I will create an opening for you the size of a great hall. He urged everyone to do the smallest thing and reach out. Make a call. Hashem will help you. You’ll be able to do complete t’shuvah.” Rabbi Goldwasser stressed that “everybody has it in his grasp to become great!”
Rav Elchonon Wasserman zt”l taught that we have the power to be a trusted loyal servant of Hashem. We can pray and learn with great sincerity.
In S’lichos we say “we” to Hashem. Maybe you will have pity. Perhaps you will have mercy. We show Hashem that we are subservient and loyal, and Hashem then says we will receive all the brachos. Rabbi Goldwasser taught that t’shuvah is in the hands of anybody, no matter his or her history.
He shared a story told about the Chasam Sofer. There was a man who had done avodah zarah and this man came back to Judaism. People didn’t want to let him in, but they did. He behaved as a baal t’shuvah and he applied to be in the holy societies in Europe who had their names on the walls at that time. They didn’t want to accept him.
There was a ruckus in town over this. The people decided to seek daas Torah to solve the machlokes that erupted. They came to the Cham Sofer and asked if this man had the right to come back into the k’hilah or should he be banned. The Chasam Sofer taught them what it means if a person did t’shuvah. He said they should accept him and that he would be a distinguished member of their society.
Rabbi Goldwasser continued. “Anyone can do t’shuvah, even on little things.”
The Slonimer Rebbe taught that we have a great desire for food and it’s a great test to be careful in this area. The Talmud teaches that when you do bikur cholim you can give back the sick person’s life and if you don’t do it, it’s like you killed them.
Rabbi Goldwasser told a story about a time when Rav Huna was very ill, and Rav Pappa came to visit to cheer him and to say T’hilim. The whole family gathered to hear what Rav Pappa would say. They were shocked that he told them to get the burial clothes ready and to make sure they had a burial plot. When he said these things, Rav Huna didn’t respond at all and didn’t grow upset.
What sort of encouragement was this? A few days later, Rav Pappa was walking down the street and he saw Rav Huna. It turned out that Rav Pappa did this on purpose: to incite him, to get him upset so he would hold back. Rav Pappa knew that this would give him merit to come back to life. Chazal teach that whoever can be forgiving, then Hashem forgives everything. Rabbi Goldwasser stated, “I have to forgive. I have to forgo. It’s time to forgive. Everything that happens, happens for a reason.”
He shared a story that happened when he went to speak in a kollel in Europe. A couple called and asked to see him before his speech, as they were having shalom bayis issues. He met with them and then he had to stop the meeting to go to the kollel to speak. He invited them to join him at the kollel. The man said he’d never been there, but he and his wife went. After davening, this man was holding a handout and crying. Rabbi Goldwasser asked him what was wrong, and the man pointed to the handout. It listed a mazal tov to him and his wife on their upcoming wedding, which had taken place three and a half years earlier. Somehow this old handout was there, and it was strange because the papers were usually cleaned out every week. “Who knows the reason that certain things happen?”
Rabbi Goldwasser said that it’s important not to carry hurt and to be willing to be mochel, to forgive, and forgo, and even to forget. Whenever a person wants to, he can reach out to Hashem. Hashem is waiting for us. T’shuvah means we have to confess and say we won’t do this sin again. It is possible the person will repeat the sin, so how can he say I’ll never do it again? Sefer Beis Elokim says that when I promised, it was my nefesh Elokim; and when I sinned, it was my animal soul. I can still promise, and this time my animal soul will be subdued by my G-dly soul. If a person asks for G-d’s help at the moment of temptation, then Hashem helps.
He continued: “It’s an unbelievable koach we have in this world to make a difference.”
Rabbi Goldwasser concluded with a beautiful story that shows the chesed of klal Yisrael. A couple from Israel came to see him. Their daughter needed a kidney transplant and Rabbi Goldwasser was able to contact and galvanize Renewal and Bais Yaakov and other frum Jewish organizations to help her with her medical needs. The family needed money for a transplant for the young woman. Rabbi Goldwasser organized a fundraising concert with a famous Israeli singer who is a friend of his and who had become a baal t’shuvah.
On the night of the concert, Rabbi Goldwasser drove his friend, the singer, to the hall, and when the singer saw the place they were going to hold the concert, he said he couldn’t do the concert. This was the night of the concert, and Rabbi Goldwasser, trying to stay calm, asked him why he couldn’t do it. He explained that it was because it was a place where he had done bad things before he became frum, and it was too painful to return there. Rabbi Goldwasser was worried, because the couple originally was hesitant to believe that he could help them, as they had bad feelings about frum people. He thought, Uh-oh, now they’re going to say, see – he couldn’t help us. He shared that at that moment, right before the concert was supposed to begin, Hashem gave him the words to say. He said: That is why we are here: so you can be in the same place and now do a big mitzvah. The concert went on, and the girl received the kidney transplant and she recovered.
He concluded with a beautiful brachah to the audience, and that we should all see Mashiach this year.
Thank you, Rabbi Goldwasser, for this inspiring and energizing shiur. This shiur can be viewed on www.TorahAnytime.com.
By Susie Garber
