The Right Time to Know

Many times in life a person forgets something important, overlooks something, or fails to notice a detail that later seems obvious. Naturally, he starts second-guessing himself. "How could I not remember that? Why didn't I realize it earlier? If only I would have thought of that sooner." But a person with emunah understands that if Hashem wanted him to know something earlier, He had endless ways of making that happen. Nothing is dependent solely on our memory or awareness. If Hashem wants a person to discover something, He can orchestrate countless events to bring that information to light at exactly the right moment. Rabbi Yoel from the UK related a story that illustrates this beautifully. One winter, Rabbi Yoel was going through a difficult time financially. Someone owed him money, but the man told him he would only be able to pay him back the following Tuesday. Rabbi Yoel needed the money immediately, so he called a young avreich, Yitzchak, his good friend, and asked if he could borrow five hundred pounds until Tuesday. Yitzchak gladly agreed. When Tuesday came around, the person who owed Rabbi Yoel the money paid him back, but only with a check instead of cash. There was a problem. In the UK, the banks had a rule that limited how much cash could be withdrawn at one time, and Rabbi Yoel was only able to take out three hundred pounds. He called Yitzchak and explained the situation. "I have your money," he said, "but I could only withdraw three hundred pounds today. Do you need me to borrow another two hundred pounds from someone else so I can pay you back right now, or can it wait until tomorrow?" Yitzchak understood the situation and told him, "No problem, you can wait until tomorrow." A few minutes later, however, Yitzchak called him back. "I was thinking," he said, "maybe you could just give me a check for the full amount." "Fine," Rabbi Yoel answered. Then Yitzchak added, "This way I can use it to buy a menorah now." "A menorah?" Rabbi Yoel asked. "What happened to the silver one you received at your wedding?" Yitzchak explained that ever since he moved apartments, all of his silver Judaica had disappeared. The menorah, the kiddush cups, the candlesticks—everything was gone. Suddenly Rabbi Yoel remembered something. He himself had helped move Yitzchak's belongings. At the time, he was nervous that the expensive silver might get damaged or stolen, so he carefully wrapped it up and hid it in a storage space in the apartment. Yitzchak never knew where it had been placed. "I know exactly where your silver is," Rabbi Yoel told him. Yitzchak could not believe it. Following Rabbi Yoel's directions, he climbed up to the hidden storage space, and there, to his amazement, was the entire collection exactly as it had been packed away years earlier. Everything was safe and shining beautifully. Hashem wanted Yitzchak to find his menorah, and He knew exactly how to make that happen. He arranged that Rabbi Yoel would specifically need to borrow money from him. He arranged that the repayment would come back in the form of a check instead of cash. He arranged the banking laws that forced another phone conversation. He arranged that Yitzchak would happen to mention that he needed a menorah. And through all of those perfectly coordinated details, the missing silver was discovered. When Hashem wants us to know something, He has countless ways of telling us. Someone recently told me that he spent a very long time writing important information on his computer. After finishing, he carefully saved the document. But later, when he tried opening the file, it was nowhere to be found. He searched and searched but could not find it. He was certain he remembered exactly what he named the file, but nothing came up under that name. Finally, after becoming frustrated, he spent hours rewriting the entire document from scratch. When he finished redoing all the work, he saved the file under what he thought was a brand-new name. Suddenly, both files appeared on the screen. He realized that the original file had been there all along under the exact name that he had just given the new file. Naturally, a person could feel bad. "Why didn't I think of that earlier?" But the lesson is not to second-guess ourselves. If Hashem wanted him to discover the original file earlier, He had countless ways of making that happen. The fact that it was only discovered later means that later was the exact right time for it to be found. A man once told me that something happened which completely ruined his day. Although he learns emunah and bitachon regularly, at the time he could not see any good in what had happened. He became gloomy and upset, and everyone around him felt it the entire day. A few days later, however, he suddenly realized that what had happened was actually the best possible thing that could have happened. Because of that event, everything else ended up turning out in the most favorable way possible. He told me afterward, "No matter how much emunah a person has, he always needs more chizuk in it." We do not understand why things happen the way they do, but we do know that Hashem is running the world and He is doing it perfectly. If He wants us to know something, He knows exactly how to accomplish that. And if something was hidden from us until later, then later was exactly the right time for it to be revealed. There is no reason to second-guess ourselves. If we accept and trust Hashem, we are performing a great avodah.