Aseres Hadibros Aliya
November 17, 2023
There is a saying, “whatever goes around comes around”. For better or for worse, life eventually catches up with everyone. Sometimes it happens sooner and sometimes it happens later, but eventually Hashem serves everyone the same portion they served others. For the most part, life has a way of keeping track and we experience it according to our prior actions. By Hashem, no good deed goes unrewarded and no bad deed is unaccounted for. Simply put, Hashem runs His world מדה כנגד מדה.
It became my custom after the passing of my father, to try and acquire מפטיר & מוסף on the Yom Tov day יזכור was recited, as a zechus.
One year, right before it was time to be called up for מפטיר, the Gabbi approached me and said, “I know you bought מפטיר and it belongs to you, but there is a guest in Shul, an old Jew, who very much wants מפטיר. Would you forfeit the Aliyah?” That was not an easy decision to make.The only reason I bought מפטיר in the first place, was to honor the memory of my father. What right did I now have to give it up. Wouldn’t that be a dishonor? So I went over to the Rov and asked him what to do. He thought for a moment and said, “if you give up the מפטיר, the joy you will bring this old Jew will be so significant, that the merit your father will receive from your act of חסד, will be greater than if you took the מפטיר for yourself.” I humbled myself, accepted the Rov’s decision and forfeited the Aliyah. As hard as it was, it was even harder to pay for the מפטיר I never received.
Now turn the clock ahead 35 years. The Yom Tov of Shovuos had arrived. A small Minyin gathered in one of the Enclave homes in Lakewood where I resided at the time. As is customary right before Kereyas HaTorah, the Gabbi sells the Ahleyos. I decided to buy Aseres Hadibros and joined the bidding process. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed, that there was only one more person bidding against me, which happened to be a good friend of mine. Was very uncomfortable, trying to outbid him, so I just backed off and let him win the Aliyah. What I did, did not go unnoticed. When the time came for the Aseres Hadibros to be read, my friend forfeited the Aliyah he bought and told the Gabbi to give it to me. He noticed that I really wanted the Aliyah and that I backed down only because I didnt want to interfere with his will to buy it. What a true friendship. I didn’t want to take it away from him and he didn’t want to take it away from me. No doubt after the Aliyah I asked the Gabbi to make a מי שברך accompanied by a contribution in his honor.
The מפטיר I paid for and gave up 35 years earlier now came back to me, with my friend giving up his Aliyah that he paid for and giving it to me. We have a dictom אין הקב”ה מקפח שכר כל בריא. Hashem keeps track and rewards everyone justly, at the right time. Sometimes it takes time, a lot of time, before Hashem pays a Jew back for a positive action he did, but nothing is ever forgotten. When you see it play itself out, it is a humbling experience. You never lose, when you do the right thing. It always comes back to you or to your children, in one way or another. The main thing is to try to do the next right thing, no matter what anyone else is or is not doing. We worship Hashem, no one else and nothing else.
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