After losing their way, a group of bochurim on Merkos Shlichus in Southern France asked for directions. Incredibly, the person they asked was Jewish, leading to a whole series of mitzvos.
As part of the French Shlichus Center, the students set out for the city of Perpignan, France, and its surroundings, under the leadership of Rabbi Mordechai Pevzner AH, and his successor, Rabbi Shmuel Ben-Shushan.
Over the course of two weeks, they visited over a hundred families, providing them with everything they needed, whether it was challahs for Shabbos, Jewish books for their homes, or simply spending hours talking with them so they wouldn’t feel alone. Many of these people were elderly and didn’t receive many visitors. They also maintained the Chabad house in Canet-en-Roussillon, which was opened especially for the summer.
One of the bochurim shared a remarkable story of hashgacha protis during one of their visits:
We were given an address but, no matter how much we searched, we couldn’t find the location. In desperation, we approached a local who tried to help but didn’t recognize the name of the Jewish person they were looking for.
Then, we asked the local, almost as an afterthought, “Are you Jewish?” The local proudly pulled out a Magen David pendant and said, “Of course I’m Jewish!”
“Would you like to put on tefillin?” we asked.
“Not right now, I’m in a hurry,” he replied.
Of course, we didn’t let him be, and after an hour, we found ourselves leaving his home after having put tefillin on him for the first time in over 25 years. We also affixed a mezuzah in his office. Bringing him challos for Shabbos triggered memories of when his grandmother used to prepare them.
We saw many such stories of hashgacha protis every day.
When you act with the spirit of a shliach, you can’t imagine the impact you make, even on the frum Yiden who come for a vacation in this area.
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