A Miracle on the Other Side of the World | Rabbi Yehuda Zev Klein

It was Sunday, February 11th, 2024, a day known globally as Super Sunday. Super Bowl Sunday is the pinnacle of the sports calendar. The most exciting, the most thrilling day for football fans around the world. All year long, fans count down to this moment, eagerly awaiting the intense competition and the crowning of a new champion. Super Bowl Sunday is a day when hundreds of millions of fans around the world pause to witness history in the making. A day where legends are born and dreams are realized. So let me share with you a personal story. My son-in-law is an avid NFL fan, but he said, I decided that this year, post October 7th, I will not be watching the game. Yidden in Eretz Yisroel are suffering. Our brothers and sisters are languishing in dark tunnels, they're starving, they’re sleeping on folding chairs, and I'm going to go to a Super Bowl party? It just doesn't feel right. It's 6:30 p.m., it's right before kickoff, and he asks his 13-year-old son, Would you join me in Beis Medrash? And he says: Tatty, you mean after the game? No, right now. But the game is starting right now. He says: I know, but this year I made a decision to go learn in Beis Medrash. Are you joining me? And he says: Okay, I'll come. They learn for a few hours, they daven Maariv, they come home, he opens up his phone and he sees: Breaking news! The IDF has rescued two hostages. As he reads the news, his heart starts to race, as he realizes an amazing coincidence. Something dramatic had happened. He said: I looked at my watch when we entered the Beis Medrash and it was 6:49 p.m. That is 1:49 a.m. in Gaza. That was the exact moment the IDF entered the building to free the hostages. In that instant, he suddenly grasped the enormity of his sacrifice. By giving up something pleasurable, Hashem had allowed the hostages to be rescued on the other side of the world. When we demonstrate the act of Mesirus Nefesh, Hashem repays that act with something miraculous. As human beings, we can only see the things that people do. We can't see the things that people don't do. But Hashem sees the things that you didn't look at, the places you didn't go, the times you diverted your eyes from something inappropriate. So every second you abstain and you hold back, in Hashem’s book, you are actively doing a Mitzvah, and that act of Mesirus Nefesh can bring about a miracle for you and for the entire world. We never know if your next act of Mesirus Nefesh will free the rest of the hostages.