God Has Not Forgotten About You | Rabbi Yoir Adler

There's a Chasidishe Yid, who lives in New York, who’s called R’ Chaim Yaakov, known as R’ Chaim Yankel. He related the most incredible story. A couple of years ago, A very close relative of his wasn't feeling well. They went to the doctor, who sent them immediately to the emergency room. He followed in his car to the hospital. A couple of long minutes later, the doctor comes out with a very grim look on his face, and he said: I must tell you that the diagnosis is really serious and it doesn't look very promising. Chaim Yankel broke down. He was shattered. He was broken. He goes into the parking lot, gets into his car, begins driving and driving as tears are streaming down his cheeks, his mind is focused on his relative. After a long time driving, he looks around and he realizes that he doesn't recognize this neighborhood at all. He must have driven a long way and he doesn't know where he is. He parks his car in some parking lot and he sees a coffee shop. He goes into the coffee shop to ask for directions to get back home. As he walks in, he sees an individual behind the counter that doesn't look Jewish at all. And this guy behind the counter looks at him in the face and says, Chaim Yankel, The Aibishter did not forget about you. He was stunned and shocked. He looks at him and he says, Do you know who I am? He says: Not at all. So how do you know my name? I don't. Have we met before? -No. So why are you talking to me like this? He says: Let me explain to you. My mother of blessed memory’s mother lived in a shtetl. In the shtetl, there was a water carrier called Chaim Yankel. And as this water carrier got older, it became very difficult for him to carry those buckets of water around town, and he used to schlep and perspirate and get tired and exhausted. And he used to say to himself, Chaim Yankel, גאט האט נישט פארגעסן פון דיר. God did not forget about you. And that was the way he kept upbeat. And his mother remembered that her mother used to quote this constantly, whenever something went wrong in the house, whenever there was some aggravation, she would quote, Chaim Yankel, God has not forgotten about you. And I remember my mother also quoting this phrase. When you walked into this coffee shop, I saw that you look Jewish, so I just blurted out this line. Chaim Yankel was overwhelmed by the השגחה פרטית, that the Aibishter saw to it that he should park in this coffee shop to hear this message, and these words gave him a new source of inspiration. מוריי ורבותיי, what gives us the strength to say Vayimaen in those Vayimaen moments? The רמ”א, in the first סעיף of Shulchan Aruch, writes, Says the רמ”א: You want to be a Yid? First and foremost, remember, wherever you are, wherever you find yourself, which street you're driving through, which marketplace you're walking through, and there's images and there's things to look at, remember, שיוויתי השם לנגדי תמיד. The Aibishter’s with you. The Aibishter’s in front of you. Be aware that what you're doing is being calculated, and you are going to be zoche to tremendous Schar. This is the essence of a Yid. The Aibishter is משגיח בפרטיות, wherever we go, wherever we are, and this is a source of inspiration for all of us to remember: Chaim Yankel, God has not forgotten about you.