Hiding in the Aron Kodesh | Rabbi Eliezer Feuer

In the city of Holon, in Eretz Yisroel, there's a wonderful Kollel under the auspices of the great R’ Yitzchak Zilberstein שליט”א, son-in-law of Rav Elyashiv זצוק”ל. One day, a young boy, about Bar Mitzvah age, walks into the Kollel, and he asks to speak to the Rabbi. They introduce the young man to the Rosh Kollel and he proceeds to explain to the Rosh Kollel how he has a deep thirst and a desire to learn Torah. He explains to the Rosh Kollel how he's not from a religious family, and his parents are not happy with what he wants to do. But please, he begs, please, could you set me up with someone to study Torah, once a week? Of course, after he begins to learn with an Avrech once a week, he goes to twice a week, three times a week, and he's doing great. But his father is not happy. His father would come searching for him, and make chaos in the Kollel, and things got a little difficult. The people in the Kollel decided if they would ever see his father coming toward the Kollel, they would immediately alert this young boy, and he would go and slip quietly out of the Kollel, not to be caught. One day, the father suddenly appears on the bottom of the stairwell in the Kollel, with no time to alert the child that he should run. With no time, this little boy runs behind the Paroches, to hide from his father. He looks down and he sees his feet are peeking out from beneath the Paroches. That would be a dead giveaway. So without any choice, this young boy opens up the doors behind him, of the Aron Kodesh, and he creeps inside and he hides in between the Sifrei Torah. After a few minutes, the coast is clear and the Kollel yungerleit tell him: You could come out. He emerges. But then the question arises, Is that proper? Are we putting ourselves in a situation that's perhaps not proper? This boy is hiding in an Aron Kodesh amongst the Sifrei Torah? And they decided to pose the question to R’ Yitzchak Zilberstein, who in turn, took the שאלה to his father-in-law, Rav Elyashiv. When Rav Elyashiv heard this story, he began to cry and he said the following. He said: From now on, anyone in Holon that comes that needs a salvation for anything, any Yeshuah that they need, take them to that spot. Take them to the Aron Kodesh. Let them daven and say a kapitl Tehillim and the salvation will certainly come. For a young boy to sacrifice so much, under such conditions, to give it all up for HaKadosh Baruch Hu, hiding amongst the Sifrei Torah, he created that spot to be Kodesh Kodashim, and from there will emanate the Yeshuah. In life, many times, the Yetzer Hara, it lurks. The Yetzer Hara is trying to ensnare us, entrap us, to tear us away from what we want to do, to tear us away when we're convinced it’s correct. And he’s lurking everywhere. And we have opportunities to hide ourselves and to envelop ourselves in Kedushah, to save ourselves from the Yetzer Hara. Do you know what the Tikunei Zohar tells us? When the Beis HaMikdash was built, the Shechinah HaKedoshah resided מבין שני הכרובים. The Divine Presence literally hovered amongst the cherubs, the Kruvim in the Beis HaMikdash, in the Kodesh Kodashim. But today, says the Tikunei Zohar, where does the Shechinah reside? Says the Tikunei Zohar, Like it resided מבין שני הכרובים then, today, in Galus, the Shechinah resides מבין שתי עיניים. The Shechinah resides right between our eyes. When we're faced with a Nisayon, and we creep in the Kodesh Kodashim, our eyes, where the Divine Shechinah rests, and we hold ourselves back, from there will emanate any Yeshuah that anyone will need.