Just Ask - R. Ari Neuwirth - TorahAnytime.com

I'll share with everyone a phenomenal story that I read in the Resocus from Rabbi Yitzchok Hisiger that really, really highlights what we're saying here. In Yerushalayim, there's the famous shuk. Right before Sukkos, between Yom Kippur and Sukkos is a shuk the dalet minim shuk where they sell esrogim and lulavim, hadasim, and aravos. Crowded, hundreds and hundreds of people looking for the best esrogim and the best dalet minim. And there's also a lot of rabbonim there and poskim there who poskin whether an esrog is valid, not valid, posul, kosher for the every one of the dalet minim. What has been transpiring recently is people want to know what's the best. They're not asking shailos whether this is posul or this is kosher. They're not asking that. Those are some but the lines got so big it it was just impossible to control because so many people on the line just wanted to know. They knew it was kosher. They just wanted to know, from these three esrogim, what's the nicest? From these three lulavim, I want to know what's the best. The organizers of the shuk made a new policy. And they wrote the policy up and they posted it on all the walls. You can only be on line for the rabbonim to ask a shaila whether something is kosher or posul. You have a shaila. We're not here to answer you what's the best. That's not what we're here for. It's going to be too long and it's just too crazy over here. Fine. And it was working. The lines were shorter, the lines were quicker. However, one guy comes in front of the rabbonim with esrogim. He says to the rav, "Which one is the nicest?" They're like, "Ah, here we go." It takes one not to listen. So, they asked him, "Wha- Don't you see the policy?" He says, "Yeah, I did see the policy, but let me explain something to you. I come from Russia. And when I was in Russia, I did not learn anything. All I All I knew was a Jew. Couldn't practice any Yiddishkeit, any Judaism. The only thing I did in Russia was that I davened. I prayed, and I said, "Hashem, I want to be close to you." So, I'm trying to get as close as I can to you. I can't do the mitzvahs, I can't eat matzah, I can't shake lulav, I can't shake esrog. I don't even know what it means. A kosher lulav, a possul lulav, I have no idea. So, what I do, I came here to you Eretz Yisrael recently. I came to the shuk, and I took three lulavim and three esrogim. So, I want you to look at these three lulavim at first, I believe it was. Tell me, which one's the nicest? I don't know." They said, "Oh, for you? We could change the policy." And they looked at the three lulavim, and they're like, "Wow! They're exquisite! For a guy who never shook lulav and never had the chance to study the halachas in depth, you have a perfect lulav. It's green till the tip. It's completely closed. It's completely straight. And like, from all the hundreds of lulavim, how did you know to pick the best without knowing the halachas?" She said, "I'll tell you how. Before I went to the table, I I a short tefillah. I said a short prayer. I said Ribono shel Olam, I don't know the halachas of lulavim. You do. Help me choose the right one. So, I just put my hand on the table and I took three. And look, Hashem answered. They were in tears. The rabbonim were in tears. He says, "Okay, go get three esrogim." He comes back few minutes later with three esrogim. They examined each esrog and each one was nicer than the next. It was beautiful shape. It was nice and bumpy. Everything you could ask of a beautiful hidur esrog was there. All three. They asked me again, "How did you do it? People were here for hours and days looking for the best. You just went to the table for a couple of minutes and found the three most exquisite esrogim?" He said, "Rabbi, I did the same thing. I said a short feeler. Ribono shel Olam, I don't know the halachas. I can't differentiate one esrog from the next. Please help me find the best. And that's what I got." We see from this story how important, how critical, how functional feel is. It's there. The yeshua is there. The salvation is there. The answer is there. We just have to connect with the Ribono shel Olam.