The Fatal 5 Minutes | Rabbi Reuven Schmeltzer

A Yid related the following story. I was walking along with my friend, Chaim, who's blind, I was escorting him, and suddenly, his phone rings and he says: Oh, that's my alarm. That's the hour that I have to keep Shmiras Halashon. In my silence, he sensed that I didn't approve so much of this Kabbalah and he says: Oh, you're one of those who think that just one hour of Shmiras Halashon doesn't mean anything, because anyway, you're not supposed to talk Lashon Hara ever, huh? So I said to him: So, Chaim, what's the answer? He said: Well, I know that this hour is going to bring me further to many more hours, and I'm going to get closer to Hashem eventually. Sounds like you're pretty positive about that, I told him. He said: Yes, I am. I'll tell you a story. A few months ago, I got a phone call from a neighbor of mine, in Rishon Letzion, which is a city a lot of frum people, a lot of not-frum people. My neighbor's name is Nitzan. He's in his 20s. He calls me up, hysterical, crying and crying. You must tell me how I could become frum. I need someone who could direct me to keep the entire Torah. I said to him: Why so radical? He said: I wanted to get close to Hashem. You know, I love Hashem. I love the nation of Klal Yisroel. I'm just not observant. But I wanted to do something to get a Kesher, a bond, with the Ribono shel Olam. I was Mekabel to keep Shabbos from 12:00 at night till 10:00 in the morning. My frum friends, they made fun of me, they're ridiculing, That's not Shabbos. You can't make up your own hours when Shabbos is. My non-frum friends said: Oh, what a joke. While you're sleeping, 12:00 at night till 10:00 in the morning you're going to keep Shabbos. Ha ha. But I was adamant. I want to keep it and that's it. I want to show Hashem I mean it, I want something. Friday night, right after that, I was out with my friends. It was late at night. We were driving, nebech, Chillul Shabbos, we were driving, and it was getting closer to 12:00 at night and I knew I had to keep my Kabbalah. So I told my friends: At 11:50, I have to get out of the car, regardless. They said: Come on, we'll be home by 12:15. You'll just make it up, maybe. Sleep till 10:15 in the morning. Ha ha. I said: No, I made up from 12:00 to 10:00. Come what may, I'm keeping it. 11:50 you let me out of the car. They let me out of the car, out in the middle of nowhere. There was a bench on the side of the road. I went to the bench. I took out my phone. I shut my phone. I prepared myself on the bench, and I was going to lay down and spend the night there. People stopped to offer me their phones, to offer me rides. Of course, that's not what I needed. Finally, finally, after a fitful night, I woke up at 10:00 in the morning, or I got up. I turned on my phone, nebech. I called a taxi. Taxi came and drives me the next 20 minutes to my house. I open the door of my house and I am met with stares by my family members. And then they start hysterically crying and they embraced me, they hugged me. You’re here, you’re here. I said: What? They said: At 11:55 last night, the car that you were in was in a fatal accident and all the occupants were killed. We were sure we're going to go to your funeral this morning and here you are, standing alive. I realized that the Ribono shel Olam values so much my Kabbalah, though I know it is an Aveira. I was being Mechallel Shabbos. And yet, here I was. The Aibishter wants from me that little bit. So Chaim finishes and tells me, That one hour of Shmiras Halashon I'm sure will get me places. This is the Chizuk we all must take. The Ribono shel Olam loves even our small gestures.