Parshat Vayakhel 5782

Parshat Vayakhel 5782💡
Our prayers make an impression. Everything good we do makes a difference.👏
I heard a powerful story💥 this past Shabbos morning, a version of a story I heard years ago from my Rabbi, which has stayed with me ever since.🤔 In his Shabbos morning drasha, the Rav of a local shul here asked why the Torah always calls Betzalel, the main builder of the Mishkan, by his grandfather’s name, as well as his father’s name? He explained that it was in the merit of the self-sacrifice of his grandfather, Hur, that Betzalel merited the divine wisdom to build the Mishkan. He the n told a story which took place in the early days of the State of Israel, in Tel Aviv. There was a young man who was raised in a very secular home. He had become observant when he grew up, much to the disapproval of his family. They asked him, what happened?🤔💔 He told them that when he was walking down a certain city street one day, he was asked by an old man standing outside a shul to help make a minyan. At first he refused, having never set foot in a shul before. However, in the end he agreed to the old man’s request. Eventually, something about the shul and the way the men prayed with sincerity made an impression on him, and he began to go the shul on his own. The rest was history, as they say. As he was telling this over to his family, his father spoke up and said, ‘that’s not the real reason.’🧐 His father told them that his father, the young man’s grandfather, who had come from Europe, was one of the founders of that little shul where his grandson had started to learn and pray years later. His grandfather used to sit in the shul everyday, praying and crying over how far his son had drifted from Judaism since coming to Israel. The boy’s father then turned and said to him, he didn’t win with me, but now I see how his prayers have helped you.
Our prayers matter. Everything we invest in our children and our loved ones matters. It has an effect, even if we might not see the immediate, positive results. Shabbat Shalom🕯️🕯️