This story happened when we moved to Toronto about thirty five years ago. We were a young couple sent by the Rebbe on Shlichut to Toronto. In those early days, we were trying everything we could, we were waiting for “business”.
One Sunday afternoon there was a knock on the door. We opened the door and a woman was standing there.
She said, “Well I know that you just moved in, but we’re looking for a rabbi three doors down. My friend is sitting shiva with her sister and her father. They just came back from Hong Kong and they need a rabbi. Are you available?”
My husband replied, “Yes, of course, I’m available!”
My husband ran over and as he walked into the house, the woman who was sitting shiva jumped up and asked incredulously, “Oh my, did Rabbi Moshe send you?”
My husband looked at her and said, “Rabbi Moshe? Your friend just knocked on our door and I came over.”
She said, “Well that’s strange! See, we’re from Hong Kong and our mother was very ill for sometime there. We were in the hospital with her when this young Rabbinical student* who was the Chabad representative in Hong Kong would come and visit us every day. When my mother passed away, we decided to bury her here in Toronto and sit shiva in Toronto.
Rabbi Moshe, the Chabad representative told us, ‘I have a friend that just moved to Toronto just two weeks ago. I’m going to give you his name, though I don’t have a number or address. Perhaps you can look him up when you get to Toronto.’
”She went over to her purse to find the paper that Rabbi Moshe gave her. And what did it say?
“Rabbi Avraham Plotkin!”
Indeed, what Hashgacha Protis – Divine Providence!
By Rabbi Avraham and Goldie Plotkin
*Rabbi Moishe Denberg is today a Shliach in his own right today in Boca Raton, Florida.
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