By Fortunee Cohen

In a Beit Avot in Israel, lived a woman named Miriam who loved reading Tehilim. Any time someone would peek into her room, she was always reciting Tehilim. Her roommate, Sarah, curiously asked her one-day, “Miriam, why are you always reading Tehilim?” and Miriam said that she read Tehilim day and night because she wanted to be properly buried as a Jew. Miriam’s roommate was astonished by her answer because why on earth wouldn’t she be buried as a Jew?! But Sarah didn’t know that Miriam’s family didn’t care about her; they never bothered to even visit her.

Many years passed and Miriam got sick, and she sadly passed away. The Beit Avot, by accident, instead of calling Miriam’s family to tell them that their mother had passed away, they called Sarah’s family and they told them that their mother, Sarah, had passed out. As a result, Sarah’s family buried Miriam and they mourned for her as well.

During Shivah, Sarah’s daughter, Rifkah, got a phone call.

“Rifki! Why haven’t you visited me?” Sarah yelled through the phone.

“Wait, who is this?”

“It’s your Ima!”

When Rifkah heard the mysterious lady say that she was her mother, she fainted. When Rifkah woke up, she told her family about the phone call she received and the family called the Beit Avot to tell them what had happened. The Beit Avot was surprised and shocked to inform Sarah’s family that by accident, they called their family, instead of Miriam’s family, and that B”H Sara was healthy and alive.

~~~

            Hashem was in the background during this entire story. Hashem made the Beit Avot call Sarah’s family because they cared about their mother and they were going to bury their mother in a proper Jewish ceremony and in a Jewish cemetery. If the Beit Avot had called Miriam’s family, they would tell the Beit Avot to bury her wherever they wanted to, because they didn’t care about their mother.

After I read about this story at lapidomedia.com, I learned that whenever I want something from Hashem, I have to pray to Him with a lot of kavana because he is the most powerful and he always listens to our prayers. Since Miriam was always reading Tehilim because she wanted to be buried as a Jew, Hashem made the Beit Avot call Sarah’s family so they could bury Miriam in a Jewish cemetery and morn for her. Personally, I learn from this story to always daven to Hashem for anything I want. Hashem loves when we pray and ask for things. But Hashem mostly loves when children pray, so persuade your little siblings to pray as well.

 

Featured image from chabadbronx.org.