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Home
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The Truth of the Matter
A Story by Chedva
Dear readers, before launching into our story, you must first
make the acquaintance of an interesting personality by the
name of Mrs. Koretz. In order to avoid invading her privacy,
we will only tell what is already known to all: first of all,
her age is a well guarded secret and when asked about it she
will say that she is over 18. If you calculate the ages of
her grandchildren and great-grandchildren you can assume that
she is somewhere between 65 and 75 years of age (probably
closer to the latter). Short and fragile looking is Mrs.
Koretz, but not short of opinion. She is still very actively
involved in all the events of the Mevo'ot Chessed
neighborhood where she resides, and always knows who was
born, how much the baby weighed, and who l'havdil,
passed away. She also remembers who became engaged, got
married, and who is about to "break the plate." The number of
her children and grandchildren is a well guarded secret
against the evil eye, but, she, of course, knows how many
children every family in the neighborhood has, their
financial status, their health situation, and their family
tree.
Mrs. Koretz is a valiant woman who always tries to right
wrongs wherever she may find them. And when she gets into the
thick of things, she works with dynamic energy that would put
a person half her age to shame. So when a letter from the
Mevo'ot Chessed neighborhood arrives at the municipality, the
workers hasten to give it the best service available, lest
they be blessed with a personal visit from the indomitable
Mrs. Koretz, demanding justice for all of the neighborhood
residents. Yes, Mrs. Koretz really enjoys "helping out" to
the best of her ability. But sometimes, she is just a bit too
efficient, as you will see from our story. *
"Now I finally understand a question I have always had,"
Savta Gitel said to her daughter Shifra, one day. "Why do we
say that `it's a big mitzva to be constantly
b'simcha'? I used to ask myself - what's the big
mitzva? Is there such a thing as a little
mitzva? We don't even know the reward for the
mitzvos; all of them are important and should be
equally dear to us. But it just struck me that the addition
of the word `constantly' is what makes this a really big
mitzva." Her daughter, known as Ima Shifra, asked,
"What's this drosha all about, Mamma?" Savta Gitel
explained: "Well, I think that when a person strives, works
and is creative, it's not difficult to be happy. The joy of
creativity is natural. But when you're lying in bed,
listening to the clock ticking off every minute without being
able to do anything, not even read a few chapters of
Tehillim, you begin to realize how difficult it is to
be constantly happy."
Shifra swallowed a sigh. It was so true. These were hard days
for her mother. She remembered her mother working very hard
and always smiling, whether she was whitewashing the walls
all by herself in order to save money or washing the floors
contentedly. "I still have strength, baruch Hashem,"
she'd explain to her grandchildren who would offer to help.
"Go home and help your mothers." Mrs. Gitel Cohen had always
been contented - "Praised be Hashem, day by day," were her
constant expressions. And don't think that she had it easy.
When she was still a young mother she lost her eldest to
polio. And although she brought up her family on a minimal
budget, she was always encouraging her husband to go off to
the beis medrash and learn, assuring him that she had all she
needed. She even sewed all the family's clothing, using old
flour sacks to make up sheets and tablecloths. All, so that
her husband could learn in peace.
When Gitel became a widow, she simply stated, "All that
Hashem does is for the good," and "May Hashem's Name be
blessed forever and ever." She didn't even sigh when the
doctor told her that she had high blood pressure and that she
suffered from arhythmia. She swallowed her pills without a
fuss and went for a series of tests, read the results and
smiled, "Thank G-d, it's not worse."
So what happened on that particular evening? Why did she have
to explain to her daughter the importance of being happy
under all circumstances? It was due to the fact that she was
now forced to sit idle because of her fragile eyesight. About
half a year before, her eyesight had started to fail her. She
began seeing spots and had trouble reading. The doctor
announced that a cataract was growing on her eye and that she
would need immediate laser surgery. Savta Gitel was a
disciplined woman. She took the verdict to heart and set out
to receive the blessing of a tzaddik. Then, with her
children's help and advice and everyone's prayers, she
underwent the operation successfully. Now she was home
again, with the bandage already off her eye, and she really
did see more clearly. The doctor, however, warned her in very
strict tones that if she wanted the operation to be effective
and if she didn't want to come back to the hospital in
another year or two, she would have to avoid taxing her
eyesight. Both eyes would have to rest, since the left eye
had to strain doubly when the right eye wasn't well. She had
to be especially careful for the first month and could return
to normal activity in stages. This was a heavy burden for
Savta Gitel. Being unable to read, she couldn't say the day's
Tehillim, daven properly, go over the
parsha, or even read the daily newspaper. And because
she didn't trust her eyesight, she hardly puttered about the
kitchen as she used to. How could she look for bloodspots in
eggs, check rice or chickpeas, when her eyesight was weak?
Her sewing was also neglected, since it was difficult for her
to work with dark material, and threading a needle was no
longer the easy task it used to be. Her knitting lay in a
closet drawer because the pattern of the sweater she was
working on was complicated and she was afraid of straining
her eyes. With all these restrictions, Savta Gitel found
herself spending most of her time in bed. She had a lot of
time to think things over and that's how she came up with the
novel explanation on the obligation of being always
b'simcha.
Over a delicious piece of cake, Shifra told her mother the
latest news of two-year-old Yanky's clever remarks, which
brought a smile to his grandmother's lips. Afterwards, when
the eldest of the granddaughters arrived to sleep over,
Shifra left for home. She understood that her mother was in a
difficult state and that her lack of occupation was leading
her to a depression. Shifra, a loving and devoted daughter,
was so worried that the next day she paid a visit to her
sister-in-law, Rachel, her older brother's wife, and told her
about the problem. Not surprisingly, Rachel was already aware
of the situation, since she had visited Savta Gitel several
times after the operation. She promised to talk it over with
her husband and perhaps, together, they would come up with
some ideas to keep Savta Gitel occupied. Shifra went home
feeling relieved. She knew that from now on, the matter would
be dealt with the utmost efficiency and seriousness. Over the
years, Rachel had proven to be a devoted and caring sister-in-
law with a lot of initiative; you could count on her to come
up with a novel solution to the problem.
Rachel didn't disappoint Shifra. After a long conversation
with her husband and a phone call to Savta's treating
physician, she acted on the matter. Several days passed.
Shifra couldn't visit her mother since the baby came down
with a fever after being vaccinated, but on the phone her
mother sounded much better. Her tone of voice was lighter and
she wanted to know what was happening with Shifra and the
baby, a sure sign that she was coming out of her depression.
She knew that Rachel had a hand in the matter and was
grateful to her sister-in-law for her devotion.
And that's when the surprise guest arrived. "Shalom,
Shifrale," said Mrs. Koretz - the very same Mrs. Koretz we
introduced to you at the beginning of our story.
"Did anything happen to my mother?" Shifra inquired anxiously
when she saw her mother's elderly neighbor standing at the
entrance early in the morning. "Something certainly has," she
answered brusquely. "Come, let's go in and talk about it
calmly. This isn't a matter you can discuss standing on one
foot," said Mrs. Koretz decidedly. Shifra invited her in, all
the while apologizing for the morning mess and hoping that
Mrs. Koretz would not conclude that she was a sloppy
housekeeper. She led her neighbor into the guest room,
brought her a cup of coffee and a piece of cake, and waited
for the news. "I always knew that a daughter-in-law is not a
daughter," she announced, and sighed deeply. "But you are a
daughter, so why should you let your sister-in-law Rachel
take advantage of your poor mother? Did you know that she has
her sewing nightgowns for her girls? It's important that you
should know, and I, as a caring neighbor, have come
especially to inform you. There's nothing wrong with it and
it's certainly not loshon hora.
"Last night I went by to say hello to your mother and what
did I see? My elderly, weak neighbor, whom the doctor warned
not to strain her eyes, was sitting, bent over her machine,
sewing nightgowns for Rachel's daughters! Tell me, how much
do these things cost in the store, anyway? And how much can
she save by having your poor mother strain her weak eyes? How
can you and your sisters and brothers all let your sister-in-
law take such advantage of your mother without putting her in
her place?" Mrs. Koretz finished her speech in a threatening
tone.
"Please wait while I verify this!" said Shifra and went over
to the phone. She called Rachel and calmly asked if she had
found a solution for her mother-in-law's problem. Rachel, who
had no idea that she was being blamed for anything,
innocently told how her husband had called the doctor who
told him that his mother could do simple work on the sewing
machine with light colored material for an hour at a time,
provided she rested afterwards for two hours. Therefore,
Rachel had bought some white material with a simple print and
had asked her mother-in-law to make some nightgowns, which
are easy to sew, since they don't need perfect stitching.
This would give Savta something creative with which to occupy
her time. "You know how much your mother loves to sew; that's
why I willingly paid over fifty shekel for the
material and trimming, just so she could keep busy during the
long hours of the day." "What a wonderful idea! You did a big
mitzva!" Shifra blessed Rachel and went back into the
guest room where she recounted the whole story to Mrs.
Koretz, just as you read it here.
Mrs. Koretz was taken aback. In fact she was totally
disoriented and could barely murmur, "Very nice, I'm glad to
hear that everything is fine. Keep taking good care of your
mother." Forced to `answer Amen' in spite of herself, Mrs.
Koretz quickly headed for the door. Shifra stood there
thoughtfully, trying to imagine what would have happened if
she hadn't been let in on the secret - if she hadn't known
that the doctor had given his approval in order to keep her
mother happy and occupied. But Hashem, Who runs the world
with compassion, arranges things so when a person wants to
see straight, he can discover the truth of the matter.
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