A NOVEL Rabbinic Praise for Yedidya
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A NOVEL Rabbinic Praise for Yedidya This novel, in addition to being an enjoyable and inspiring read, will also be a way to imbue oneself with vital Torah lessons for life. —Rabbi Zev Leff, shlita I am certain that, with Hashem’s help, this book will provide support and encouragement to those who read it, and will shine light and health upon them. —Rabbi Shlomo Yedidya Zafrani, shlita Rabbi Daniel Travis is once again providing the Jewish people with unique insights into emunah. I believe Yedidya will prove to be an instant classic. —Rabbi Daniel Glatstein, shlita Especially in these very challenging times, Yedidya delivers real chizzuk in emunah, while still remaining an enjoyable, easy-to-read novel. —Rabbi David Schoonmaker, shlita Readers Praise Yedidya From readers of the serial edition Thank you, thank you, and again thank you! This was the most in- spiring and best book I’ve ever read! I learned so many lessons for life! The lessons ofemunah and humility were illustrated more vividly than in any sefer I’ve ever learned. A huge yasher koach to Rabbi Travis and to Mrs. Elbinger for pulling off the impossible. You’ve set a new precedent in Jewish fiction. Reading Yedidya was life-changing for me. I think we all have a bit of Yedidya in us and can learn from him how to overcome our own stumbling blocks that get in the way of our spiritual growth. Yedidya was a breathtaking experience. We are all so disappointed it’s over! It was extremely inspiring and has changed our entire outlook on life. Reading Yedidya has given me lots of food for thought. It would take me a book double the length of this book to write everything I learned from it. Thank you for an amazing, inspiring book! This book is a revolution. It sure is a cutting-edge tool to engrave the concepts and hashkafos onto one’s mind and heart. I am awed by this whole project and very appreciative. Yedidya accomplished something that a sefer on emunah can’t — it relates to the reader on a personal level. Reading about Yedidya’s real, raw struggles and emotions, the back-and-forth between hardship and acceptance, is what makes it real. I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful novel/sefer. The lifelike charac- ters kept me company during many lonely times. I also feel I have gained much from the subliminal Torah outlooks on difficulties and growth contained in this exceptional work. Thank you so, so much for this amazing book that has carried me through so much! I honestly feel that I have grown through reading Yedidya, which I cannot say about any other novel. This book helped me tremendously during this really difficult period. I am going to be reading it again for sure and I would like to try to read a little to my family each week. Based on the Torah Series "Thanking Hashem When Things Look Bad" BY RABBI DANIEL YAAKOV TRAVIS Written by NAOMI ELBINGER Copyright © 2021 First Edition - First Impression / March 2021 by Rabbi Daniel Yaakov Travis and Naomi Elbinger ISBN: 978-1-68025-157-9 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be translated, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holders. To contact the authors, please e-mail [email protected] or visit YedidyaBook.com. Cover design and typesetting: Chaya Murik Distributed by: Feldheim Publishers POB 41363, Jerusalem, Israel 208 Airport Executive Park Nanuet, NY, 10954 Printed in Israel Translation of Approbation by Rabbi Shlomo Yedidya Zafrani, shlita 27th of Iyar 5780 To my dear and respected friend Rabbi Daniel Yaakov Travis, shlita, who has done so much to teach Torah scholars and train them to be great in Torah and fear of Heaven, who also speaks to the hearts of baalei teshuvah, to open a ray of light and to show them the straight, correct path of our holy Torah. With this purpose in mind, he wrote wonderful books of respon- sa about the unique situations that baalei teshuvah encounter. He showed in his books how to address those complex problems and how to find solutions in the Torah way. Not only is he a rabbi and Torah teacher to many, answering halachic questions for all who ask, but he is like a merciful father to them, counselling them through difficult personal situations, giving them support and encouragement when they are struggling to overcome difficulties on the path to teshuvah. And now he has decided to do a great thing, to create a book that opens the gates of hope, faith, and trust in situations of calamity, anxiety, and fear, and to fulfill the verse “Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem,” as it is written of our Father, our King, “Hashem brings good to those who hope in Him, to the soul that searches for Him.” [Rabbi Travis] teaches that even in very difficult circum- stances, when a person can feel it is hard to have faith, nevertheless one shouldn’t stray after forces that try to weaken him. Rather he should fulfill the verse “Turn to Hashem, be strong and courageous in your heart, turn to Hashem.” I am certain that, with Hashem’s Help, this book will provide support and encouragement to those who read it, and it will shine light and health upon them. With Torah blessings, Shlomo Yedidya Zafrani שלמה ידידיה זעפראני רו"כ ואב"ד לממונות "כתר תורה - בית וגן", ורב ק"ק אהל משה הר-נוף, ודק"ק "אבי עזרי" קרית ספר, ודק"ק "אהל יעקב", ו"מגן אברהם" בית שמש בס"ד כ"ז אייר מ"ב למטמוני"ם תש"פ מכתב ברכה לידי"נ ומכובדי הגאון הרב דניאל טרביס שליט"א, אשר ידיו רב לו בהרבצת תורה לאברכים ת"ח להכשירם להיות גדולי תורה ויראה. וגם לרבות להרנין לב בעלי תשובה לפתוח לפניהם קרן אורה ולהראותם את הדרך הישרה והנכונה מתוך ספר הישר תורתינו הקדושה. לצורך זה חיבר חיבורים נפלאים בשאלות ההלכתיות והמעשיות אשר נתקלים בהם בעלי תשובה. והראה בספריו היאך להתמודד בצורה הנכונה וההלכתית עם אותם בעיות לא פשוטות ולמצוא את פתרונן בדרכה של תורה. ועל הכל כי לא הסתפק להיות רב מרביץ תורה לעדרים ומשיב תשובות לשואלים, אלא להיות להם אב רחום למצוא מזור ותרופה למכתם, ולתת תמיכה וסעד לקשיים המיוחדים שנאלצים להתמודד עמהם בדרך חזרתם בתשובה. ועתה איוותה נפשו דבר טוב להעלות על ספר פתיחת שערי תקוה אמונה ובטחון בפני מצבים של מצוקה או חרדה ופחדים ולקיים בעצמם "ברוך הגבר אשר יבטח בהם והיה ה' מבטחו", כי אבינו מלכנו נאמר בו "טוב ה' לקוויו לנפש תדרשנו". ללמד דאף אם בעת המצוקה יכול לחוש האדם כי קשה לו לקוות, מ"מ אל לו להתפתות ליצרו המנסה להחלישו להרפותו, אלא יקיים בעצמו "קוה אל ה' חזק ויאמץ לבך וקוה אל ה' ". בטוחני כי בעזהי"ת ספרו זה ישמש סעד ומזור לנצרכים אליו, ובס"ד יזכה ויתבדרון שמעתתיה בבי מדרשא מתוך בריות גופא ונהורא מעליא אכי"ר. ביקרא דאורייתא שלמה ידידיה זעפראני רח' שאולזון 31/46 הר-נוף ירושלם טל. 3146/24//2 One one Chapter One edidya wasn’t sure at first what woke him so abruptly, gasping for air as if underwater. All seemed peaceful in the darkened yeshiva dorm room, illuminated by the eerie yellow light that streamed through the Ywindow from the streetlamp just beyond. “Atah hareisa ki Hashem…” He found himself slowly whispering these words. For some reason, they rolled off his tongue, familiar as Shema Yisrael. They sounded like a garbled pasuk. A remnant of his dream. His alarm clock told him it was just past five thirty a.m. The fan next to him whirled, giving some relief from the sweltering night in Jerusalem. He could make out the sleeping forms of Oppenheim and Mirsky in their beds across the room. He rolled over to the cooler side of the bed, seeking sleep once again. But as soon as he closed his eyes, the words thundered out of his dream: ַא ָּתה ָהְר ֵא ָת ָלַד ַעת ִּכי ה’ ּהוא ָה ֱא ִ-לֹקים ֵאין עוֹ ד ִמ ְל ַב ּדוֹ You have been shown, in order to know, that the Lord, He is G-d; there is nothing other than Him. Yedidya found himself saying this famous pasuk out loud, complete with the sacred Names of Hashem. Now he was instantaneously awake, Chapter One | 13 his heart pounding, his skin tingling. He sat up and grabbed his glasses from the ledge next to his mattress. As his eyes adjusted to the predawn gloom, his bedside table came into focus. The entire surface was covered with neat towers of sefarim. At the top of the pile was a new sefer, never opened. He had received it as a gift from Eli just a few hours earlier when they went out to celebrate their shared birthday. On that day, the fourth of Tammuz, Yedidya turned twen- ty-two years old. He had gone with Eli only reluctantly. He had not yet finished his learning targets for the week, and he hated to start a new year of his life behind schedule. He had hoped to spend the night catching up. But Eli was his oldest friend, and probably his only real friend. When they had been kids back in Far Rockaway, they had celebrated their birthdays together with ball games in the park, or a trip to Milk Maven’s ice-cream parlor. Even though they were now grown men charting their own paths in different yeshivas in Jerusalem, some things don’t change.