Dina Ulitsky
Continued from last month
Continued from last month
We are on the eve of Hanukkah, and this is the
time of miracles. Have you experienced miracles
in your life? Many miracles have happened in my life. Last time, when I was talking about koshering my kitchen, I mentioned one of them. But now I want to tell you about the miracle that saved my father's life. As a teenager, my father and his family went on
an evacuation to Karaganda, Kazakhstan. In 1943, when he was seventeen years old, he was called to the front. It happened in winter, when severe frosts broke out. My father’s regiment was preparing for a dangerous operation. The day before the start of the battle, a high-ranking army officer arrived at the location of the regiment,
in front of whom all the personnel were lined up. The commander announced
through a loudspeaker: “Whoever is an artist among you – three steps forward!"
Nobody moved. There was a heavy silence. The only sound was the crackling of
branches in the cold wind. The appeal was repeated two more times. My father,
who had been drawing since childhood, by this time had become an established
artist, stood frozen. It seemed to him that everyone could heard the booming
beating of his heart. He knew that he was the only artist in the regiment, and
everyone knew about it too. Finally, a soldier standing nearby pointed at my father
and shouted: “Here is the artist - David Kaganov!” My father thought numbly that
the heavens had closed over him. But he had no choice but to step forward. He
was immediately put into a car and taken away...
The car arrived at the Army Headquarters. My father was taken to a large room
that had numerous portraits of party leaders damaged by the bombing hanging on
the wall. He was ordered to restore all the portraits in a short time. He immediately
set to work, but the anxiety still did not leave him; it was not known what would
happen to him next. And remember, my father was only 17 years old...
The next day, his regiment from where he was so hastily taken away, went on a
dangerous combat mission, Not a single soldier returned alive.
So, in a miraculous way, the Almighty saved my father’s life, and, as we now
understand, this happened precisely during the period of Chanukah.
Another story, during the period of my return to Judaism with my husband. By
that time, many people were gathering at our house, thank G‑d, for Shabbat and
festive meals and for Torah classes conducted by Rabbi Zaltzman, mostly focused
on the book Tanya. We were seriously considering moving to a larger house to
better accommodate our guests. Once, while walking in our area, we saw a house
advertised for sale, and on a whim decided to look at it. We liked the house. At
that time, we already understood the importance of a spiritual connection with the
Rebbe and knew about the tradition of coordinating important decisions with him.
We did what is customary in such cases: we wrote a letter and inserted it in one
of the Rebbe's many volumes of letters. The Rebbe's answer was long and to the
point, but the practical advice for us was in the last paragraph. It began with the
following words: "Regarding your move ... I would advise you not to move in the
middle of the school year, but to wait for the full completion of the educational
process before the summer holidays." My husband, Arkady, and I realized that at
the moment it is better to postpone the move, as it was in the middle of winter.
Shortly thereafter, a fairly large house was put up for sale in our area. We looked
at it and liked it a lot, especially given our plans to increase the number of people
attending the classes. We bought this house the next day. Now there was one
“minor” detail – the matter of selling our existing home. And then, literally the
next day, the house next to us was put up for sale and announced an open house.
An endless string of interested buyers were streaming through. The next day, our
doorbell rings. At the door stood a young man wearing a kippah, who, without
saying a word, stepped inside and, after a quick glance around, went back outside
to look at the house number. It turned out that he had been among the visitors
of the neighboring house’s open house the previous day, and decided to return
in order to inspect it more thoroughly without the crowd. He just got the house
number wring and came to our house instead!
When he came to us, he realized that our house actually suited him very well,
and asked permission to return in half an hour with his wife. After they turned the
house, they said that they would give an answer tomorrow. The next day they
called and said they were buying our house. So that’s how our house was sold.
The whole process of buying a new house and selling the old one took an unusually
short time – just a few days. Our youngest daughter Clara asked, “When can we
move into a new house?” When we opened the contract, we saw that the date of
the move was set for June 29th. Clara exclaimed, “Oh, that’s the last day of school
before the summer holidays!” Exactly as it was written in the Rebbe's answer to
our note.
On the one hand, it may seem that these stories with miracles from the category
of “believe it or... not.” But we must remember that every Jew has a special
spirituality, and all we need to do is acquire the knowledge to be able to “see” this
spirituality with our own eyes.
