The Chofetz Chaim used to tell a story about the famous Magid of Dubno. The Magid was walking in the street and saw at a small distance, a blind man, wearing, in the winter, only some torn rags, being led along by a young boy of maybe 7 or 8, looking sad and ragged too. Most people would pass them by quickly so as to not be affected by the scene too much; someone with a sympathetic heart would at least groan in pain as he walked by to at least show that he cared; someone with a more action-oriented heart would probably offer up a prayer of thanks to Hashem for all the good that he had been given. The Magid, even more than all that truly felt their pain. He approached the blind man," where are you from , my friend," he asked with a smile. The man was a rather bitter man and did not answer beyond a grunt. The little boy looked up at the Magid with his hardship-darkened eyes and told him that the man was his father, his mother had died  and they had run out of firewood and their tiny hovel was freezing. The father started to get annoyed and wanted to continue going. The Magid just quickly asked, ’ have you eaten today?" The boy answered that in fact they were on their way to the homeless shelter to get a meal before returning home. The Magid, without hesitation offered, " come home with me instead - I’ll give you a delicious hot meal surely better than what you would get at the shelter." The boy’s eyes lit up as he convinced his father to go. The father agreed and the Magid, on a dime, changed his plans, walked back home with them at their slow pace, ushered them into his warm home, set the table, warmed up and served the hot delicious lunch and made every effort to make them comfortable. Even the father warmed up and complimented the food. Amazingly, the Magid then offered for them to come and live in his house permanently. He would give them their own room, three beautiful meals a day and the boy would be able to go to cheder - of course at his expense. The father hesitated but accepted on a trial basis. They stayed. The father was not always the most pleasant person but the Magid and his family endured it. The boy changed completely, shining in cheder and excelling in every possible way - learning, midos etc. The father died a while later and the boy stayed and grew up to be one of the greatest rabbis of his generation - R’ Shlomo Kluger ZT"L. 

There is so much to learn from this story about how to do the mitzva of chesed and particularly Hachnosas Orchim and surely to involve the entire family over a long period of time. But R’ Vallach focuses here on another point. At the fateful moment of their meeting had the Magid reacted in any way less than the way he did, had he hurried by or just groaned "oy vei" and not acted spontaneously to his good instinct to care and do something, that boy might have continued to have his miserable life and the Jewish people may have never merited the great benefits of experiencing the great R’ Shlomo Kluger. Had Batia the daughter of Par’oh not stretched out her arm to rein in the little baby floating down the river, there may never have been a Moshe Rabbeinu, the savior of Yisrael, the greatest prophet who ever lived who brought down the Torah which enshrined her, Batia, as one of the heroines of history. Some opportunities only present themselves once and for a very short time and if we can train ourselves to be in tune with our instincts and recognize them when they talk to us at those opportune moments, most directly with our own kids, kayn yirbu, who knows what great things could come out of it. 

In these dangerous times, this message is true on a communal level too. The Chafetz Chaim when he was already over 100 years old, had the idea as he was speaking one Shabbos, that Moshiach was ready to come - klal Yisrael had suffered and endured for so long that all that was impeding the revelation of Moshiach was the crying out of the entire Jewish people to Hashem that they could not take it anymore and they needed the yishua. He himself could not generate that kind of mass outpouring of real emotion and decided that if he would travel to Vilna and enlist the help of the great chief rabbi, R’ Chaim Ozer Grodzenski ZT"L, it could be done. For the first time in his life he impatiently waited for Shabbos to end so he could catch the first available wagon to Vilna. But his people, understandably perhaps, didn’t think it was wise for a man as old and frail as the Chofetz Chaim, to make such a journey. When Shabbos ended the Chofetz Chaim was ready to leave immediately but they told him that no wagon driver would make the trip at night. He didn’t sleep all night, davened at ’netz’ and was ready again but this time they told him that there were no wagons available that morning. Without their help he could not go and gave up the attempt but he told them that they, by hindering his mission, truly did lose the opportunity to bring Mashiach at that time. ( Imagine if Mashiach would have come then in around 1930 - we could possibly have avoided the devastation of the holocaust. ) Who knows if now, in such uncertain times, in times of increasing anti-semitism and truly supernatural world events, the window is once again open for us to cry out to Hashem and beg H-M to send us Mashiach. Please participate in some of the public gatherings for t’hillim and davening and be counted - be part of the opportunity. 

Have a wonderful Shabbos;