I knew it was a crazy idea, but a couple of months ago, I was determined to fly from New York City to Israel with a group of women to pray to Hashem to help them find their soul mates. I’d had enough—enough of my students crying to me, their hearts broken; enough of making matches that fizzled. I needed to enlist the Creator of the World, and where better to do it than Israel?
My mission was also personal: I had a daughter who was ready to find a husband, and I didn’t want to see her suffer. I knew that prayer was the answer. When I first suggested the trip to my students, they had reservations: They were kind of busy. Money was tight. Couldn’t they pray from New York? Who was to say this plan would work?
But finally, I found some donors to help partially cover the cost, and ten women agreed to join me.
I was reminded of the children of Israel crossing the sea when they fled Egypt. They all thought they would drown, but Hashem told Moshe to tell his people to calm down. “Just tell them to start walking,” and they started walking, and the water came up to their chins, but still they continued. And then, amazingly, the seas opened up.
Although the leap of faith the ten women and I were taking wasn’t nearly as scary as stepping into the sea to escape Egyptian soldiers, it still felt daunting! But because we believe in Hashem, because we pray to Him every day and see results, we weren’t afraid. We believed.
In Israel, we went to the Western Wall, to the graves of our forefathers, to Rachel’s grave, to Hillel’s grave, to the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, and to the place where Chana prayed to Hashem for a son. All over Israel, we said our prayers.
After a week, the other women went back to New York, but I stayed in Israel. Now that I was alone, I said a special prayer to Hashem, telling Him that if something drastic didn’t happen for those ten women, I didn’t know what I was going to do. Of course, by making the trip, they had trusted in Hashem, but they had also trusted in me. I felt tremendous pressure. “Work fast!” I prayed. “I want results before the High Holidays!”
It turned out, He heard our prayers. Just before Rosh Hashana, one woman announced her engagement. Just before Yom Kippur, a second woman announced hers. Soon after, my youngest daughter got engaged!
It’s been only two months, and three of the eleven of us have had our prayers answered. I have no doubt that the prayers of the rest of the group will be answered soon, too.
If you want results, you must pray! Every day, repeat the famous verses:
Trust in Hashem and He will answer you.
It is good to thank Hashem…
Hashem is close to those who really call to Him.
We prayed, and we saw results with our own eyes. Try it. You’ll see, too.
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Ziva Kramer, MA has been an international matchmaker, dating coach and spiritual advisor for professional singles for many years. She is known for her honesty, candor and for passing out wisdom that people trust. http://zivakramer.com/.
The words of this author reflect his/her own opinions and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Orthodox Union.