The following story took place in a Kiruv seminar (for Jews in the process of coming closer to Judaism) in the United States. The seminar began on Thursday and was to last a few days. On Friday morning, a young man came up to me and said: “Kvod Harav, I am obliged to go back home!”

“Who decided that you were obliged?!, I asked in a dry tone.

- Kvod Harav, exclaimed the young man, I will tell you my story and you will decide if I am obliged or not to return!

I arrived in the United States eleven months ago. My friends told me that greenbacks were flowing in abundance. I flew to the United States and not only did I not get the greenbacks, but when my friends realized that I had come without a cent, they were gone. I found myself alone, without money for a hotel or for an apartment, and with no idea where to go. For several days, I strolled like a sleepwalker, wandering the streets aimlessly, with no roof over my head.

At some point, I understood that it was possible to sneak into the subway without paying a cent. Air conditioning is great in the subway! It is cool in summer and warm in winter. The subway, with its various stations, became my home. The train stops at each station, and every few minutes, another train arrives. I used to stop at stations located in upscale neighborhoods, rummage through garbage cans, spot nylon bags, and collect food scraps that passers-by threw away as the day went on.

When I wanted to breathe some fresh air, I went up, walked the streets a little, then went back down to my shelter, in the corridors of the subway. Needless to say, during all this time, I kept the same clothes, did not cut my hair or take a shower. I had lived as a vagrant for 9 months, when I met a young man who came up to me and asked me: ‘You’re Israeli, aren’t you?’

‘Yes, I am!’, I answered, slightly embarrassed. The young man cast a surprised look at my long hair and grubby face. ‘What are you doing here? You look like some dropout!’

I told the young man about my misfortunes when he suddenly said to me: ‘Your deliverance has arrived! Come and follow me! From now on, you’re working with me!’

The young man took me home. I had to shower ten times to get rid of the dirt I had accumulated for nine months. The shower water was black as soot!

The young man, named Michael, offered me clean clothes, and found me a nice two-room apartment with hotplates, a fridge and a telephone. He gave me a few days to adapt, and then we began to work actively together. He owns a huge semi-trailer truck, full of goods. From time to time, we take the road and sell our products, and the majority of the work is made on Shabbat and Sundays!”

The young man had finished his story and asked me: “Kvod Harav, if I don’t go home for Shabbat and Sunday, then as of Monday I’ll be forced to go back wandering the subway. What do you say? What should I do?!”

I warmly took the hands of the young man, looked at him with emotion, ignoring the tears that were flowing from my eyes.

“Kvod Harav, why are you crying?”, the young man wondered.

“I’m so jealous of you!”, I replied with emotion, and explained to him the reason for me being jealous:

“After the Holy One, blessed be He, hit the Egyptians with ten miraculous plagues, showing them who the Lord of the world was, He sent the Jewish people a difficult trial: ‘And Hashem said to Moses and Aaron (...) Speak to the entire assembly of Israel, saying: On the tenth of this month they shall take for themselves – each man – a lamb/kid for a father’s house, a lamb/kid for each household. (...)

It shall be unto you for safekeeping until the fourteenth day of this month; the entire congregation of the assembly of Israel shall slaughter it.’ The Holy One, blessed be He, ordered the Bnei Israel to take a lamb and tie it to the foot of the bed, to keep it for four days, and then, on the eve of Passover, to offer it as a sacrifice.

Where is the trial? Precisely on this point: the lamb was the very object of the Egyptians’ worship!

Yet, intellectually, they already had no more reason to fear the Egyptians. There had been nine plagues, proving to everyone that the Holy One, blessed be He, led the world, and protected His people. But from an emotional point of view, the difficulty was still immense. Egypt dominated its slaves in an unprecedented manner. The Sages claim that a slave had no chance of leaving Egypt. KGB Russia was just child’s play compared to Egypt… The children of Israel lived in terrible fear of the Egyptians, to the extent that even after the great miracles they had witnessed through the nine plagues, they were still afraid of carrying out a deed that may provoke the ire of the Egyptian people.

The Holy One, blessed be He, puts you to the test just as He did for the Jews who came out of Egypt,” I explained to the young man. Do you understand why I am jealous of you? Who knows what great soul you have to be so exposed to such a test… From an emotional point of view, you feel enslaved to Michael, which is natural for someone who experienced nine months of hell, followed by two months of paradise. But let us give our brains a work out, because that is the issue that is at stake. You know, in the first Grade, you take first-Grade level tests, in the eighth Grade, eighth-Grade level, in university, you take exams in order to get a PhD…

The test you face is tremendous. You have to decide who, from your point of view, is the Master of the world: the Holy One, blessed be He, or Michael. For the moment, let us think: in the best case, Michael is here today and he will be there tomorrow – only his merchandise will accompany him to the cemetery. In the worst case, G.d forbids, Michael himself is no longer here. But the Holy One, blessed be He, lives for eternity. His Mitzvot are righteous commandments, emanating from the Master of the whole universe.

In our case, who is your boss: Michael or the Holy One, blessed be He? From an emotional point of view, no doubt you have to go back to Michael. But from an intellectual point of view, is it up to you to decide who your boss is, Michael or the Master of the world? Michael may be here today and tomorrow in the grave, G.d forbids, but the Holy One, blessed be He, lives for all eternity. You have been given from Heaven the rare merit of deciding who you want to follow, Michael or Hashem, praised be He. Do not miss the train!”

The young man kept silent, like a soldier before a decisive fight, then he exclaimed: “Kvod Harav, I have already made up my mind! Hashem is the boss, I’m staying!”

In the end, even at the end of Shabbat, the young man did not return to Michael’s home, and he remained at the seminar. He did not return to the subway either. At the end of the seminar on the following Tuesday, he went to Rabbi Bachrach’s Yeshiva in Monsey where he began to study. He studied there for two and a half years, enjoying food and boarding, but above all the privilege of studying the holy Torah.

From time to time, a wealthy Jew, who had come closer to Judaism, visited this Yeshiva. When he was at the Yeshiva, he chatted with the young students, and especially with the student from the subway whom he particularly liked. Some time later, he chose him as his daughter’s husband, and offered him a five-room apartment and a luxury car. He agreed to support him for fifteen years, so that he could study without worrying about subsistence…

We often face hardships. In these moments, it seems to us that only an outcome which is not compatible with Jewish tradition is proposed to us. But we must understand that the world is not left to itself, it is directed and supervised at every moment by the King of kings who gives us the opportunity and privilege to decide and declare that a Master directs the world. And when we believe in the Master of the world in spite of our fears and hesitations, we may deserve to enjoy both worlds at the same time!