My Friday Night Story - Part 3

Here's the end of my story...but maybe it's just the beginning of her story!!

We got to the house, looked at the name on the bell just to make sure it was the right house and knocked on the door. So the craziest thing is, that the name that we had was this person’s maiden name! Mind you, she is married for over 15 years but for some reason, she is known by both last names. The hostess opened the door, let out a yell, hugged her guest (twice!) and jumped up and down saying, “I can’t believe you are here!!” Then she gave us a little background about her guest. Basically, they meet at their Weight Watchers group every week, but this girl had never had a Shabbos meal before, her parents are against her learning about Judaism, but she was invited as a “no commitment” just to come for a Friday night dinner and enjoy. No books, speeches, lectures…just come and see what a Friday night meal is all about and enjoy it. This girl is thirty-two years old and never had a shabbos meal in her life!! Think about that!! She spent thirty-two years in this world and never spent shabbos surrounded by family with the warmth and love that we all enjoy and take for granted!!

The hostess then said that they already started their meal but, “Don’t worry, my son will do it all over again for you! He will make Kiddush, hamotzi…and I lit the shabbos candle for you already so whenever you are ready, you can accept the shabbos and let it enter your heart!”

The girl was HIGH! Seriously, she was in the clouds that Hashem helped her all along to find her place. The whole thing was amazing!! Every minute of her night was calculated! She got lost, my mother and sister left my house at exactly that minute so they can meet up with her, they came to my house and I knew the hostess because of the one time she had given me a ride, my neighbor was able to give us exact directions to their house and this girl felt Hashem with her every step of the way!


Now here’s a continuation of this story. I was running into a grocery store on my way home from work to pick up something really quickly for supper the next night and who do I see?! The hostess!! (Do you see how Hashem plans every minute of your day?! I was going to run in and out and as I was going into the store, I saw her walking right in front of me!) She told me that this shabbos was unbelievable for her guest. She was so inspired, so uplifted, she loved EVERYTHING about shabbos! She was only supposed to stay for the Friday night meal but loved it so much, she asked to stay overnight. They set up a bedroom in the basement for her, she went to shul on shabbos morning, went to a shiur on shabbos afternoon, did not pick up her cell phone the entire shabbos, and just loved everything about shabbos! She said it felt so right, so good, she wanted to know everything and keep it all! Of course, the hostess told her that she should take it slow and not take everything upon herself at once but this girl’s life is changing, that’s for sure!! She was on a total high from her shabbos experience!! It looks like she will be spending many more shabbos meals with religious families…and who knows how far she can come, in another few years…