R' Yaakov Kamenetsky

R’ Yaakov was born in Lithuanian in 1891. He studied hard at different prominent yeshivos in Europe before marrying and finding a job as a community rabbi.

The town he serviced was unbelievably poor. At the end of the week the villagers would pay his wife in coins gathered by the people in the city.

As R’ Yaakov’s family grew, so did his expenses and the small salary he received was no longer adequate to support his family.

R’ Yaakov applied for positions in different towns, but despite his superior Talmudic skills and Torah knowledge, he kept on losing the positions. His wife cried bitter tears each time because she realised that soon R’ Yaakov’s only choice would be to travel to America for a job,

This inevitability soon took place and R’ Yaakov was forced to leave his wife and family to find a job in America. While there he was convinced by a college to borrow money and send over his wife and kids to America.

“If G-d had given me the jobs in Europe that I had cried tears over,” R’ Yaakov would tell his students. “My family and I would have perished in World War 2.”

We don’t know G-d’s plan. What can look like our darkest time can actually be what saves us.