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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Take the first step toward Hashem, such as putting on a tallis or tefillin with intention, and trust that Hashem will then provide protection. Rabbi Paysach Krohn ties this to Rashi's reading of the eagle image in Devarim and to a story about a man who began returning to Judaism after a small act of observance.
Key Points
- The tallis is presented as spiritual protection for both body and soul, a "wing" over the wearer, drawing on Rashi's commentary on the verse about the eagle stirring its nest.
- According to Rashi's reading, the eagle hovers and calls its young to trust it and jump onto its wings; Hashem similarly asks people to show initiative before receiving protection.
- A story is told of a wealthy man who moved to Israel and had non-religious relatives in Miami; it was the Miami relative who, after putting on a kippah and going to tashlich on Rosh Hashanah, was approached by a baal tekiah who blew shofar for him.
- The baal tekiah turned out to share the name of the Miami man's wife's late grandfather, also a baal tekiah in pre-war Europe, which the couple found astonishing.
- The episode led the man and his family back toward Yiddishkeit, and he later recounted it to Rav Chaim Kanievsky, who said such events happen daily.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Each morning, before putting on the tallis, say the bracha recited before donning it, and treat that act as a conscious step toward trust in Hashem. Make a commitment during davening to talk to Hashem with sincerity, even if it is brief, and take a small extra step such as learning something more or performing a mitzvah a little better.
- The speaker recounts that the man asked Rav Chaim Kanievsky why Hashem had not sent his relatives a message ten years earlier; Rav Chaim answered that Hashem wanted the relatives to take the first step before the blessings came.
- The speaker says he thinks of the Auschwitz tallis exhibit daily while putting on tefillin, citing the belief that the tallis offered limited protection in this world only.
- The story's kippah-and-tashlich moment is presented as the first step that opened the door for the shofar blowing.
- Rav Chaim Kanievsky's response to the storyteller is quoted as "these things happen every day."
Bottom Line
Small, deliberate acts of commitment are presented as the step that invites Hashem's protection, and the speaker frames the tallis as the everyday symbol of that trust.
