Crashing Glass And A Realization

On a chilly winter Friday evening, the Shabbos meal had just concluded. Nineteen-year-old Shlomo lounged on his living room sofa, positioned adjacent to his dining room’s mirrored closet doors. With the longer hours of a winter Shabbos night stretching ahead, Shlomo vacillated over beginning his weekly Torah study ritual—reading the portion twice in Hebrew (“shnayim mikra”) and once in Aramaic (“echad targum”). Despite the ample time at his disposal, he resolved not to postpone this vital mitzvah[2].

Rising to retrieve his Chumash from the far end of the couch, Shlomo began his study. Ten minutes in, and a decade after the installation of the mirrored closet doors, a startling incident occurred. The glass mirrors, without warning, plummeted from the closet doors, crashing onto the very spot where Shlomo’s head had been resting moments earlier.

The loud crash of the shattering glass brought Shlomo’s family hurrying to the scene. Miraculously, Shlomo was unharmed, positioned at the other end of the couch with his Chumash. It was only later that he pieced together the sequence of events, realizing the personal Hashgachah Pratis that shielded him from potential devastation.

This realization also brought to mind a teaching from the Gemara: those who diligently complete the shnayim mikra reading are blessed with prolonged days and years.