R’ Yaakov Moshe and Blimie Shchreiber of Lakewood, New Jersey, celebrated the birth of a daughter on Sunday, their second child after an agonizing wait of 11 years, B’Chadrei Chareidim reported.
A year ago, R’ Yaakov Moshe visited the home of HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky to request a bracha for a child. He reminded Harav Chaim that the year before Rav Chaim had instructed him to begin using wine for Havdalah on Motzei Shabbos to be zohech to a child. Although R’ Yaakov Moshe had followed the instructions he still wasn’t zocheh to a yeshuah.
Harav Chaim immediately responded by saying that R’ Yaakov Moshe should grow a beard and payos. R’ Yaakov Moshe asked: “Does the Rav promise?” and Harav Chaim nodded and said that he promises.
A year later, the Schreibers are basking in the joy of their new baby, with the elated father sporting a close-shaven beard and a renewed faith in the power of צדיק גוזר והק”בה מקיים.
The happy father told B’Chadrei: “We have one daughter who is now 11.5 and since then we haven’t been able to have more children. After I received a bracha from Harav Chaim and I grew a beard and payos – Baruch Hashem, we finally had another daughter yesterday.”
“It’s a mitzvah to publicize the story,” the father added.
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(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
A beautiful story — thanks for sharing YWN!
We should all take heed of Rav Chaim’s advice and insure we proudly wear a beard like a Yid ought to.
JOSEPH DEAR,
1) ENSURE as opposed to insure,
2) You don’t WEAR a beard, you GROW a beard,
הצלחה & nothing personal
Many yeshivos do not allow (by discouraging and mocking) bochurim to grow their beards. They say one must reach a level of achievement before it is deemed appropriate to have a beard. Those bochurim that do not shave are considered baal gayvah and unkempt. Although this is not the “official” yeshiva policy in these yeshivos (and they openly deny it), it is an ongoing culture in many yeshivos and it is with the full approval of the yeshiva staff.
To the best of my knowledge, Rav Chaim strongly disapproves of shaving and most likely would disapprove of this fellow’s modern and quite skimpy beard. He got off easy. If he wants another child, the beard will have to improve.
A girl? The mitzva of pru u’revu would be to have a boy after his first girl. Maybe he needed to grow a proper beard on his face to cover the levana. The moon is considered a nekayva (female) since it is mekabel (its light from external sources), while the sun is considered masculine (mashpia) giving out its light. The sun is also called in Yidden, ” zun” which is also the word for son.