Hacked From Heaven

They tell me G-d is good.

They tell me that every blade of grass sways by G-d’s command. 

And the movement of that blade of grass is part of the ultimate master-plan for our world. 

But then they told me that my brother passed away suddenly, in middle of the night.

They tell me his wife and young children need to figure out life without him now.

So is G-d really good???

There is something else that they tell me.  They tell me that if things don’t seem good, then my job is to make them good. 

If I see imperfections in His perfect world, it is because He is giving me the opportunity to partner with Him and make it perfect.

Today is Ariel’s first Yartzeit.  I have no idea how to process that.  What am I supposed to think?  Feel?  Say?  Do?  No clue. 

Today I woke up to hundreds – literally – of emails, texts, and voice messages.  Apparently in middle of the night, some “hacker” out in San Francisco got into my email account and sent out a message to my over 5,000 contacts.  In a message so cleverly written, the email was asking each recipient to please open the attached PDF to review some documents.  Some of my contacts notified me that my account was hacked.  But an astounding amount of friends were urgently trying to get a hold of me to find out how exactly they could open the attached PDF as it was asking them for their username, password, etc…. 

Simple solution – I should notify my entire contact list that it was spam.  Sounds simple – but my account wouldn't let me send out a single email because of the suspicious activity.  So here I am, spending the Yartzeit hours responding to people I have not been in contact with for years, via text, phone, and an alternate account. 

Anyone who has had their account hacked into can probably relate to the frustration.  I feel violated!  I feel embarrassed!  I feel so sorry for all of those whose accounts might also be compromised because they tried to open a communication “from me”. 

I am once again reminded about how out-of-my-hands life really is.  How G-d runs the world, and doesn’t quite ask for my opinion about what the next step should be. 

True, in the scheme of things this is a truly tiny frustration.  Yet for me it is a significant reminder about my lack of control…

So – He is good, and all He does is good. 

Where is the good in some trouble-maker out there trying to rob people’s personal information…??  Meddling into my account and contacting my friends for me??

It didn’t take too long for me to find the good.  I got some insight into what His master-plan with this one was.  And knowing my brother Ariel, he was probably orchestrating things from above.

You see, Ariel had one goal in life – to love his family and to bring as many other Jews as he can into his life with the warmth of Torah and Mitvos.  Ariel had clever ways of going about this!  With his humorous and smart way, he would get people who were hiding from Judaism in the door.  People loved him for it!    

Hannah*, a woman who lives in Oxnard, is someone we have tried many times to involve in our programs and classes.  We’ve had many conversations and many attempts to bring her in with warmth and friendship.  But with the “unsubscribe” button on our website, she showed us that she really wanted her space.  So I gave in.

I know my brother Ariel would not have given in.  While most of us are focused on the big picture, Ariel cared more about that one person hiding in the corner.  So perhaps from above, Ariel organized somehow that an email communication should go out, on his Yartzeit, to every single one of my contacts.  How did he reach Hannah??  I thought I didn’t even have her current email address anymore?!  But Hannah called me, asking me how she can download that PDF.  We got into a great conversation, catching up on the last few years.  She said to me:  “I think Someone Above orchestrated this so I should get back into the fold…  He sure works in interesting ways… I went on your website and noticed you have a ladies group on Wednesday evenings – can I join….?”

Only Ariel could have pulled that off - both in his life, and after.  Hannah is joining class!  Mind you, I wasn’t sure if I was having class this week… But Ariel thinks otherwise.  He is reminding me – “Racheli, what can be more important than learning Torah with your friends in Oxnard??”

I give in.  I will. 

Of course G-d is good.  Of course every blade of grass and every email is part of His glorious master-plan. 

My job is not to ask “why?”

My job is not to complain about His ways. 

My job is to partner with Him, and make it all good.    

Ariel, “Hack the Heavens” for us please!  Convince G-d to send Redemption, and return to your family! 

Ariel, help us make this all good!   

*Names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.