A friend of mine related the story of how his grandparents emigrated from Europe to America.
His grandparents left the poverty and oppression of Europe from England. I don’t recall whether he said they had been British citizens or whether they came from Eastern Europe and had a stopover in England, but either way, the family found itself in England.
This was long before air travel and the only way to get from England to America was to travel by ship, and ocean travel was very expensive.
His grandparents struggled and finally scraped together enough money to get tickets, and it was onboard one of the most modern ocean liners of the day. Nearly all of their money was spent on tickets but it was worth it.
They were sailing to America, to start a new life!
The year was 1912.
The story continued that his grandparents were running late. Perhaps it was because of the just-completed holiday—the ship’s departure was on April 10th, the day after Passover—but they were running late.
There was no way to call ahead and ask the ship to wait for them. They had to make up the lost time and get on that ship!
Not only did the tickets cost them nearly all of their money but also all of their remaining worldly possessions had been pre-loaded onboard, like all other baggage and cargo.
And so they rushed, but they rushed too much. Within eyesight of the boat, Grandma fell, and she broke her leg!
She urged the rest of the family to leave her behind and get on that boat, but of course, they wouldn’t do that. And so while they ministered to the grandmother’s injuries, their ship left port and sailed off with their hopes and dreams, not to mention their savings and worldly possessions.
Did the story have a happy ending? It did. The ship was none other than the R.M.S. Titanic which on April 15, 1912, struck an iceberg and sunk, taking with her more than 1500 souls.
We live in a difficult and unprecedented era. Loved ones are sick and sometimes dying. We are isolated from family and friends. Economies are in ruins. There is no end in sight. We must nevertheless keep in mind the saying of the Talmudic sage Nachum Ish Gam Zu, that “This too is for the good.”
My friend’s grandmother’s broken leg seemed to have cost them their future, but it actually saved their lives. The suffering that Covid-19 has inflicted on us should also be viewed in the same way. What looks bad and is bad today will ultimately be shown to be good.
May we all be able to look at the world, not just during the Covid-19 plague but at all times, and say, “This too is for the good.”