הרבנית חגית שירה פוגשת את ענת מנא שמשתפת בעיכוב בשידוך והציפייה הארוכה לילדים

Erev Lag BaOmer we're here in Meron the mountain which has become a magnet for so many Jews from all over the country and the world. They come here, standing on their tired feet at this holy site. They bow their heads to the most beautiful tapestry in the world, tears pour like water, they ask, they pray, and it doesn't matter how hard it is. They know that R' Shimon blesses and you can count on him. They feel the connection, the link, the love. They gather the blessings of R' Shimon, leave behind all their burdens, and move on. Today, in our program, L'Hagia Rachok, we'll meet here, in

Meron, next to R' Shimon's grave, an amazing woman, a special woman, whose life is full of miracles and blessings, thanks to R' Shimon Bar Yochai. Anat Mena, she has three children, she's 48. Come with me. How are you, Anat? I'm good. The story of your miracles, thanks to R' Shimon Bar Yochai. That's right. Tell us how it started, when did it start? So, 18 years ago, on Rosh Chodesh Shevat, when I was already really... It was a big difficulty, with finding a husband. I contacted... How old were you? I was 29. 29 plus. And I contacted my Rav, who is no longer alive, R' Shmuel Taussig. And I

cried to him, I came back from a date, and I was in a very difficult situation, Of - what will be with me? When will I get married? When will I have children? When will the Yeshua come? So, the Rav really comforted me, and really tried to help me all the time. And he told me... that first of all, HKB"H is Merciful and Great, that HKB"H created the world in seven days, so there's no issue in sending me my partner and bringing me children, and everything can be done very, very quickly, right? And then he also told me, if I want a big Yeshua right away, this year, then I should go on Purim, to

pray at the grave of a Tzadik, because Purim is compared to the day of Yom Kippur. Then the prayers will be answered. And then a good friend of mine, who was an Avel that year, told me that she couldn't celebrate Purim, so she's going to Rashbi. So I told her I was with her. I'm coming with her. - How nice. It was a good opportunity. I don't remember... I didn't visit Rashbi much. I think it was even my first time that I got to R' Shimon Bar Yochai's Kever. And that's it, we traveled from Taanis Esther, until Shushan Purim. As soon as I got to the Kever, I didn't leave the Kever. Even at

night, I hardly got to our room to sleep. I just sat down and prayed. I don't remember how many books of Tehillim I finished, and how many prayers, and how many tears, and how much I cried, that I would have a Yeshua. Like, that my match would come already. I was really worried about this, because I really, really wanted to get married and start a home. And the thing that always moves me is that I asked R' Shimon that if I need a messenger, it has to be from some kind of familiar place, a Shidduch of someone... it has to come from a faithful messenger. Like, from someone who knows me, who

knows exactly what I want, and who knows exactly what I need, that from here the Yeshua will come. We saw how R' Shimon was already working on the Yeshua on the spot. Because as soon as I had said that, the same day, he started looking for a Shidduch for me. Even here, at the Kever. Who is that? A good friend of mine. You felt like you left this burden by R' Shimon? Exactly. I knew that here I was going to receive the Yeshua. That's R' Shimon. Whoever puts their burdens in his hands, and feels that he put the burdens in his hands, and comes out of the Kever, free, should know that he received

the Yeshua. Exactly. And I can say one thing, when we left here on Shushan Purim, I said to my friend, listen, I feel like I'm coming out of here as a bride. I felt like a bride. I don't know how to explain it, really. I'm so emotional. But it was just a feeling. I said, listen, I'm just imagining myself here now, with a white dress I feel like R' Shimon is accompanying me, I feel like my prayers have been answered. How does the Yeshua come about? We're leaving here after Purim, she's traveling somewhere for Shabbos, to a Shabbaton, and then she sees my husband, and she's sitting next to

another friend of hers, and she says to her, "do you see this man who's coming in? He'll be the husband of Anat." Like, really. That's what she said. So her friend laughs, she says to her, like, "why are you saying that?" She says to her, "I see him, he's the husband of Anat. He's just the type." Now, she's such a good friend, she's a childhood friend, of more than 20 years already, and she never tried to set me up, never tried to get to know what I'm looking for, because we were just good friends, because we're friends. And she went to him, and then she tells him that she has a friend, and

that she saw that we're really, really a good match. He was surprised, he also needed Yeshuos. On Motzei Shabbat, they met again, and he gave her his phone number, and she called him, and on Motzei Shabbat, she called me, and she told me straight away that she had found me a husband. She already knew that it was... She already knew. She already closed the deal, just like that. And I'm laughing at the beginning, I'm telling her, "no, I don't want", and then suddenly I'm, like, in a matter of seconds, I'm telling myself, why not? I just got back from R' Shimon. Why did you say you didn't want

to? I don't know, it was part of the routine. Most of the time I was so disappointed, so I said no, and then I said, wait, but now I'm back from R' Shimon why am I saying no to her? And it's the first time she's trying to get to know me, so let's hear it. And did you meet? We met on the 7th of Nissan, and then we met again on CH"M Pesach, where I tried to get a blessing before, and to see whether it was really something that was good for me. And then, really, that same Rav told me, "before Rosh Hashana, you're getting engaged. This is exactly the match you asked for." This is exactly - he

started to count the ways on his fingers, who he is, what his personality is, I don't know him at all yet, we only went out once, and then we met on the same evening after I got back from the Rav. We got engaged on the 25th of Elul, the day the world was created. We got married on the 15th of Cheshvan. Eight months after I'd been at R' Shimon Bar Yochai's Zion. And, B"H, how many years have you been married? In Cheshvan, Be"H, we will celebrate our 18th anniversary. How beautiful. That's the time to really thank. Chai - 18. 18 years to be grateful. And it's not the only blessing that happens

to you thanks to R' Shimon Bar Yochai, if I understand correctly? You merit another Yeshua? We came here when we were waiting for children for many years. For many years we didn't merit to have children. We only had one daughter. And then we decided to go up to pray by the Kever. I knew that one time I received a great blessing, so maybe another time, with Hashem's help, we'll merit great blessings. And then we prayed, and I asked my husband, "if I daven and we'll merit to have a child, and we'll have a son, then would it be okay to call him Shimon?" My husband agreed. We prayed, I didn't

really ask for a son, and that same month I was blessed, and we had a daughter. How beautiful. We had a daughter after six years of waiting, and we called her Emunah. After two and a half years, we had a son, and we prayed a lot for him. B"H, all from prayers. Tell me, how do you feel the connection next to R' Shimon, and what happens to you when you get to him? I always feel that when I get here, my heart expands and my heart opens. And first of all, it's always to come with a smile, and to laugh, and to say, I wouldn't have believed 18 years ago that I would come here with my husband and my

kids, and it's just to show the blessing and the victory, and that there is nothing other than prayer really, prayers from faith and joy, and we receive the salvation. Amazing, the Admor Mi'Karlin says, that every soul has a personal connection with Rashbi. Every Jew in the world feels this personal connection with R' Shimon Bar Yochai. He says, "whoever believes in Rashbi will receive strength from Rashbi." That is, open your eyes to Heaven and say, "Hashem Yisborach, I believe in the great power that you gave to R' Shimon Bar Yochai." You will immediately receive strength, a strength for

the soul, a strength for the body, a strength for the peace of the house, a strength for livelihood, for the bank account, a strength in faith, a strength, R' Shimon is a huge strength. Today, after the fact, I can say that everything that happened to me, both when I was waiting for a Shidduch, and when we were waiting for children, today I see that for everything there was a good reason. That is, I can give strength to women, to singles, that prayer is important, and that there's nothing like going to pray, and that there is no despair in the world, and I'm strengthening... You're saying,

you were down then to feel those who are down today... I feel that this is what Hashem did, yes. It's amazing, because it's exactly R' Shimon, in the piyut that we usually say on Friday night, Bar Yochai, it says, Bar Yochai, you sat down for the good. That is, R' Shimon was in a small, dark cave, for 13 years. The Mechaber says, "you sat down for the good." The fact that you were in the cave, in this darkness, it was the best thing for R' Shimon, because only from there did he grow, and he teaches us that a Jew does not despair, and even from the darkest caves in life, good things emerge.

Absolutely. And now I want you to fill us in about the amazing story of your sister, because the miracles and the salvations of R' Shimon continue by you. Continue, right. My sister waited many years for children, and she woke up in the morning of the holiday, of Succos, and she tells us that she dreamt she was holding a candle, with a picture of R' Shimon. Wow. She was so excited and, I don't know, from all the joy, and she said, it must be good news for me. So I said to her, of course, what do you mean? R' Shimon is calling you. And then we went to the Kever, she prayed. I've never seen my

sister cry like she cried here by the Kever. I was very surprised to see her so emotional by the Kever. And I said to her, that's it, I'm telling you, you're receiving the Yeshua. There will be Yeshuos. After two months, she, B"H, merited, to have a son. She had a child after how many years? After ten years of waiting for children. Wow, ten years. And exactly in a month, she's making a Chalaka here in Meron. How beautiful. That's the promise she made. That if she merits to have a son, she'll make him a Chalaka in Meron. How beautiful. The merit of R' Shimon Bar Yochai, that it's so worthwhile

to rely on him, especially in the matter of sons. On Lag BaOmer, pray for the sons to be righteous, and Rashi says, every mother should pray and ask that her son should be righteous, like R' Shimon Bar Yochai. If Rashi says that, it's a sign that it's really true. Tell us a little bit about yourself, what do you do in life? I'm a marriage counselor, and a fertility counselor. I help people in these processes. I have a center, which is always called The Tamid B'Shnayim Center, in Shomron. It's the center where the couples go to get all the help they can get in the field of marriage and

fertility. And now, to finish, tell us, what's your dream? My dream is, with Hashem's help, that my family will grow and prosper, that we'll merit to marry off our children, and that they'll grow up on the Mitzvos of the Torah, and that they'll merit all the spiritual things that I love and aspire to, and pray for with a very strong faith. And anyone who needs big and small miracles, there's nothing like coming to R' Shimon Bar Yochai - this is the address. Thank you very much, dear Anat, you strengthened us a lot. You gave us a lot of strength, and I'm sure that, thanks to you, many more

people will reach R' Shimon Bar Yochai's Kever here. And I want to end my special meeting with Anat, with an amazing story that happened here over 200 years ago. Over 200 years ago, here in Meron, there weren't many Jews living here, there were Arab residents, they lived down there. At that time, the Galil suffered from severe earthquakes, and in one of the earthquakes, the Arabs who lived here in Meron, down below, didn't know where to run. They just ran, climbed, climbed the mountain, and reached R' Shimon Bar Yochai's Kever, they knew he was a holy man, and the Kever was closed, with a

heavy gate, and a lock, and they were very scared, because the earthquake was very, very severe. And then they just began shaking the gate, and started shouting, R' Shimon, open the gate for us, R' Shimon, open it, we know you're a holy man. And they tell us that the gate opened on its own, the gate opened by itself. They entered inside with their wives and children. They say that the entire neighborhood was destroyed, only the Kever of R' Shimon was left intact, and they were saved. So you too, if sometimes you feel as if your life is shaking, you feel as if you have a personal earthquake in

your life. You have an address. There is no doubt that R' Shimon will open the door for you. He'll welcome you inside, watch over you, and protect you. "His Torah protects us, it brightens our eyes, he will be a great defender for us, our master, Bar Yochai."