A Matter of Business

Shimmy  works in sales in a business in Manhattan. Recently they hired a new employee, Gershon, to be part of the sales team in the business. Gershon was from Lakewood and had been learning until now. He was new to the business world. After getting acquainted, Gershon asked Shimmy to help him navigate the waters in "sales". At first Shimmy was hesitant to teach Gershon all the "tricks of the trade", after all they were competitors. After thinking it through Shimmy said to himself. "Everything comes from Hashem. Helping Gershon will not diminish my sales. Hashem decides how much money I'm going to make."

Shimmy approached Gershon and taught him everything he knew about being in sales. He taught him all his  tricks that he had spent years developing. Whenever Gershon had any questions he would approach Shimmy.

Two weeks later Shimmy was summoned to his boss's office. "Shimmy, I just want to let you know that you have been doing a superb job and we are promoting you to become head of sales!"

Sandy the Shadchan

A Hurricane Sandy story sent in by a friend of mine:

The Feldman family live in an area which was severely affected by the storm. They decided to go out of town for a few days to some family of theirs living elsewhere.While they were there, a name came up for a Shidduch for one of the Feldman girls. The boy was learning in that same town where they had been "camping out" for a few days. The Feldmans decided that since they were already in that town , let them go out. (normally, they would not have necessarily agreed to send their daughter all the way there)...and the rest as they say is HISTORY!!!!

Baruch Hashem they got engaged last week!!!

Watch Out Below

It was in the middle of a Sunday afternoon and my brother was upstairs in his house. Suddenly, he heard a loud crash coming from downstairs.  Quickly running downstairs he saw that a huge part of the ceiling above the living room fell. My brothers kids were playing all over the house. HP no one was in the living room at that time. Baruch Hashem no one was hurt. (Just a big mess) IT'S ALL HP!!!

Number 8

MISSION #8: LOOK OUT FOR 3 HP STORIES AND WRITE THEM DOWN!






E-mail in your missions to itsallhp@gmail.com 

Enjoy the last few hours of your Chanukah!  

Number SEVEN

Mission #7 After lighting the menorah sit in front of the candles and for each candle thank Hashem for something you are grateful for.

Number SIX

MISSION #6 Visit with an elderly friend and give them a self-decorated Chanukah Card.
 Bonus: Share with them an HP story that happened to you!

Happy Chanukah!

Number FIVE

MISSION #5 Say at least 10 "THANK YOUS" today (and mean it) Count how many "THANK YOUS" you get. Try for at least 10.

NUMBER FOUR

MISSION #4 Notice something positive in each of your family members and compliment them.

Number THREE

MISSION #3: Make a Bracha out loud on a doughnut, potato latke, cheese or chocolate coin. Make sure someone is there to say AMEN! (the more people the better)

My Mission: We made doughnuts with the 7th and 8th graders.  Many Brachos were said out loud!

Number TWO

MISSION  #2: Play Dreidel with a young child and make them smile (Bonus: See how long the Dreidel can spin. Record the longest spin)



 Here is my mission completed:
My friends and I played Dreidel with french fries (we needed an oily food) This is how our game worked (It's a great game if your on a diet)

NUN: You got nothing
GIMMEL: You got one french fry
HEY: You got a half a french fry
SHIN: You had to put one back.

HP- There was one french fry left and two of my friends both got HEY. They got to split the last one!

CHANUKAH CONTEST!

IT'S BACK.............

COMPLETE THESE 8 MISSIONS AND BE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE A TEN DOLLAR GIFT CERTIFICATE TO THE STORE OF YOUR CHOICE.

EACH MISSION CAN BE DONE ANYTIME OVER CHANUKAH (AS LONG AS IT'S DONE ON CHANUKAH)






MISSION #1: LISTEN TO A CHANUKAH SONG.  SING AND DANCE ALONG WITH THE SONG.

E-mail your mission to itsallhp@gmail.com or you can comment in the comment box

 HaVe FuN aNd HaPpY cHaNuKaH!

Sneak Peak

A Sneak Peak into my thoughts:

"Its freezing.....I need to buy a coat....its freezing....my finger is hurting a lot.......its freezing......I need to get an x-ray of my finger.......I really don't want to get an x-ray of my finger.....its Kibbud Em....but I really have no time to go....and its freezing....I really need a coat...how am I supposed to make an appointment to have an x-ray if I work from 9-5......and its freezing...fine I'll make the appointment.....I've never been to this doctor.......it might take two hours to wait......k, I got the appointment....I'm missing work...........ucccchhhh...............and its freezing......and I need a coat.....and now I have to drive a half hour to the doctor to get an x-ray........its 2:30 in the afternoon I could be at work now but here I am sitting in a waiting room for a half hour already....................one hour...........an hour and a half........two hours....finally they call me.......its 4:30....why did they call me back if now I have to wait another hour in a room all by myself.......there are exactly 246 tiles on the floor and 224 on the ceiling........can someone please come already to take my  x-ray.........yay a nurse finally appears......got my x-ray........now I'm waiting AGAIN, this time for the doctor.....10 minutes....30 minutes.....now I'm really bored.........i finished counting tiles.....and  memorizing the poster on the wall with each of the bones and its names............5:45 the Doctor walks in......he's the 7th person in the last 3 hours to ask me how I hurt my finger......playing basketball, playing basketball, playing basketball..... x7...........wow, what an x-ray! Is that my finger?  .........my finger is in two.......wow its really broken........when I do something I do it all the way.......yay I could go home now.....work is over...its really late.......its freeeezing....I really need a coat.....

There's a mall near the doctors office. Since I didn't need to rush back to work I decided to stop off at the mall to BUY A COAT. I went to Lord and Taylor......HP all the coats were 60% off only that day. I got a really nice coat for a really good price!
HP for the broken finger, HP I went to that doctor, HP I had to wait a few hours, HP I went to the mall, HP I got a coat......

One final thought......THANK YOU HASHEM! IT'S ALL HP! 


THERE IS  ALWAYS A POSITIVE SIDE TO EVERYTHING!

Another Chance

Every day my mother says a few Kapital Tehillim for the safety of Eretz Yisroel. Last Friday the week of the convention my mother wasn't able to say it by Shachris like she usually does. She made a mental note to say the Perakim by Mincha. By Mincha time it was busy and my mother forgot to say them. Later on Shabbos by the meal at convention, the Mechanchim and Mechanchos decided to Daven for the safety of Eretz Yisroel and divide up Sefer Tehillim  amongst themselves. The Perakim my mother got were the Perakim she says every day.

Lost in the Museum

Bais Yaakov Convention 2012 was unbelievable. Yavne High School did an amazing job. From decorations, to the Chidon, to entertainment, to (my favorite) the "CLEAVLAND! CLEAVLAND! WELCOME TO OUR CITY......" cheer.
Sunday we went on a trip to the Science Museum. It was very entertaining. Some girls were running up down escalators. Some played Hide-and-Go Seek. some played "Guess the price" in the gift shop, ($9.99 for a rubber ball!?!?!) and others actually looked around at the exhibits.
Later when it was time to board the buses to head back, some of the chaperone's went around the museum, letting the girls know it was time to leave. I went to the second floor to round up the girls.
"Hi girls, the buses are here." I told a group of girls.
Seven girls came over to me and said that their friend Esti lost a mug she bought at the gift shop.(I'm not going to even guess how much that was)
Esti and her friends were looking for  twenty minutes already and had not found it.
"Where were you when you realized you were missing it?" I asked Esti.
"I was on this floor. I'm sure I lost it here," she said looking around.
"Ok, I'll help you, but before I start lets say the Amar Binyamin Tefillah you say on a lost object."
 אמר רבי בנימין, הכל בחזקת סומין, עד שהקדוש ברוך הוא מאיר את עיניהם. מן הכא, ויפקח אלוקים את עיניה ותרא באר מים, ותלך ותמלא את החמת.
אלהא דמאיר ענני, אלהא דמאיר ענני, אלהא דמאיר ענני. בזכות הצדקה שאני נודב לעילוי נשמת רבי מאיר בעל הנס, זכותו יגן עלינו, למצוא את האבידה שאיבדתי
As soon as I finished saying it, I saw a man holding a bag from the gift shop.
"Maybe he picked up that bag thinking it was his." I said to Esti. "Lets ask him if he can check the bag, maybe its yours."
While we were in middle of explaining to him that we were looking for a lost bag,  he interrupted us and said.
"Here, this is your bag I found it by the water exhibit I was going to bring it to the Lost and Found!"

KH and HP

A group of high school girls were shopping at a dollar store to buy things for a school program. The dollar store they went to was a far out and not in the Jewish community. As the girls were leaving the store, a man approached them and said:
"Excuse me, but there was young lady here a little bit ago and I think she lost her cell phone here. For some reason I feel you might know her. She dressed and acted like you girls. There is something about this young lady and you girls that make me think you are related. You both are very refined well behaved."
The girls said they would look at the phone and see if any of the numbers were familiar
Turns out that the phone belonged to one of the teachers in the elementary school.
What Hashgacha Pratis and a Kiddush Hashem!

 

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy has been the topic of discussion in most house holds the last week and a half. When ever its discussed (which is pretty often) everyone has something to add. While we were talking about Hurricane Sandy (again) a girl said. "Do we have to talk about Hurricane Sandy again, can we change the topic?"
Sure I said. "Hows the weather?"

Why is weather the most fascinating subject? When you meet someone after the "Hello, how are you?" you somehow always find yourself  talking about the weather. Try not talking about the weather to anyone for a whole day. It's pretty hard.

While we're on the topic of weather, here are some HP stories on Hurricane Sandy. (There are many many more.)

Rabbi Frankel was the rabbi of the Shul Agudas Yisroel. It was the night of the hurricane and he was trying get a Minyan for Maariv. Rabbi Frankel  texted Benny Gross, one of congregants to see if he was able to come for the Minyan. Benny really did not want to leave his house and  was nervous to go out. After the second text from his Rabbi, Benny decided it was the right thing to do and he drove to the Shul to join the Minyan. After Maariv, he headed home and  was shocked to see that a HUGE tree right in front of his house fell right where his car was parked only twenty minutes before. HP!

The Rasmon family from Israel was flying to Detroit for a Chasunah. When they were booking their flights earlier this month they were trying to get a stop over in New York and from there get a connecting flight to Detorit. Each time they tried to book the flight, it wouldn't work. Frustrated they tried again, but then the flights were very expensive. Finally, they just decided to make a flight with a stop over in Amsterdam instead of New York.
Last week when Hurricane Sandy hit New York all of the airports were shut down. Had the Rasmon family stopped off in New York they would have been stuck there and missed the wedding. HP!

Missed Flight

Shiffy, a tenth grader told me this AMAZING HP story.

Last week Monday, her grandmother had a flight to Israel. Right before her grandmother was supposed to board the plane, she felt dizzy and did not feel well. She chose not to board the plane and she missed her flight to Israel. She went to get her luggage but she was told that it was loaded on to the plane already.
 "Oh well", she said to herself, "I'll have lost luggage."
Right then, a worker came running over to her to let her know that there was a hold on the luggage and it wasn't loaded yet. Baruch Hashem, she got her luggage.
A little bit later she returned home and was feeling much better.
 Late that night Shiffy's grandmother suddenly fell and was rushed to hospital. At the hospital the doctors told her that if she had waited even one more hour she would not have made it out alive. Shiffy's grandmother was very thankful for not boarding the plane.
Shiffy's grandmother was released from the hospital on Friday and is doing much better!

PICKED ON

It's that time of year. BAIS YAAKOV CONVENTION. This year it will be held in Cleveland, Ohio. Every year our school gets a certain amount of slots for the twelfth graders. This years senior class has a total of thirteen girls! For the convention they were given seven slots.
Only seven out of thirteen can go?!? Yeah sometimes life's not fair. Every school around the country has a different way of choosing which girls can go on the convention. Some send their G.O. heads, some choose who would best represent their school, some vote, and some do lots. That's what we do.
The day when we were choosing the lots the whole senior class was busy saying Tehillim the whole day. They got the whole school to say Tehillim for them. I wrote each of the girls names on a piece of paper, cut them up and placed them in an empty (laffy taffy) bucket. I went to the High School Mechanechet to tell her we were ready for the drawing of the names. The Mechanchet and I entered the Twelfth grade classroom and were about to begin. (by now the whole Sefer Tehillim was said at least three times)
"Who teaches you now?" the Mechanechet asked before we began.
"We have goverment now, Mr. Sanders is always late," they answered.
Right when we were about to start,  in walked Mr. Sanders.
"OK, it looks like we'll have to do it later." the Mechanechet said.
"It's OK, you can do it now, I don't mind." Mr. Sanders said.
"Yeah, lets do it now." the girls cried. (seriously cried)
"No, we'll do it later."
"But we get out early today," one girl said.
"How about you let them out five minutes early Mr. Sanders, and we'll do it then." the Mechanechet said.
The girls agreed and they started class.
I went back to my office and on my desk I saw I forgot to put one girls name in.
HP!
Imagine if we would have done it then! (When we did it after class, the girl that I forgot to put in was actually one of the girls picked to go on convention)

Burnt Tongue

The Yaffin family just got some news today that their 12 year old son Gershon has been diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Mrs. Yaffin really didn't see any symptoms except for that in the past few months he has lost about 14 lbs!! Being that all the Yaffins are really skinny and that he is  very active they didn't think too much of it. Over Sukkos Gershon had burned his tongue and it was really bothering him so today Mrs. Yaffin took him to the doctor.  While they were at the doctor they decided to just do some routine check up.  They took some blood from Gershon and  they found that his sugar levels were abnormally high and way off the charts. They told Mrs. Yaffin she had to get him to the hospital immediately! They rushed to the hospital, straight from the doctors office. After some of the tests came back they were informed that he has juvenile diabetes. The doctor at the hospital told them that even if they had waited a few days later his situation could have been seriously life threatening! Baruch Hashem  Gershon  is doing OK and is being taught how to manage his diabetes. With medicine and today's  research he can really live quite normally as long as he keeps it in check. Baruch Hashem  for that burnt tongue!!

WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT WHAT YOU GET

Through Divine Providence G-d Taught Me a Powerful Lesson.

My friend and I were shopping in a mall  that  I rarely shop in. It's far and I'm not usually successful there.
While shopping in one particular store I saw someone who looked very familiar.
"Where have I seen her before, why does her face look so familiar? She clearly wasn't religious. She was wearing a tank-top and shorts. Her American long blond hair was clipped up and was very attractive. "Where would I know her from?" I kept asking myself.

My friend and I continued shopping, hopping from one store to the next. It was getting late and my friend and I were in our last store. While in the dressing room I heard my friend say to someone. "No, I'm sorry."
I wonder who's she's talking to. I exited the dressing room with my clothes piled in my hands.

"Was there a cell-phone in there? Someone just came looking for hers, apparently she lost it in this store" my friend said. "No, there was none in there, but maybe we can help her, did she leave already?" "She just left a second ago, she's probably still in the store."

We quickly left the dressing room and made our way through the store."There she is." my friend said pointing towards the girl. I froze. It was the girl who looked so familiar, the one I saw in the other store. We approached her and asked her if we could help her. She was very appreciative and thanked us.

We tried calling her cell phone a few times hoping to hear it ring. She was very sweet and made us feel so good that we helped her even though we didn't find her cell phone. The whole time I was trying to place her face with some memory of how I knew her. After talking a little bit she thanked us again and we said goodbye.

On the way home from the mall it was really bothering me.

"I'm telling you I've seen her before." I told my friend "Where do I know her?"

Later that night it was still bothering me when it suddenly hit me. She was one of the nurses in the hospital on the floor I did my clinicals on. I quickly called my friend and told her. She was so relieved. Now I knew why she looked so familiar.

When I saw her during my clinicals I remember thinking to myself that she was clearly not a nice person. I had her all summed up. She was arrogant, aloof, a snob, selfish and not caring. I don't think I saw her smile once in the weeks I was there.

I even wondered why she was a nurse.

This was all an assumption I made without saying one word to her in the hospital. It's just what I perceived of her. AND BOY WAS I WRONG.

Not until I met her in the mall and actually spoke to her did I get a completely different picture. She may be quiet. (She may not be a morning person. My clinicals were at Four AM) She may give off a different IMPRESSION.

G-d taught me a lesson that day. We are so quick to sum people up, and we are so sure of it to the point that we'll even take action on our assumptions or vice-versa.

DON'T ACT ON ASSUMPTIONS.
WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET!
A PERSON IS MUCH MORE THAN WHAT THEY SEEM.

HOSHANOS

Motzie Shabbos, the night before Hoshana Raba my uncle made arrangements to buy Aravos from a boy who was selling them. Not only was he selling them- he was also doing house deliveries. At Nine-thirty there was a knock at the door. It was the boy selling the Aravos.

"I'm going to buy eight of them," my uncle said.

"Sure,they are four dollars a bundle," the boy said counting out each bundle carefully.

My uncle handed the boy Thirty-two dollars and thanked him.

The next morning my uncle was counting each of the Aravos for the people in his family when he realized that he had nine bundles, the boy had given him an extra one by mistake.

"I'm going to bring it to Shul with me, you never know maybe someone forgot to buy."

My Uncle made his way to Shul, within minutes of entering Shul, a young man came running over to him,

"Hi, I'm so happy to see you! I just wanted tor return this Sefer to you, before I forget, I have to run now, have a great Yom Tov! I have a plane to catch and I totally forgot to buy Aravos. I'm going to see if I can still buy somewhere."

"Actually you can buy from me right here. I have an extra one, here you go. It's four dollars"

The man thanked my Uncle over and over again.

 When my uncle got home he called the young boy to tell him that he by mistake gave him nine bundles, but my uncle had sold it and he had four dollars for the boy!

The boy was so happy!

The Missing Sunglasses

After work the other day,  I had many errands to run in a short amount of time. It was a sunny day and before leaving my house I went to get my sunglasses. But they were no where to be found. I looked everywhere and any possible place it could be. - They had disappeared. I assumed  I had left them at work. Since it was our last day before Sukkos vacation, I wasn't too happy I had left them at work.
One of my errands that I needed to do was drop of the car seat we had borrowed from one of our neighbors. My brother and his family were by us for Rosh Hashanah, and we had borrowed it. Since I was frustrated all ready with my missing sunglasses, I also got frustrated that I had to take out the car seat from the car. (Which is really not such a big deal- it's amazing how the Yetzer Hora works)  It's a complicated car seat and I didn't have too much patience to take it out.
As I opened the car door to take out the car seat, I saw on the  floor in the back seat was..........MY SUNGLASSES!!!!

IT"S ALL HP!!!!

HP On the Road

The Shabbos before Rosh Hashanah my mother had her eleventh grade Chumash class over for Shalosh Seudos. Besides for the great food, great speaker, and great entertainment we also heard a great HP story from one of the girls.
The way I'm writing it is not half as great as hearing it from Temima herself. She's one great story teller-  funny, inspiring ,and entertaining. We were all captivated. Here's her story:
Temima was in camp this summer and was on her off day. She had until Thursday night at 9:00 to be back on camp grounds. Before Temima left for Monsey she had made all the necessary arrangements for a ride back with Mrs. Katz, one of the married staff members who was also in Monsey for the day.
Thursday afternoon she got a call from Mrs. Katz.
"Hi Temima, I'm sorry to be doing this to you, but I am packing the car and I see that I'm not going to have room to take you back to camp. I really am sorry."
"Uh,  sure no problem, do you have any ideas how I can get back?" Temima asked.
"Yeah there's Excellent Bus Service"
"An Excellent bus service, what bus service is it?"
"Excellent Bus service"
"I'm sure it is excellent, can you give me more information besides for that it's Excellent?"
"Yeah, EXCELLENT BUS SERVICE."
OK, thank you Mrs. Katz, I'm going to find out what bus service it is, and more information. Thanks, have a great day and have a safe trip back" Temima said.
Temima hung up the phone and googled "bus services in the Catskills." The first website that she came across was  EXCELLENT  BUS SERVICE.
Temima burst out laughing. It really is an excellent bus service after all.
Temima took the 7:00 bus, hoping to get to Motty's Super Market in White Lake around 8:30.
She called camp and made sure someone would be able pick her up from White Lake.
On the bus Temima couldn't help feeling a little out numbered. Besides for one lady sitting all the way in the back, she was the only girl.
"Oh right, it's Thursday night all the husbands are on their way up to the country for Shabbos." she thought to herself smiling.
It took Temima a whole twenty minutes trying to figure out where she could sit on a bus full of men. After finally finding a seat she was gently informed she had to move. She had to find another seat. That took another twenty minutes. Then they had to switch buses in middle. Finally finally they got on to another bus and this time she got a seat within the first five minutes.
At 8:50 the bus pulled up in front of Motty's.
It started raining as soon as Temima got off the bus. She was carrying  a huge suitcase of laundry, a few bags, a hot cake she made for a friend, and a case of water bottles. While juggling all her things and trying to get in touch with camp, she noticed that everyone that got off the bus was gone besides for the lady who was sitting in back of the bus.
"Hi there, you seem to be getting wet, and a little lost. Come, do you want to stand with me over here?" the lady offered.
"Thank you," Temima said. "Wait you look so familiar, are you Mrs. Carson? You've been to my camp for a few Shabbosim"
"Yeah, I am Mrs. Carson, and I'm actually on my way up there right now, I'm just waiting for my husband to pick me up. Would you like a ride?"
Temima took the ride and got back way after nine,  but at that point the camp didn't care what time it was. They were just glad  Temima was back safely!

HAVE A HAPPY SWEET NEW YEAR!

WISHING EVERYONE A YEAR FILLED WITH BRACHA, SIMCHA, AND REVEALED HP!

Friendly HP Reminder

My neighbor was making a birthday cake for her classmates birthday. She made chocolate mold letters on parchment paper and then placed them in the freezer to harden. Since some of the letters got smugged she made some extra letters. The next day when my neighbor was in the freezer she saw that the parchment paper was still in the freezer with two letters on it. My neighbor burst out laughing when she saw the letters..... HP!
"This is a nice reminder, IT'S ALL HP!"

HP CHAIN EFFECT

It's a ripple effect, one HP after the other. Every day is one long chain of HP, some days we just see it better then others.

It started last week on Thursday night when my friend and I were talking and we were discussing about going to hear Rebbetzin Tehila Jager on Sunday night. (First part of the HP chain)
"Oh, I am so upset." my friend said. "I can't go Sunday night, I'm busy then."
Later that night when I got home I saw I got an invitation to an event on Monday night and the speaker at the event was Rebbetzin Tehila Jager. It was too late to call my friend, but I made a mental note to call her as soon as possible, to let her know that she would still be able to hear Rebbetzin Tehila Jager speak. (HP I didn't call her right away)
Friday was busy and I didn't have a chance to call my friend until Sunday morning.
She was so excited to hear she would be able to hear her speak after all. While we were on the phone my friend mentioned to me that, later in the afternoon there was another speaker and asked if I wanted to go with her. It was in middle of the afternoon and I had a bunch of other things planned.
"Umm, I'll let you know." I said.
Last minute, I decided to just go. (I was late, but boy am I glad I went)
After the speech my friend told me she was rushing over to a Rosh Hashanah event for special needs children, and asked me to come stop by. HP, the event was at a friends house a few blocks away from me.
"Yeah I'll stop by." I yelled after her.
At the event, the special needs children were playing music with all different sorts of instruments. They had guitars, drums, trumpets, recorders, and instruments I don't even know the names of. I was there for a little bit and then left.
Later that night while talking to someone she mentioned that she's desperately looking for someone to play guitar. HP! I told her that just that day I saw someone who would be perfect to help her out. At the Rosh Hashanah event there was a girl who was a phenomenal guitar player. I never knew before that she played the way she does. IT'S ALL HP!!! (HP #67 of the day :) )

HP On The Bike Trail

In camp one day, Yael and her friends were going on a trip to a lake where they would be going biking and boating. Yael was wearing a long black skirt and decided not to change into a short skirt and leggings for biking, like the rest of her friends. Yael figured she would manage to bike without her skirt getting in the way too much. The girls got their bikes and were on their way up and down the gorgeous bike trail. As they were going up the trail, Yael's bike jolted to a stop. Her skirt got stuck in her bike. Yael tried untangling the skirt, but the more she tried, the more tangled it got. Her friends Tziri and Sarala stayed behind to help her, but they too couldn't get it out. Yael started to panic. There was no one else around and here she was stuck to a bike almost three miles away from the bike rental.

"I guess I’ll start walking my bike back, you go on and have fun." Yael told her friends.

They refused and stayed with her.

Yael took a few steps when she and her bike suddenly went tumbling down to the ground.

A woman passing by on her bike, stopped to see if she was OK.

“You OK? Anything I can help you with?” she asked.

Yael told her she was a bit tangled. Her friend Tziri jokingly asked:

"You don’t happen to have scissors on you, by any chance?"

"I don’t, but my husband Tom has a knife!"

“TOM,” she called out to her husband who was several feet ahead of them.

Her husband turned around and when he saw Yael’s skirt he immediately pulled out his pocket-knife and let her free.

After thanking them several times over, the lady turned to the girls and said:

"I guess that’s why we ended up coming on this trail and not on the mountain trail. we actually meant to go there but we got lost and ended up coming here. It’s a good thing we did."

The girls were amazed that even this non-Jew recognized the Hashgacha Pratis.

They waved goodbye and Yael and her friends headed down the trail, off to enjoy the rest of their trip!

Just a Reminder....

Hi Everyone!
Sorry I have not posted in a while. Don't worry, I have been having many many HP stories. I will B"EH post them after the summer. In the meantime keep looking out for HP stories and sending me them. Cant wait to hear all of your summer HP stories!!!

Just at the Right Time

Shaindy was sitting on her porch, relaxing in the sun.
"Hmm, our lawn could sure use a mowing." she said to herself, and then went back to relaxing.
Right then her father came walking up the path to their house.
"Hello Shaindy, why are you just sitting there? Why don't you do something like mow the lawn?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth a pickup truck rolled to a stop right in front of Shaindy's house.
"Hey, do you want me to mow the lawn for you?" the driver called out.
"You bet!" Shaindy and her father said together.

Cheesecake

Hope everyone had a nice Shavuos with a lot of good learning and a lot of good cheesecake!

Erev Yom Tov/Shabbos I was a little disappointed we didn't have cheesecake for Shavuos. My mother usually buys , but this Shavuos my mother didn't buy or make cheesecake. What kind of Shavuos is it without cheesecake!?!?!
So I decided that I was going to make cheesecake. (I've never made cheesecake before) My mother was out so it was a perfect time to make it. I knew my father was making a stop at the store, so I called to ask him to pick up a cream cheese. I then called my sister-in-law for her recipe, but she didn't answer. Right when I hung up the phone there was a knock at the door. Standing on my porch was a family friend holding a huge.....CHEESECAKE!

Hashem takes care of EVERYTHING! (even making sure we have cheesecake on Shavuos!)

P.S. We never have cream cheese in my house and on Shabbos my mother asked how come there was cream cheese in the fridge. I admitted that I bought it because I wanted to make cheese cake.
My mother smiled and said: "Well that's HP, I'm taking some of my students out to lunch in the park on Tuesday and I needed cream cheese!

Mitzvah of the Dishes

This story was submitted by a 9th grader:

My brother Gavriel went to a friends house around the corner from our house. A half hour later he had a Chavrusah. It was getting late and he wasn't coming back. We called his friends house, but no one answered. So my father asked me to go around the corner to pick up my brother. I really didn't want to because I just got home from school. I decided to do it it any way. Right before I was about to leave my mother asked me to put the dishes away. My father said I should listen to my mother first and then go. Finally after I was done the dishes I went outside and coming up the path on his bike was my brother. I didn't have to walk all the way to his friends house!

FOOD FOOD FOOD

Hashem always porvides for us and makes sure we are well fed.
"He gives sustance to all mankind"
Here are a few stories:

• Shaina was in rush Monday morning and forgot to bring snack to school. HP- in school there was a surprise birthday party for her classmate and Shaina had cake, candy, chips, popcorn and a lot of yummy snacks. B"H Shaina didn't starve!
  






• Dassi forgot her lunch and only realized by her break. HP her sister in 11th grade came late to school and was able to bring her lunch!
  






• Devorah was going to Chessed straight after school. She was outside of the school building when she remembered she forgot her snack in side the lunch room. The lunch room was locked and she was upset she had forgotten her snack. She's going to be so hungry. Right then the lunchroom door opened and out walked her friend. Devorah was able to get her snack! HP!

Forgotten Phone Call

Ok I have a little of an embarrassing story.

Starting after Pesach we have a Shiur on Shabbos afternoons for Post Seminary girls. Every week it's at someone elses house. Last week I got the speaker before I got the house. I told the speaker I would let her know where she would be speaking. Wednesday night was a crazy busy night, Baurch Hashem I got a place for the Shiur. I made a mental note to call the speaker up to tell her the location.

Well, Thursday morning unexpected plans came up and I went away for Shabbos.
Shabbos afternoon in middle of the Shabbos meal I jumped up from my seat.
"Oh my, I can't believe I COMPLETELY forgot to tell the speaker where she's supposed to be speaking. All the girls are going to show up for no reason, there won't be any speaker.How could I have forgotten."
Right after Shabbos I immediately called up the speaker.
"I'm so so sorry, I never called you."
"Oh not a problem. It was actually Hashgacha Pratis, I was out walking and I met some girls. They told me they were on the way to the Stillman's house to come to my Shiur."

Food for Shabbos

Erev Shabbos, Rabbi Pollack had left for Shul already and Chani Pollack was finishing up her hair and makeup when the house phone rang.

It was almost Shabbos and Mrs. Pollack was going to light the Shabbos candles soon. Chani could hear her mother from the kitchen answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Oh Mr. Katz, Guten Erev Shabbos. How are you feeling? Yes yes, I would be more then happy to send you over some food. I know I know you can't have potato's. Just some soup and rice. Sure, no problem Mr. Katz. I'm going to have Chani bring it over in the next few minutes. Have a good Shabbos Mr. Katz and feel good." Mrs. Pollack hung up the phone.

"Chani" Mrs. Pollack called up to her room.

"Yes Ma?"

"Mr. Katz just got out of the hospital and he needs food for Shabbos. Do you mind running this soup and rice over to him?"

When Chani returned from dropping off the food she said to her mother:

"What Hashgacha Praits. Remember yesterday we were making the menu for Shabbos and we decided to make potatoes instead of rice this week? Then this morning last minute you decided to make rice also because you know we like to have it in our soup and to have had for the week too. It's a good thing you made it. Otherwise Mr. Katz would not have any food for Shabbos!"

Gone (Down) With the Wind

This past Monday was a real windy day. Besides for the high speed winds- the weather was beautiful. All my Monday night plans were canceled because of power outage.

Everyone had some story or another to say about the Monday Winds. I would like to share with you one of the many Monday Winds HP story:

My friend Sara was at work on Monday and was ready to leave at 12:00, like she usually does.

At 12:00 her boss started talking to her and ended up keeping her at work for another half hour. Sara was not happy she was kept late at work. She needed to be home. Finally her boss said goodbye and let Sara leave.

When Sara got home she was shocked and surprised to see that the tree in front of her house had fallen right where she normally parks. The tree had fallen just minutes before. Had she left on time the tree would have fallen right on top of her car.

Essay Contest

I received this e-mail from a girl a few days ago and I would like to share it with all of you:

I'm a procrastinator by nature, but I live for the time crunch; finishing up at the last minute always gets my adrenaline pumping. The deadline for an Essay Contest was no different; I knew about it months in advance and had even written a feeble outline, but on The Day, the essay was nowhere near finished. I cancelled a babysitting job to gain writing time, and I called and emailed all the people who had been helping me write it. Everybody put their two cents in, and my father was editing it for me when I realized I would not have time to finish up the essay and bring it to the post office to be postmarked by that day. Luckily my father knew of a post office that closed at six o'clock; it was nearly five at the time. Relieved, I quickly finished up the last draft, fixed the mistakes and printed out the papers, all while keeping one eye on the clock. The time was now 5:50, and once again, I was racing the clock to get something done in time. I jumped into my car and nearly killed...a lot of things in my haste to make it to the post office in under ten minutes. Hashem was with me in a very apparent way; the lights were mostly green, the streets relatively empty and I was able to find the building easily, having never been there before. I parked, jumped out and raced towards the building, checking my phone as I went. 5:54. I suddenly stopped and nearly burst into tears as the realization hit me: I had forgotten to bring the address.I had no one to send my essay to. I could not believe it. There was no way this could be happening! I had spent HOURS upon HOURS writing this, I had cancelled my job, I had prolonged the deadline, but now it seemed that all my efforts had been futile. The clock was ticking, and this time, I wasn't going to make it. The essay needed to be postmarked by that day, and now I would be automatically disqualified from the contest. I frantically dialed my father's phone, only to remember that he was in shul. No one at my house answered either; there was no way to get the address.For reasons I cannot explain, I kept walking. I just walked into the post office, frantic thoughts flitting around my head. Maybe the person would postmark it and then let me take it home to address it? Maybe they could look it up for me...I entered the cool building and looked around. I noticed a girl from the community standing with her mother.

"Hey" her mother said to me "I bet you're here for the contest, huh?"I stared, and then it all clicked.

"OMG, do you have the address?" I practically shouted, and before she had finished nodding "yes", I had snatched the paper out of her hands and ran up to the desk.

"I need this postmarked by today!" I gasped. The lady looked at me, bored and aggravated, and said, "You have two minutes"I never wrote so messily in my life.

"Can you read it?""Yup. Fifty-six cents, please". Trembling, I handed over the coins, thanking her and the two Angels from G-d profusely.

"Oh, stop" the girls mother said. "It's pure Hashgacha Pratis; we only found out about the deadline TODAY so we had to go to a post office that closed later. I'm so glad we could be here to give you the address"I watched the post-lady dump my letter amongst all the others, and walked out of the office with tears in my eyes. In just under five minutes, an ENTIRE situation had changed, first for the worse, then for the best! Mah Rab ma'asecha Hashem!

Free Drink On A Hot Day

Before I even entered my neighbors house the third grader jumped towards me.

"Oh my do I have an HP story for you. But I think Miriam (her older sister) wants to tell you the story."

Miriam wasn't home and I really wanted to hear an HP story. I'm not very good at waiting to hear HP stories.

"Just tell me," I told her.

"OK," she started.

"On Thursday Miriam took me to Dunkin Donuts. It was a hot day and I wanted to get an Orange Coolatta. When we got there the lady behind the counter told us the machine was broken. I was so upset, you should of seen me. Anyways, we decided to go to Seven-Eleven to get a slurpee. When we walked in we saw it was crowded and the line was soooo long. I filled up my cup and stood on line with the rest of the people waiting. After a couple of minutes the cashier announced: 'Anyone that has a slurpee, you are free to go.' (Basically everyone in line that was paying for a slurpee was able to walk out of the store without having to pay for the slurpee).

The guy in front of them was buying FIVE slurpees. He walked out not having to pay for any of them, ALL of them were for free.

Where was I?!?! -Next time would someone tell me when their giving out free slurpees.

Pesach Cleaning

Do you look through all your things when you clean for Pesach?!

Well I sure do.

I love going down memory lane looking at all my pictures, my junk, my letters, my diplomas I got in kindergarten. Yes- it takes me hours to do my closet.

On top of my closet is a huge pile of papers that I never look at but can't seem to throw away.

I assume that one day it will come in handy and I just might need it for something. Yes I do have things from when I was in elementary school. You never know when you'll need your math flash cards you made in third grade.

Today while "Pesach cleaning" I was going through a stack of letters that I had (of course) saved. I randomly opened an envelope to read the letter. Opening the folded letter, out spilled a pile of COOKIE CRUMBS....Yup! I'll repeat that- COOKIE CRUMBS! CHAMETZ!

Now I'm not saying that you should go through every letter you own. Because if your like me- you'd be finished Pesach cleaning in time for next year Pesach.

Congruent Statement of HL Is.....

Aliza told me this story that happened today in class.

Aliza was in math class and Mrs. Bonner the math teacher asked the class if anyone knew the congruent statement to problem number seven.

"I know, I know" Aliza said waving her hand excitedly in the air.

"Yes Aliza, please share with us"

"Its HP!" Aliza said.

Seeing Mrs. Bonner's confused look Aliza burst out laughing.

"I meant HL, the answer is HL."

"Yes Aliza, HL is the answer. I will give you half credit for that. You did get one letter right!"

Leave It To The Last Minute

I'm a last minute kind of person. I work much better under pressure and so I leave (almost) everything to the last minute.
-I actually enjoy cramming things in.
(It's not always such a good thing)
Trust in Hashem that its all going to work out.

This coming up Shabbos is the High school Shabbaton. The girls have been busy with their committees and working really hard.
(A while ago) The newspaper committee asked me to write an article for them. I told them I'd think about it and only if I had time.
Yesterday at work, while running from the elementary building to the high school building I remembered they had asked me to write something.
I chose to forget about it. I had no patience and didn't have any ideas.
The newspaper needed to be printed off today and it was not complete.
Thanks to Hashem while walking up the stairs to the high school - I got an idea. (HP)
This is what I came up with:

My Color

My World is Blue

My favorite color is blue which is why my world is Blue.

I know just of Blue, I see Blue, I taste Blue and feel Blue.

I know only of Blue.

Talking with a friend, she said the word Green.

Green? Is it a Verb? An Action? A Color?

A Color

Is there more beyond my color Blue? Can another color exist?

Yes. More then one color

A rainbow of colors.

Let’s combine our colors, said my friend.

Enter my world

Mix our colors

Together we will create purple.

Combine our colors, unite our differences and together will create new worlds and new possibilities.

HP

Hope everyone had a HP (Happy Purim!)

It was Tuesday before Purim and I still didn't have an idea for Meshloach Manos. Wednesday morning on Tanis Esther I STILL didn't have an idea. I kept telling myself that Hashem will help me come up with an idea, after all - IT'S ALL HP! That's when I got my idea. My Meshloach Manos will be HP! In my bag I wrote a note:








Please Note: IT’S ALL HP

Although it may seem RANDOM – IT’S ALL HP!

Hot Pretzels
Healthy Peanuts
Hearts of Palm
Hot Potato (kugel)
Hollywood Popcorn

Our lives sometimes seem to be filled with RANDOM events that we don’t understand. We need to remember that IT’S ALL HP!

MAY YOU HAVE A HP! (Happy Purim)

I met my friend in the Dollar Store Wednesday and I told her that at the last minute I got an idea.

"Hey it's HP!" she said.
"Yeah it's HP! I said.
"Yup, HP " she said.
"YES, it IS HP! I said.
"Uh huh, HP" she said.
"NO,but actually it IS HP!
"Whatever, its HP!

My brother said I am a little obsessive.

Tannis Esther night I had class (which I wasnt too happy about). BUT -HP I needed to get bags from Michaels and right next door to my school was a Michaels and was able to get the bags I needed!
IT'S ALL HP!

Zechus for A Niftar

I have a brother in Israel, learning in a Yeshiva. Last week a group of his friends went to Har Hazeisim. While walking near the Kvarim a woman who appeared to not know much approached them.

"Excuse me boys, can you help me. This tombstone over there caught my eye. Do you mind reading it to me and explaining the meaning behind this."

While reading the tombstone, the boys realized that it was the Niftars Yahrtzeit that very day.

The boys immediately took out their Siddurim and recited Tehillim by the Kever.

Hashem Repays

Five months ago on Rosh HaShanah we had guests from New York stay at our house. A few days after they had left, I found on the desk in my room a fifty dollar bill. The bill was stuck in between some papers and I wasn't sure if it was mine or our guests.

In my mind I was thinking of every possible way that it could be mine, and it all made sense. On the other hand, it could very well be theirs. I really could use an extra fifty dollar bill. But let's say it's really theirs?
I was going back and forth on what to do.

Life got busy and I forgot about it. The months passed and I still had not returned it.
Two weeks ago I was in New York on my winter vacation and I decided I would do the right thing and return the fifty dollars - I made a visit to our guests and finally returned it.

This past week a teacher in the school asked me to do a favor for her, and I was more then happy to help her out. Today she approached me to thank me for the favor and handed me an envelope. Inside was.....you guessed it!....it was a fifty dollar bill!

Hashem Repays! Choose to do what's right and Hashem will reward you!

A Spray Botttle

It's production time in school. Choir, drama, (eating) dance, scenery, props, (more eating) costumes, rehearsals...it's what everyone is busy with.
On Tuesday, Chava Goldbaum was told by the props committee to bring in a spray bottle for her prop.
That night Chava found in her house a spray bottle that was almost empty. She got permission from her mother and brought the spray bottle the following day.
Wednesday, sitting in class, Shiri, a classmate of Chava's accidentally knocked her desk and her White-Out spilled all over the carpeted floor. Wanting to help clean the mess Chava looked at her spray bottle she brought in. Smiling she walked over to spray the spot. The bottle that she 'happened' to bring in was a carpet cleaner spray. She cleaned it up until there was no trace of White- Out left.

Vacation

Yesterday was our first day back from vacation. The whole city emptied out this past week. Either to Florida or New York. The two most popular places.
Now vacations over and its back to work!
When I got to school I was bombarded by a bunch of energetic high school girls.

"Devorah, I have SOOOOOO many HP stories for you....."
"SOOOOO, I have an AMAZING HP story."
"You'll NEVER believe what happened to me. It was SOOOOOO HP!"
"My whole vacation was JUST SOOOOO HP!"
I MUST tell you this SOOOOO CRAZY HP story!
(Its a good thing I stocked up on SOOOOO many more laffy taffies.)

They were all shouting at once....
"So my phone started ringing.....the airline didn't know.... that the grocery store was closed so the train flipped over.....suddenly sirens started blaring...... I thought I lost my bag...HP, You should have seen her face.... I thought I was going to faint..... then the tree fell right on top of the car...... I ran straight in to a glass door......"

"Whoa Everyone one at time!"

SOOO here's story #1:
A twelfth grader told me this story that happened to her and her friend while shopping. (what else do high school girls do on vacation)

Ruti a twelfth grader was shopping with her friend Brachi. Loaded down with skirts, dresses, tops, and sweaters, they headed to the dressing room. After trying everything on and buying nothing, they left.
"Lets just leave it there on the chair. We don't have to clean it up." Ruti told Brachi.
Walking out of the dressing room Brachi turned to Ruti and said.
"You know Ruti, it will only take a few minutes. Lets make a Kiddush Hashem and clean up."
Ruti agreed and they turned back into the room to clean up.
Picking up the last dress from the chair they saw non other then Brachi's cell phone!

IT'S AL HP!

SURPISE!

Tzipi Bloom, an 11th grader told me this great story:

Tzipi had an appointment to have her wisdom teeth pulled out on a Thursday.
Before going to bed Wednesday night, she made sure she had everything set for her oral surgery.
Early Thursday morning the Blooms gets a phone call from the doctors office. They had called to apologize, but Tzipi's appointment was canceled and rescheduled for the following week.
Tzipi was extremely disappointed. She had prepared herself for this day. She had spent the whole previous day, mentally, spiritually, physically, and emotionally preparing herself. And after ALL that- her appointment was canceled! (Her friends were sure surprised to see her in school!) She had psyched up the whhhhhole school for this wisdom teeth pulling procedure.

Later that night, Tzipi was so thankful her appointment was canceled.

To Tzipi's great surprise, her friends from camp had came in from out of town and surprised her. Tzipi was able to enjoy her friends the whole Shabbos and weekend. Had she had her teeth pulled she would have been out of it and not been able to have the great time she had!

Excused or Unexcused

Hi!!! It's Adina Seitler. I'm in 11th grade in YDTHS.

Here is story that happened to me and my classmates:

We were standing outside our classroom talking to a teacher whom we thought taught us that period. The teacher said that she was teaching a different class. We ran to our classroom, expecting another teacher there waiting for us, but there was no teacher there. We ran back to this teacher to tell her that she was supposed to be teaching us now. We weren't marked late. It's all HP!

HP?!?

True Story:

Teacher: Hi girls, Sorry but the copy machine in the office was broken so I wasn't able to copy your quizzes today.

Students: Yay! HP, we didn't study.

Teacher: SO instead I'm gonna read it out loud and you'll write it down.

Students: (groan) Ohhhh!!!!

Student #1: Well it was almost HP!
(students nod in agreement) "Yeah it really was almost HP!"

Student #2: No, its still HP!

HP- Always On Your Mind

I found this note on my desk from a ninth grader:

I "reserved" 2 different girls 2 midterms then we got the schedule so I switched and those 2 girls are studying together.......hard to explain but all HP!

I don't understand it AT ALL. But as long as its HP. (and that HP is on her mind)

Pair of Socks

I love this story. I shared it with the Eighth graders the day I heard it.

Chani went to camp this past summer and made a friend, Dina. Months after camp, Chani randomly wanted to give this friend a call. Looking through her phone numbers Chani realized that she didn't have Dina's phone number. She was a little disappointed, but went on with her day.

That night, while absent-mindedly touching her socks, Chani looked down at the label on the sock, and saw that she wearing HER FRIENDS sock!! It had her name and phone number on it!!! What are the chances of that?! WOW!!! Such Hashgacha Pratis!! :)

Just One Second

It was 10:30 at night and I was in middle of studying for a big test I had the following day. As I was studying I suddenly remembered my family was out of bananas and we forgot to get for the morning. Bananas for breakfast in my family is a necessity. So I put my studying on the side and called my friend. I explained that my family ran out of Bananas and we NEEDED them for the morning. She heard how desperate I was and literally dropped everything! She knew how important it was to have these bananas.

When I got to her house I texted her to let her know I was in her driveway.

"Hold on Just one second. I just need to get one thing. I'll be right there" she said.

A few seconds later she got in the car and I started driving down the street. Suddenly a HUGE animal ran right in front of my car. Then four more followed it. I slammed on the brakes just in time. It was whole family of deer that were just several feet in front of my car. Baruch Hashem we weren't any closer!

(and Baruch Hashem we got the bananas-Phew!)

AND THE WINNER IS.............

Last night, Motzoei Shabbos we had a basketball game in our school gym. It was a lot of fun! Music, dancing, (playing basketball) ....the girls had a lot of fun!

At half time we drew the winner of the Chanukah Contest!

A BIG congratulations to the lucky winners of this years Chanukah Contest.........Dalya Grossbard of Southfield, Michigan and Hannah Bennaroch of Montreal, Canada.

YDTHS - Stay tuned - winners from your school to be announced this week!