AJN STAFF
WHEN fog delayed Rabbi Binyamin Zilberstrom's flight from Sydney to Melbourne last Friday, the Israeli Chabad rabbi began a race against the setting sun - and the onset of Shabbat.
But he had no idea how serendipitous his dash to beat the dark would turn out to be.
Rabbi Zilberstrom had been in Sydney collecting for the Torat Emet Yeshiva of Chabad in Jerusalem.
His flight was scheduled to leave for Melbourne at 8.30am, but only departed after 3pm.
With candle-lighting at 4.51pm, the rabbi asked airline staff to place him in the front row, enabling him to disembark quickly. He even made plans to leave his luggage at the airport until after Shabbat.
Rabbi Zilberstrom jumped in a cab, realising he would not make it to St Kilda's Yeshivah Centre before sunset.
Somewhere on St Kilda Road, he asked the driver for the address of the nearest synagogue, and paid the driver to take his belongings to his intended destination.
Following the driver's directions, Rabbi Zilberstrom walked to Melbourne Hebrew Congregation (MHC), where the congregation was one short of a minyan, meaning that two congregants were unable to say kaddish.
MHC gabbai Leonard Yaffe told the AJN
: "The door burst open and this stranger with a long grey coat and black beard entered and asked 'Do you have a minyan?'
"Afterwards, Rabbi Zilberstrom encouraged us to sing and dance for some minutes in thankfulness for being able to make up the numbers. He told us his delay in the fog seemed to have been for a very good purpose."
Rabbi Zilberstrom, who returns to Israel today (Thursday), said: "They asked me who sent me. I told them ... that Hashem sent me. This was divine providence."
WHEN fog delayed Rabbi Binyamin Zilberstrom's flight from Sydney to Melbourne last Friday, the Israeli Chabad rabbi began a race against the setting sun - and the onset of Shabbat.
But he had no idea how serendipitous his dash to beat the dark would turn out to be.
Rabbi Zilberstrom had been in Sydney collecting for the Torat Emet Yeshiva of Chabad in Jerusalem.
His flight was scheduled to leave for Melbourne at 8.30am, but only departed after 3pm.
With candle-lighting at 4.51pm, the rabbi asked airline staff to place him in the front row, enabling him to disembark quickly. He even made plans to leave his luggage at the airport until after Shabbat.
Rabbi Zilberstrom jumped in a cab, realising he would not make it to St Kilda's Yeshivah Centre before sunset.
Somewhere on St Kilda Road, he asked the driver for the address of the nearest synagogue, and paid the driver to take his belongings to his intended destination.
Following the driver's directions, Rabbi Zilberstrom walked to Melbourne Hebrew Congregation (MHC), where the congregation was one short of a minyan, meaning that two congregants were unable to say kaddish.
MHC gabbai Leonard Yaffe told the AJN
: "The door burst open and this stranger with a long grey coat and black beard entered and asked 'Do you have a minyan?'
"Afterwards, Rabbi Zilberstrom encouraged us to sing and dance for some minutes in thankfulness for being able to make up the numbers. He told us his delay in the fog seemed to have been for a very good purpose."
Rabbi Zilberstrom, who returns to Israel today (Thursday), said: "They asked me who sent me. I told them ... that Hashem sent me. This was divine providence."
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