Recently, after one of my Vayema'en episodes ran, I received an email from my assistant. He said that a man from overseas had called me and wanted me to call him back, and that it was extremely important. I reached the man by phone. He was very emotional and said to me, “Naftali, I want to thank you and the people of Vayema'en for saving my daughter’s life.” Obviously, I was quite intrigued. He said, “Yesterday, after a very, very difficult day in the office, I found myself in a moment of weakness, clicking somewhere on my computer where I knew I shouldn’t go. As I was doing so, I pictured myself being restrained. I pulled the plug out of my computer and fled my office, knowing that if I stayed there another moment, I would succumb.” I said to the man, “That’s absolutely amazing. You accomplished Vayema'en (and he refused) and Vayanas hachutzah (and he fled outside), just like Yosef HaTzadik.” He said, “Yes, but there’s much more to the story. I lived 12 minutes away from my office. As I drove down my street, to my total horror, I saw five Hatzalah cars in front of my house with all the sirens blaring. I rushed into my house, breathless, to find my daughter lying on the foyer floor with three Hatzalah guys kneeling over her. My wife was hysterically crying, and all my kids were crying in the corner and saying Tehillim. My daughter had some kind of seizure, fell backwards, banged her head, and stopped breathing. Hatzalah was called and, Baruch Hashem (thank God), they revived her. I realized that the exact second I pulled the plug out of the computer was when Hatzalah had gotten her pulse back and revived my daughter.” That’s why he said, “I’m calling to thank you and the people of Vayema'en.”
I said to this man, “This episode may very well define the rest of my life. It’s extremely important that you translate it correctly.” So I asked him the following question: “What would have happened, chas veshalom (God forbid), had you succumbed at your computer, only to come home and find that Rachmana litzlan—the worst—had happened to your daughter?” The man said to me, “I would have blamed myself for the rest of my life.” I said, “That’s naturally what I thought you would say. Every father would think that. However, you do realize you would be absolutely wrong. The pasuk (verse) tells us that children do not die for the sins of their fathers.
“Here’s the way I would tell you to look at it, even though I don’t have Ruach HaKodesh (divine inspiration). At the moment that test was given to you in your office, there was a debate going on in Shamayim (heaven). Your daughter’s life had come to its end. The Malach HaMavet (Angel of Death) said, ‘Her time is up.’ And Malach Refael stood up and said, ‘No, she’s so young. She still hasn’t gotten married. She still needs to have children. How can you do that? How can you do that?’ And Satan said, ‘No way. No way. Her time is up. Her time is up.’ So Malach Refael said, ‘Let me get her a merit. Let me find a way to save her life. How about if we give her father a tremendous test? A test that, if he passes, will give his daughter a new lease on life.’
“And at that moment, that urge overcame you. When you pulled the plug out of that computer and ran out of the office, you gave your daughter a new lease on life. You gave your daughter her life. Now you have to remember that. As you see nachat (pride and joy) from this child, as she walks down the aisle, as she dances at her wedding, as she has children and grandchildren, you should remember that your moment of Vayema'en is why all this is happening. We never know what a single moment could achieve.”