הַמְהֻלָּל בְּרֹב הַתִּשְׁבָּחוֹת, הַמְנַהֵג עוֹלָמוֹ בְּחֶסֶד, וּבְרִיּוֹתָיו בְּרַחֲמִים

The One who is praised with abundant song, who guides His world with kindness, and His creations with compassion.

This past summer, an incredible story took place in a girls’ camp.

The head of maintenance was known as someone who had no real “off” switch during the season — he was on call 15–16 hours a day, constantly taking care of whatever came up.

Shabbos was his time to recharge — to sleep, eat (!), and spend time with his family.

On the second Shabbos of camp, just after Shabbos ended, his radio crackled: A staff member had left her car keys by the pool and needed to head out.

Without hesitation, he headed over to the darkened pool area, still in his Shabbos suit. Rather than wait ten minutes for the overhead lights to turn on, he carefully made his way in, feeling around for where he thought the keys might be.

Suddenly, the ground gave way beneath him — and he fell straight into the pool.

Now soaked, suit and all, he climbed out, found the keys, and made his way back.

But before he could get back to his bungalow to change, a group of girls came running over. “You promised you’d light us a bonfire!”

So, he headed over to their pile of wood, lit the fire—and in a split second, a massive flame burst toward him.

Instinctively, he dropped and rolled until the fire went out.

When he stood up, he braced himself, but was shocked to see that he felt no pain and had not been burnt at all.

His soaking wet suit, and the chessed that brought him there had protected him.

הַמְנַהֵג עוֹלָמוֹ בְּחֶסֶד, וּבְרִיּוֹתָיו בְּרַחֲמִים. 

When we take a page from Hashem’s ways and act with chessed, we begin to see His rachamim in return.

Let’s look for opportunities to show up for others, even when it’s inconvenient, even when no one’s watching. 

And in that zchus, may Hashem shower us with רַחֲמִים .