"Key" l'olam chasdo--For His kindness is endless

 For some unknown reason, when I was on the way to LAX (Los Angeles International Airport)  bringing my wife to her final resting place on Har Hazeisim, I brought along my keys, including one of my two electronic car keys.   Unfortunately, before I left Israel, I couldn't find my keys, but suspected that they fell behind a bookshelf in my grandchildren's room. I didn't really think about them much until last week,  but when I mentioned it to my son about a week about, he started looking for them, found them 2 days ago, and said that he would mail them to me.

Now yesteday afternoon., after a day of patients, I came home, had something to eat, walked down the alley to shul for  mincha, walked a few blocks to do two errands and then came home to go to my car to run a few errands for Shabbos. Though I did have my keys, and assumed that I also had my electronic car key, my Prius "did not detect" the presence of the key, so it obviously fell off. Anyway, I  retraced my steps first to shul, then to the fish store, then to the bank. No key.  I did some hisbodedus, happy that Hashem had given my this test and wondering what he was trying to teach me. I said the special segula to find a lost object, "Amar Reb Binyomin..."  and put aside tzedoko as a redemption, but. still no key. Then I remembered that my son was mailing me my other set of keys, and I realized that maybe Tatty (Dad) is telling me that I don't need to drive for a few days.  Who knows what would happen?   Also, it was a reminder of one of the 10 principles of Jewish medicine: He always creates the cure before the illness. 

I might yet find them, I dunno.  But whatever happens I know that Tatty gives me exactly what I need, and even in adversity, it could have been worse.  I find it compelling that my son and I just happened to speak of my keys earlier in the week and that the set in Israel were found, just before I lost my car key here. 

This morning, I realized when I woke up that it would be quite far for me to walk to Beis Yehuda (the shul where I have been davening for the last month each morning) so what should I do?  Then I remembered that when I came back from Israel, for the first two weeks I had walked each morning the 3 blocks to daven at the Mesivta, Rabbi Nechemia Langer's Yeshiva high school for some of the very best boys who had graduated from the Chasidishe Cheder.   The davening there is slow, intense, and enthusiastic. They also begin davening an hour earlier, than where I had been davening. I again realized, that  Hashem was talking to me, guiding me and directing me.  He knew that when I davened at Bais Yehuda, I was arriving late for my first patient.  He knew that my neshama needs to connect with a fiery and thoughtful davening rather than a rushed and mechanical davening which I wasn't keeping up with anyway.  So what did he do?  He woke me up by "guiding me" to lose my "key," and to remember my other "Key:" Key l'olam chasdo!