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Stories to lift our days up with joy.
Stories to help us see the Divine Hand guiding our lives.
Welcome back to Common Stories. I think this might just be my favorite story told by Yida Halberstam in her book, Small Miracles. Joey Rickles grew up in Cleveland, Ohio in the nineteen seventies. And at the age of 19, like many in his generation, he decided he needed to see the world. He needed to rebel.
Speaker 1:And he told his father, Adam Rickles, that he was gonna explore India and search for enlightenment. He was quitting his job, quitting college, and going to discover the truth. Now his dad did wasn't so happy about this, but he decided to take the advice of his friends and take it with serenity. Say, okay, Joey, you're just looking to carve out your own path, find your wings. It's it's okay.
Speaker 1:A few weeks later, Joey decided to tell his dad that he was ditching his religion, that he was going to find a new path, a new spiritual path. At this point, Adam Rickles lost it. See, Adam, he was a holocaust survivor. He only wanted his family to have survived three concentration camps. And he decided to continue living religious life after the holocaust and to dedicate his life to continuing the path of the Jewish people.
Speaker 1:He raised his family in a completely religious way. His wife had passed away not too much earlier. And to hear his own very son say that he was going after the path, that was just too much for him. Adam lost it. He said, what?
Speaker 1:You're abandoning your ancestors? You're ditching them just like that? And he said, get out of my house. I don't wanna see you ever again. I disown you from my heart.
Speaker 1:Of course, Joey didn't take that very well. And he said, fine. Then I disown you. I have nothing to do with you. And so Joey went on his way, traveled to India.
Speaker 1:There, he went from guru to guru, trying to find his own path. And in the meantime, he met a girl named Sarah, and they became a couple. She too came from a religious Jewish home and decided to ditch it all to search for a new path. And for six years, they traveled around India and all was good. Until one day, Adam ran into his old buddy, Sammy, and they were so happy, and they were recanting all their adventures and stories.
Speaker 1:Until at a certain moment, Sammy told Joey, and I'm so sorry about what what happened to your dad. Joey said, what? What happened to my dad? And Sammy said, oh, guess you didn't know. Your father passed away a few months ago.
Speaker 1:Didn't write to you? Joey said, I didn't I didn't tell anyone where I was. Nobody knew how to find me. What did he die of? He had a heart attack.
Speaker 1:A heart attack, Joey thought to himself, more like a broken heart. Joey was inconsolable. He felt like he had killed his dad, like his dad was grieving over him, and that's what ultimately led to his demise. Deep in his heart, he had always wished to reconnect with his father and to make everything okay again. But now he understood he would never have that opportunity.
Speaker 1:And so he walked around in a daze for a few days in depression. Until one day he said, I have to get out of here. He said, Sarah, I feel a pull. I need to get out of India. It's ashes for me not right now.
Speaker 1:I need to go to Israel. Sarah was in shock. Israel? Why Israel? What's there?
Speaker 1:And Joey said, I don't know. I just feel like I gotta go there. Sarah said, okay. And they headed on a plane and it was tense. When they got off the plane, Joey said told Sarah, I need to go pray.
Speaker 1:And Sarah was shocked. Pray? We used to laugh at all that stuff. What what are you becoming weird on me? Joey said, I need to go pray.
Speaker 1:My father died. I feel like I killed him. Will you just be there for me? And an argument ensued once again. And after about an hour of arguing, Joey and Sarah decided they're gonna go their separate ways.
Speaker 1:And at the end of it all, Joey said, I don't understand. I thought we were soulmates. Sarah said, we are. But right now, our souls are not aligned. And Joey decided to head to the Kotel, to the Western Wall, where Jewish tradition has it that this is the place to encounter God's presence where the Shekinah, God's presence is more manifest than anywhere else in that area.
Speaker 1:The last remnant of the holy temple. As he went by foot to the Western Wall, and he saw throngs of people, Ethiopians in their special garb and Yemenites and Americans in T shirts and small kippot. And he comes to the wall. And surprisingly, it all seems so familiar to him. He remembered praying as a little boy.
Speaker 1:And he took his his prayer cap, went to the walls which had absorbed so many tears, and started praying, started talking to God. And at a certain moment, he said to God, listen, God, please give me a sign. I'm so sorry what I did to my dad. Please let him know that I won't ditch the path of our forefathers, that I'm always there for him, that I love him, and then I'm so sorry. Please let there be forgiveness.
Speaker 1:I won't abandon the path. And after what seemed like hours of prayer, he came out of his reverie and he saw people writing prayer notes. He asked, what's that? And he wrote a note. He took a note and wrote a note, praying that somehow God would send him a sign that his father could forgive him.
Speaker 1:He started looking for a crevice in the wall to put the the wall in the stone as is the custom. When he put his little crevice in the wall, a different letter fell out. And normally, Joey wouldn't have done such a thing, but something came over him and instead of just putting the note back, he decided he was curious and he opened it up. And this is what he read. Dear Joey, if somehow you ever make it to the wall, I want you to know I never stopped loving you.
Speaker 1:I always love you. Even when you hurt me, I love you. I forgive you, and I hope you can forgive me. Your loving father, Adam Rickles, Cleveland, Ohio. Joey fainted when he was woken up from his stupor.
Speaker 1:It was just a few minutes from Shabbat. And so someone decided, hey, you need a place to go for Shabbos? They took this boy who was crying and brought him in and they spent Shabbat together. Ultimately, Joey decided to join the Yeshiva there in the old city. Three years later, Joey was sitting at the Shabbat table.
Speaker 1:He was now fully religious and everything was going great. So one day the rabbi said, hey, Joey, I think it's time for you to get married. And my wife, she works at the girls school, and she has a great idea. Maybe you can meet this girl. She's also a Balat Teshuvah, someone who returned to the path.
Speaker 1:And it seems like there's a lot of similarities. And she went and showed him in the other room another girl waiting, and guess what? It was Sarah. And they were in shock. Joey, what are you doing here?
Speaker 1:Sarah, what are you doing here? Well, I was already in Israel, so I figured I'll see the land. I visited some family, and I found out I actually love Israel. And I decided to learn more about, Judaism. And so here I am studying in this seminary.
Speaker 1:I guess we were soulmates all along. And that's the end of the story. I actually emailed Jide Halberstam to make sure it's a true story, and she indeed did confirm to me that it is a true story. To me, it's a story about how souls are aligned, fathers and sons, and men and women, soulmates. And sometimes we have to go far away, but ultimately, as long as we stay connected in our hearts, God will find a way to reconnect us.
Speaker 1:And if that's true with people, it's certainly true with our father in heaven. Hope you enjoyed today's story. Again, from Ida Halbermestam's wonderful book, Small Miracles, and may you be blessed with a magical day. Maybe you'll even write your own prayer note at the Western Wall, and maybe if you get an amazing miracle, you can send them in, and we will post it here on our podcast. Have a great day.