A Blessing for Every Siren

Ambulances racing down Malchei Yisroel Street in Geula were a regular sound near the Porat Yosef yeshiva. Each time a siren passed, Rav Ben Tzion would pause, bless the unknown patient with a speedy recovery, and then quietly return to his shiur or his learning. A student once asked why his blessings were so effective, and he answered simply that he really loved people.

Before going to sleep each night he forgave everyone who had hurt him that day, and he said the bedtime prayer of forgiveness with real sincerity. When someone once insulted him deeply, a friend asked whether he had still said it that night. He admitted it was hard. Lying in bed, he told Hashem that his anger was justified but asked what he should do, skip the prayer? He sat up and struggled for a long time to judge the man favorably, and only when he felt no trace of resentment did he lie down and say the words.

His method for getting along with others was a kind of arithmetic. Instead of counting what others owed him, he counted what he owed them: the mitzvos between one person and another, such as loving your neighbor, not hating your brother in your heart, not carrying tales and not taking revenge. How could he quarrel, he would ask, with people to whom he owed so much? Even the sight of small children walking to cheder filled his heart with love for all of Klal Yisroel.