There Are No Coincidences

by Batyah Jasper

“My brother Akiva, just five minutes after his prayer, smiled a huge smile and quickly collected two pockets full of candy.”

In my family, we don't believe in coincidences. From the time I was a toddler, my parents taught me about [foreign language 00:00:07], which means, God guides even the smallest details in my life. Nothing happens randomly because God makes things happen for a purpose. Maybe it's to test me, maybe it’s to push me in the right direction. But nothing's just coincidence.

When I was very young, I would ask my parents questions like, why are there rainbows? Or why are there so many stars? It happened so many times that I understood that even when something has another explanation, like rainbows forming from sunlight bending in the rain, it's also true that it's because of God. God is not a bearded guy in the sky, but a oneness that connects everything. God keeps the world in motion like electricity keeps the light on. Without God, the rainbows and the stars don't exist.

Four years ago, my family visited the Western Wall in Israel. The men and women pray at different parts of the wall, so the boys and girls in my family split up and we agreed to meet up in fifteen minutes. There are a series of tunnels that you can tour that can lead you to various parts of the wall. At that time of day, the tours were closed, but they were letting women use the tunnels to access the wall. My mom, my sister and I followed the tunnels to an area that overlooks a lower cavern where the men can enter to pray by the wall. There were a series of chairs set up where women were sitting overlooking the men's area. A basket of candy was being passed around. We sat down with the women and took the candy in hand.

Meanwhile, my father and my brother Akiva were outside at another part of the Western Wall in the hot summer sun. It's traditional to put a note to God in the cracks of the wall. Akiva asked my father to write a note for him that said, thank you Shem for creating the world and creating me. My dad asked him, do you want to ask for anything? Oh yes, please give me lots of candy Shem, and thank you for the candy. My dad wrote those words, folded the note, and inserted it in the crack of a wall.

Minutes later, they decided to get up and out of the heat by heading into an underground tunnel area next to the wall. As they passed through the stone archway they found a ring of men dancing around a young man. Without warning, a hailstorm of candy descended from above thrown by me, my mother, my sister, and the other women above. It seemed like a big coincidence that we had wound up in the same cavern, at the same time, celebrating an unexpected Bar Mitzvah that my father and brother had also unwittingly stumbled upon. My brother Akiva, just five minutes after his prayer, smiled a huge smile and quickly collected two pockets full of candy. Thank you, Shem he said. There are no coincidences.