The night before Passover in 2015, Rabbi Akiva Males was performing the ritual search for chametz (leavened bread) in his synagogue when his father spotted a backpack on a high shelf in a rarely used coatroom. Inside were a digital camera and postcards from someone named Margot to a person named Josh.
After the holiday, Rabbi Males mailed the backpack to Margot with an explanatory note. Weeks later, he received an excited phone call from her. Margot explained that she and Josh had dated in college but broken up after the summer Josh left his backpack at the synagogue. They had gone their separate ways and lost touch. The astonishing revelation was that the backpack had been sitting in the synagogue coatroom, forgotten and lost for three years. When the backpack unexpectedly arrived at Margot’s home three years later, she contacted Josh to return it. They met up, reconnected, and began dating again. Both agreed that when they first dated in college, they weren’t emotionally ready for a relationship with each other. The three-year separation had allowed them to mature in ways necessary for their relationship to succeed. Had the backpack been found earlier, their story would have unfolded differently.
Months later, Rabbi Males and his wife received a wedding invitation. At the ceremony, the rabbi stood under the chuppah (wedding canopy) reciting one of the seven blessings for the couple whose reunion he had unknowingly facilitated three years after their separation. Today, they live with their growing family in Efrat, Judea, only a few blocks from where I live.
God’s timeline rarely aligns with human expectations. The timing that seems frustrating or disappointing to us may be exactly what’s needed for His perfect plan to unfold.
Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, wrongfully imprisoned, and seemingly forgotten in Egypt. He endured years of waiting. Yet when he finally stood before Pharaoh interpreting dreams and saving Egypt from famine, the timing was exactānot a moment too soon or too late.
God oversees even the smallest details of our lives through divine providence. Nothing happens by accident. Nothing is truly lost. Everything serves a purpose in God’s greater design.
The sages teach: “Everything that the Holy One, blessed be He, does is for the good” (Berachot 60b). This isn’t mere optimism; it’s recognition that divine timing surpasses human understanding. What appears as delay, setback, or loss may be divine preparation for something greater.
When Moses questioned God about human suffering, he was told:
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks explained, “We cannot see God’s faceāmeaning, we cannot understand why bad things happen to good people from within the perspective of this life. Only from the beyond can we see the full picture. But we can catch a glimpse of the back of Godāmeaning, we can look back at difficult times and see, retrospectively, how they led to unforeseen blessings” (Covenant & Conversation: Exodus).
Josh’s backpack sat untouched for three years, not because God couldn’t arrange its discovery sooner, but because three years was precisely the time needed for Margot and Josh to grow individually before they could grow together. The timing wasn’t accidentalāit was essential.
What appears as divine silence or inaction in our lives may actually be divine patienceāallowing circumstances to develop until the moment is right. God doesn’t operate on our schedule but orchestrates events according to His perfect wisdom.
When we face delays, disappointments, or detours, remember Josh’s backpack. Had it been found immediately, a beautiful love story might never have unfolded. The delay wasn’t an oversight but a crucial part of the plan.
Trust in divine timing isn’t passive resignation but active faith. It means acknowledging that the Creator of the universe might have reasons for timing that our finite minds cannot grasp. The backpack wasn’t lostāit was waiting for the right moment to be found.
In our lives, what seems delayed, forgotten, or lost? Perhaps, like Josh’s backpack, it waits on a high shelf for the perfect moment of discovery. The timing that frustrates us today may be the very timing we’ll thank God for tomorrow.
This story of Josh and Margot was featured in the Summer 2016 issue of Jewish Action.
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