BS"D
For a couple of years, I've dreamed about Kavanah Kards being given out at the Torah U'Mesorah Convention. This year, with my focus firmly fixed on children having the right kavanah and enthusiasm from the outset, I decided to explore the possibility.
The best way to get exposure was to get Kavanah Kards into the hands of the convention participants. First there was the Torah U'Mesorah fee for doing that.
Not so bad...they said I could have an envelope with materials put into the package that every participant received for a reasonable fee.
Next there was the matter of what to put in the envelope.
For a minute I thought about trying to get an assembly line of grandchildren to put them together. SIXTEEN HUNDRED? What was I thinking? I had cold sweats even thinking about all the terrible possibilities.
Not possible.
I called my "best friend" at the printer I use for a quote.
He said we would have to have everything in hand in TWO DAYS in order to get it to the convention by the required day!!!!
Okay, so let's do it.
Jumping the gun....
He asked me what I wanted in the envelope.
Hmmm. Decisions, decisions.
Would anyone want Yiddish? Probably not.
Called Torah U'Mesorah.
I was wrong. LOTS of Yiddish schools attend.
OK, so English & Yiddish.
Counting all the English & Yiddish materials, there would be twelve pieces, plus a cover letter. It could fit into a half flat envelope. Sixteen hundred times 12 is over 19,000 cards!
Baruch Hashem, I had almost everything I needed, but there was NO way I could drag the heavy boxes back down the steps and into my car to get them back to the printer. He said he would have some guys pick them up (he really gets a LOT of zechus for his part in helping so many Yidden come closer to Hashem.
Next decision: What to print on the envelope.
I struggled with a couple of ideas, and thankfully the printer gave me his advice, which I gratefully took.
Then he wanted the cover letter right away. Oye, what should it say?
Hashem poured the words out of my fingers into the computer.
A bit of kvetching it, then I "gave it over to Hashem" that it was right.
True to his word, two men from the printer were there the next day taking dozens of boxes to the shop. Fortunately, Hashem had previously helped me figure out that 100 cards measure two inches, so that I was able to estimate how many had to go into each box.
There were "little" crises, like not having enough of two items, but my printer malach didn't blink an eye--he did it in house.
Miraculously, 1600 printed envelopes with 12 Kavanah Kard items and a cover letter were delivered to the hotel in Pennsylvania a day before they were due!
The bill? It seemed like a lot in my mind, but Hashem already sent help. A wonderful supporter had already made a sizeable donation several months before, so part was just waiting. Then two of my wonderful children gave me another generous chunk, B"H. Some more funds came from supporters of Rabbi Garfinkel's work, and some extra clients helped with part of the remainder, so the rest was my investment in Olam Haba.
Now it is up to Hashem to open the minds of the schools that went to the convention to realize and bring Kavanah Kards into their schools.
Now I'm fulfilling the mitzvah of emunah and bitachon as Hashem commanded!
For a couple of years, I've dreamed about Kavanah Kards being given out at the Torah U'Mesorah Convention. This year, with my focus firmly fixed on children having the right kavanah and enthusiasm from the outset, I decided to explore the possibility.
The best way to get exposure was to get Kavanah Kards into the hands of the convention participants. First there was the Torah U'Mesorah fee for doing that.
Not so bad...they said I could have an envelope with materials put into the package that every participant received for a reasonable fee.
Next there was the matter of what to put in the envelope.
For a minute I thought about trying to get an assembly line of grandchildren to put them together. SIXTEEN HUNDRED? What was I thinking? I had cold sweats even thinking about all the terrible possibilities.
Not possible.
I called my "best friend" at the printer I use for a quote.
He said we would have to have everything in hand in TWO DAYS in order to get it to the convention by the required day!!!!
Okay, so let's do it.
Jumping the gun....
He asked me what I wanted in the envelope.
Hmmm. Decisions, decisions.
Would anyone want Yiddish? Probably not.
Called Torah U'Mesorah.
I was wrong. LOTS of Yiddish schools attend.
OK, so English & Yiddish.
Counting all the English & Yiddish materials, there would be twelve pieces, plus a cover letter. It could fit into a half flat envelope. Sixteen hundred times 12 is over 19,000 cards!
Baruch Hashem, I had almost everything I needed, but there was NO way I could drag the heavy boxes back down the steps and into my car to get them back to the printer. He said he would have some guys pick them up (he really gets a LOT of zechus for his part in helping so many Yidden come closer to Hashem.
Next decision: What to print on the envelope.
I struggled with a couple of ideas, and thankfully the printer gave me his advice, which I gratefully took.
Then he wanted the cover letter right away. Oye, what should it say?
Hashem poured the words out of my fingers into the computer.
A bit of kvetching it, then I "gave it over to Hashem" that it was right.
True to his word, two men from the printer were there the next day taking dozens of boxes to the shop. Fortunately, Hashem had previously helped me figure out that 100 cards measure two inches, so that I was able to estimate how many had to go into each box.
There were "little" crises, like not having enough of two items, but my printer malach didn't blink an eye--he did it in house.
Miraculously, 1600 printed envelopes with 12 Kavanah Kard items and a cover letter were delivered to the hotel in Pennsylvania a day before they were due!
The bill? It seemed like a lot in my mind, but Hashem already sent help. A wonderful supporter had already made a sizeable donation several months before, so part was just waiting. Then two of my wonderful children gave me another generous chunk, B"H. Some more funds came from supporters of Rabbi Garfinkel's work, and some extra clients helped with part of the remainder, so the rest was my investment in Olam Haba.
Now it is up to Hashem to open the minds of the schools that went to the convention to realize and bring Kavanah Kards into their schools.
Now I'm fulfilling the mitzvah of emunah and bitachon as Hashem commanded!
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