Why Lori Palatnik Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Last summer an adorable Nevey Yerushalyim student from Kentucky spent a Shabbos with us here in the Old City. I cannot remember her name but I doubt I'll ever forget her story. Over the Friday night meal she told us that she was learning here because one evening she agreed to join her cousin at an Aish haTorah event. There she heard a speaker who provoked a question in this bright young woman. Could there be more to life than finishing college, graduating at the top of her class, and beginning a promising career? This question kept cycling through her mind. So, she made a bargain with herself. In the unlikely event that she could not land a position in her chosen field, well...she'd just go to Israel and learn there for a while.

You guessed it, after 32 resumes, countless follow up conversations and a only a few unmemorable interviews, she couldn't believe it, but she had not even the prospect of a job.

So, she kept that promise to herself and enrolled in a seminary in Israel. With tears in her eyes, the young woman told us how failing to land a job --in the field she had invested years of her life struggling for and working towards-- was the greatest kindness of Hashem. If she could only see Lori Palatnik, the speaker she held responsible for the bargain she made, and thank her....

Shabbos day our guest ventured out of the Old City to visit a relative in town. On the way back, she saw a familiar woman walk out of a hotel and head in her same direction, towards the ancient stone walls. First, she caught her breath; then she heard her own voice (as if it belonged to someone else she later told us), shaking but loud enough, say to the woman, "Excuse me, but are you Lori Palatnik?"

"Yes, I am," the woman replied and revealed her trademark, inviting smile.

Hashem, it seems, places His angels exactly where He needs them to be. This young woman and countless like her are why Lori Palatnik -and just a handful like her-needs to be in America today. Watch her 4 minute video as she so poignantly explains:


There are many legitimate reasons people cite for not living here in Israel. Most of these reasons do not involve mesiras nefesh, sacrifice, but Lori's reason certainly does. May she and her family redeem the merits they have most certainly accrued-and come home soon.