Recently, when the Association of Gur Institutions arranged a major fund-raising trip to Italy, the Israel-based Malchus choir was selected to provide entertainment. But when Rabbi Pinchos Bichler, the choir’s conductor and musical director, celebrated the birth of a son the week before the scheduled trip, he realized he was in hot water. “All the production details, all the programs and musical technicalities were my job, and I was the only one with all the key information — but how could I leave the country right before my son’s bris? In the Gur offices and in our headquarters the anxiety was palpable, but a few days after the birth, it became apparent that the baby was jaundiced and the mohel said the bris would be delayed by at least a week,” says Rabbi Bichler. “I’m chas v’shalom not saying the jaundice was a brachah, but I did fly out and back in time.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 732)