Do you see the Divine Hand? Sometimes it’s easy to see …
The Sage Rav Chaim Kanievsky of Bnei Brak is expert in all areas of the Torah. However, he was once studying the laws of permitted (to eat) locusts and did not understand the species that was being referred to. That night, as he studied in the arid Bnei Brak night air, with the window open … a grasshopper came and perched itself precisely on the shtender he was learning at – as though it was putting itself there for observation. And if you think that is a coincidence, the same story repeated itself the next evening, and, no, there are no grasshoppers in Bnei Brak.
At other times, it’s not as easy…
My paternal grandfather was an east European rabbi who fled Romania after the war, when he foresaw that there was no hope for Yiddishkeit in the face of communism. Arriving in England penniless and not knowing a word of the local language, with three young children and a wife nine months pregnant, he succeeded in settling in a foreign land. Teaching himself the language with a wireless, he, with time, took up a rabbinate in Hampstead, London and built up a flourishing financial portfolio of property investments that made him a wealthy man. In our family, he is looked to as “the incredible self-made businessman;” this is a mistake.
As the verse in this week’s sedra warns, “Guard yourself lest you forget Hashem your G-d … lest you eat and are satisfied, and you build real estate and dwell … and all that you have prospers … and your heart becomes haughty, and you forget Hashem your G-d … and you say in your heart, it has been my ability and own success that has acquired me this wealth …
Yet a subtler form of this mind-set is cautioned against in the ensuing verses, namely, to attribute to oneself one’s successes in the spiritual sphere – this, too is mistaken; both our material and spiritual successes are Divinely granted and Divinely guided. Thus, “Say not in your hearts, when Hashem your G-d crushes them [your enemies] from before you, it has been on account of my merit … rather, it is not on account of your merit and straightness of heart …” We are being taught that all our successes and achievements are G-dly inspired.
*****
A mirror concept exists in regards to “when the going gets tough.” Much truth lies in the mantra,” When the going gets tough, the tough get going” – we will see that this is a Torah true idea.
The age-old question, why do bad things happen to good people, is not our topic of discussion. Nonetheless, we attempt to offer here some insight into the phenomena we all experience over the course of our lives, namely the Hard Times.
Jewish theology teaches of the Good Days and the Bad Days, also known as the Days of Love and the Days of Hatred, referring to the scale of when life’s circumstances are easy and positive – be it financially, good health and personal achievement – and when things are negative and apparently “bad”.
How is the Torah true Jew supposed to approach this?
A great truth is that, both extremes, both the Good Times and the Bad Times, are to be approached with one and the same attitude and belief: that this particular set of circumstances is G-d given; controlled, dictated and directed by Him. Just as we are to believe that our wealth and success is from Him, so, are we to internalise that also the negative, or, (better said) challenging times – are likewise, from Him.
This lesson is taught at the beginning of this sedra. “In order to afflict you and in order to test you …” The Chofetz Chaim comments that “affliction” is to test us, where are we currently “holding” in our spirituality; and “lema’an nasoisecho” – commonly translated as “to test,” actually means, “in order to uplift you.” All the difficulties we face, then, are G-d given challenges and opportunities for growth and spiritual enrichment.
*****
Thus, we learn in this sedra two vitally important lessons. The one, that all our successes and achievements are in fact G-d given, and the second, that all the difficulties we face and experience are equally G-d given; both are there to be catalysts for greater belief and trust in G-d’s omnipotence, kindness and goodness.
So, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”, strengthened with the understanding that it is G-d who hides behind the challenge, and knowing that, likewise, when the going gets easy, it’s G-d who is behind that, too.
Good Shabbos,
Yosef Berkovits