“RABBI’S MUSINGS (&
AMUSINGS)”
Erev Shabbos Kodesh
Parshas Tzav – Shabbos Hagadol
11 Nissan 5777/ April 7,
2017
On one occasion,
I was speaking to my Rebbe, Rabbi Chaim Schabes, about the challenge of
constantly strengthening our emunah and bitachon. When I mentioned a certain
popular book about emunah. Rabbi Schabes suggested that instead we learn the
Sefer “Mitzvas Habitachon” from Rav Shmuel Hominer zt’l.
There are two
components necessary in building one’s faith in Hashem. The first is to believe
that Hashem is omnipotent, that there is nothing beyond His purview and
capabilities. He created the world, and can manipulate it at will, for the sake
of anyone of anything, and it does not require any exertion for Him to do so.
The second level
entails believing that although G-d can do anything and everything, He won’t
always do so. Undoubtedly G-d can effortlessly and instantly bail any
person out of financial hardship, cure the harshest disease, and solve the
deepest emotional scars. However, G-d often does not do so, and we MUST believe
that His not doing so is for the best, although it may not seem that way to us[1].
In fact,
sometimes when one strengthens himself in ingraining within himself complete
faith that G-d is “kol yachol” (omnipotent), he has a harder time
accepting that G-d doesn’t always fulfils his prayers in the manner he desires.
After all, if G-d can, why doesn’t He? It takes a far deeper level of bitachon
to accept that there is a reason for everything, beyond what our finite minds
can comprehend.
My rebbe’s point
was that although popular books about emunah contain many beautiful lessons and
stories, they don’t teach about true bitachon, because every story has a
beautiful, often incredible, ending. All those heartwarming stories strengthen
us in regard to the first component of faith, but they do little in regard to
the second, deeper component of faith. It is extremely challenging to see good
people suffer, and to hear heartbreaking stories of lives torn apart, especially
when it happens to people who daven with incredible devotion.
Rav Shmuel
Hominer’s small, yet incredibly profound, sefer on bitachon drives home the
message that there is more to life than what we see. It’s all for the best, and
it is within our ability to live life with that feeling of security, even when
the events of life leave us feeling deeply pained.
In a certain
sense, it’s easier to believe in G-d when terrible tragedy strikes c’v, than it
is to believe in G-d when dealing with minor commonplace frustrations of life.
When terrible tragedies occur, we are so baffled that we have no recourse but
to believe that it must be the work of a G-d whose ways are imperceptible to
us. But when we deal with life’s minor frustrations, or when we feel that
someone less deserving has been blessed with more than us, it becomes harder to
believe that it’s not a celestial oversight. At that point, we may like dancing
with Tevyeh in the field, looking heavenward and asking, “Would it have been so
terrible if I had a small fortune?!”
After we eat
matzah and marror at the Seder, we eat Korech. It is a commemoration of the
opinion of the great Hillel, who would wrap the meat of Korbon Pesach with
matzah and marror.
I tell my
students each year that especially if Hillel used both types of marror –
lettuce and real horseradish - it was quite a delectable sandwich, of matzah,
lettuce, freshly roasted meat, and some freshly ground horseradish to give it a
kick.
On a symbolic
level, korech symbolizes the faith of a Jew. We combine the korbon pesach, the
ultimate symbol of G-d’s love and miraculous intervention on our behalf, with
the matzah, which symbolizes both servitude (‘poor man’s bread’) and
redemption, and the marror which symbolizes the time of greatest divine
concealment, when we felt despondent and forlorn.
For one who has
real bitachon such as Hillel, all of life – the good, the bad, and the ugly, becomes
wrapped together in one delicious meal. Even while consuming the painful marror
such a person is able to feel a sense of security with the knowledge that all
is in the Hands of Hashem, who loves him, and only seeks his best.
Pesach is the
night of emunah – not just for the glorious and good, but even for the more
bitter aspects of life. It is a night of divine protection, that traverses all
personal pain and sorrow. Every aspect of our lives is ‘wrapped up’ in the
Hands of the Divine.
May we all be
able to appreciate its sublimity.
Shabbat Shalom & Good Shabbos,
R’ Dani and Chani Staum
[1] The
morning after writing this essay, as I was saying Vayevorech Dovid (toward the
end of Pesukei Dezimrah), it struck me that perhaps both of these levels of
emunah are conveyed in this beautiful paragraph:
The first half of the tefillah (a quote from Divrei
Hayamim I, chapter 29) describes G-d’s limitless abilities, how He possesses infinite
abilities, and can strengthen anyone; there is nothing G-d cannot do. Then we
state that for having the ability to feel connected to that Supreme Being, we
are thankful.
The second half of the prayer (a quote from Nechemiah,
chapter 9) states that G-d is the one and only, who controls the celestial
world, the earth, seas, and everything in between. Perhaps that part of the prayer
is alluding to the fact that the manner in which G-d runs the world is beyond
our comprehension. Despite the fact that G-d can strengthen anyone and
provide limitlessly, He does not always do so. Because we are not privy to all
the secrets revealed in the upper worlds, of which G-d alone is the lifeforce
and sustainer, we cannot understand why G-d acts as He does.
It makes sense that the prayer then continues by
describing the uncanny spiritual rise of Avrohom, because “You found his heart
to be faithful before You”. Avrohom endured ten grueling tests, during each of
which he did not understand why those events were happening. Yet he did not
lose his faith or perspective that all G-d does is for the best. That was the reason
G-d elevated him from the individual Avrom to Avrohom, “father of the masses of
nations”.