Tikun and Gilgul - Tariffs Covid and Bitachon Pesach

 Crazy Week …I worked on a few classes and articles   I wrote and recorded this Tuesday. On Wednesday, thePresident suspended the tariffs for 90 days and the stock market shot up arecord amount for a single day …. what will be tomorow?  Trust in Hashem—A Test for Our Generation  Rabbi Abittan, Zecher sadik livracha,often reminded us that the great test of our generation is bitachon—trustin Hashem. He would say that because of the comforts we’ve been blessed with,it’s easy to fall into the illusion of self-sufficiency. The Torah warns us ofthis very mindset:  'Kochi v’otzem yadi asah li ethachayil hazeh—My strength and the might of my hand made me all thiswealth' (Devarim 8:17).  Even if we don’t say those words, weoften live them—forgetting that all we have is a gift from Hashem. Andso, sometimes Hashem gently—or not so gently—reminds us that He is incharge.  Just recently, someone panicking at thetariff announcement and how it would affect his business, reached out to tellme he had listened to a shiur I gave on the 7th of Nisan in 2020, just as COVIDwas beginning. It was our first Zoom class through the Safra Synagogue. Theworld had shut down. Orders were canceled. Work stopped. And we were askingourselves: What now?  I shared then an idea based on the Haggadah:  'Bechol dor vador omdim aleinulechaloteinu'—In every generation, they rise up to destroy us.  But there’s another layer. It’s not onlythat an enemy rises—it’s that we feel like the world is ending. And itseems that it’s not once in every generation; rather in our days, almost everyyear we get hit with something that makes us feel the world is ending. Sometimes it’s local, sometimes global and sometimespersonal, but the pattern repeats.  We’ve lived it. After 9/11. During theSecond Intifada. The financial crisis of 2008. Superstorm Sandy. COVID. Andmost recently, the horrific events of Shemini Atzeret or October 7th. And ineach moment, the same fear returns: What will be tomorrow?  The Midrash teaches (ShemotRabbah 3:5):  'Hakadosh Baruch Hu mit’avehle’tefilatan shel tzaddikim'—Hashem desires the prayers of therighteous.  Why? Because in moments of crisis, weremember. We turn back. We cry out, 'Ein lanu al mi lehisha’en ella alAvinu Shebashamayim'—We have no one to rely on but our Father inHeaven.  That first Chol HaMoed Pesach of 2020,we buried so many. It was a nightmare. And yet—we are here. We survived.Like our grandparents who endured the Spanish Flu after WWI. Like generationsbefore them, who faced plagues, pogroms, exile, and still clung to theiremunah.  Our community in particular has longbeen blessed in business. From the days of retail peddling, to wholesale, tointernational importing and investing in real estate. And today, that sameworld is shaking—tariffs, supply chain breakdowns, volatility. Deals that oncebrought profit now bring loss. It feels uncertain. And yet, maybe Hashem iswhispering again: I’m still in control.  The pasuk in Tehillim (20:8)says: 'Eleh barechev v’eleh basusim, va’anachnu b’shem Hashem Elokeinunazkir'—Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we call out inthe name of Hashem our God.  This is the message of bitachon.And it’s not just theological—it’s historical. In Parashat Beshalach, asBnei Yisrael stand before the sea, chased by the Egyptians, they cry out infear. And Hashem says:  'Ma titzak elai? Daber el BneiYisrael v’yisa’u'—Why are you crying to Me? Tell Bnei Yisrael to moveforward (Shemot 14:15).  Sometimes emunah means standingstill; sometimes it means marching forward even when we can’t see the path.But always it means knowing Who is leading us.  Even in October 7th’s darkness, we saw YadHashem—through miracles, survival, unity, and resolve. And perhaps that’sthe silver lining: we remembered that we are not alone.  So with all this in mind, I revisitedthat class from Nisan 2020, and I am going to post it again, not just as a record of what we went through, butas a reminder of what we always come back to: Hashem lo ya’azvenu—Hashemwill not abandon us.  May thisreflection be a zechut for clarity, courage, and geulah, bimheirav’yameinu, amen.