Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

One of the reasons we blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is to, so to speak, remind Hashem of Akedat Yitzchak and the great mesirut nefesh of Avraham Avinu. And in that zechut, Hashem has extra mercy upon us. One of the ways in which we can bring more of Hashem's mercy upon us now is through mesirut nefesh. But what exactly does it mean to show self-sacrifice? Rabbeinu Bachya describes how unfathomable the test of Avraham Avinu was. He waited one hundred years to finally have the child he had been waiting for, and it came about through the greatest miracle. Avraham loved Yitzchak so much. He taught him all of his Torah, and with every passing year, his love for him grew even more. Avraham knew Yitzchak was going to be his future and was going to continue the job that he had started. And then, when Yitzchak was thirty-seven years old, at the prime of his life, when everything Avraham had worked for was right there in front of him, Hashem told Avraham to bring his son as a korban. At that moment, Avraham had to overcome his natural will and desire, put it aside, and focus on one thing: What is Hashem's will? What does Hashem want? Avraham understood that our main purpose in this world is to do the will of Hashem. And therefore, as difficult as it was, he was prepared to put aside everything he had worked for. He said, "Hashem, I want to do what You want." That is mesirut nefesh—putting aside our will and focusing on what Hashem's will is. This year, we had an opportunity to do that ourselves on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. The Gemara tells us how powerful the blowing of the shofar is, how it causes Hashem to go from the Kisei HaDin and sit upon the Kisei HaRachamim. We need the shofar so much. We want every possible zechut to bring us a happy and blessed year. Yet this year, on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, which was Shabbat, because of a rabbinical decree, we did not blow the shofar. We were saying, "Hashem, it's not about what we want. We don't want Your Torah to possibly be violated by someone carrying a shofar on Shabbat. Even though we would love to have the great zechut of shofar, Your will is more important to us than our will." We put aside what we wanted for what Hashem wanted. That is mesirut nefesh, and that mesirut nefesh, be'ezrat Hashem, brought about an outpouring of love and mercy from Hashem. Now, during the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, part of our avodah has to be having more mesirut nefesh in our own lives. There are so many times when doing what Hashem wants conflicts with what we want. Maybe we want to say something, but we know Hashem doesn't want us to say it. Maybe we want to do something, but we know Hashem doesn't want us to do it. At that moment, we can ask ourselves the same question: What is the will of Hashem? And if we put aside our will for Hashem's will, then we are practicing mesirut nefesh. There is another area in which this can be very difficult. There are people who are not happy with the way their lives are going. Maybe they did not get what they wanted so badly. Maybe they have been waiting such a long time for something that's so important to them. Here, there is a great opportunity to say, "Hashem, my will is to live the life that You want me to live. As long as my life is meant to be like this, without having what I want right now, I'm going to be happy to live it. I'm going to continue serving You with happiness. I'm going to continue growing and doing everything I can in avodat Hashem, because what matters to me most is what You want from me." That is tremendous mesirut nefesh—living the life Hashem wants us to live, even though it may not necessarily be the life that we want for ourselves at this moment. To continue on strong, to serve Hashem with happiness and joy, and to continue committing ourselves to growing stronger and stronger. And with Hashem's help, if we focus on the will of Hashem and what He wants from us, it will arouse an abundance of mercy from Hashem upon us.

Today is Tzom Gedaliah, which comes right after Rosh Hashanah during the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah. We fast because Gedaliah ben Achikam, the leader of the small group of Jewish people who remained in Eretz Yisrael after the Churban HaBayit, was murdered. The Gemara tells us regarding this, שְׁקוּלָה מִיתָתָן שֶׁל צַדִּיקִים כִּשְׂרֵפַת בֵּית אֱלֹקֵינוּ — the death of tzaddikim is comparable to the burning of the Bet HaMikdash. But we may ask, there have been many great tzaddikim who passed away throughout the generations whom we don't fast for. What was so significant about the death of Gedaliah that we fast over it until today? In fact, at that time, the Bet HaMikdash had already been destroyed. Yerushalayim had already been devastated. Most of the Jewish people had already gone into galut. What was left? Just a small remnant of Jewish people living in Eretz Yisrael under Gedaliah. But perhaps that's the very point. That small remnant had so much potential. There was still Jewish life in Eretz Yisrael. There were still fields to plant and homes to build. Hashem could have produced an entire future just from what remained. But then Gedaliah was murdered. The people became afraid and eventually fled. There is a great lesson here for us. Sometimes a person looks at his life and thinks about what he doesn't have. Maybe things did not turn out the way he hoped. Maybe he lost an opportunity. Maybe years have gone by and he didn't accomplish what he should have. He looks at what's left and thinks, What could I possibly do with this? Tzom Gedaliah teaches us: Never underestimate what's left. Hashem can build an entire future from what looks to us like very little. Imagine a man who once had a successful business that eventually began to fail. He lost his customers, went into debt, and with no choice he had to close. He was devastated. He felt that everything he had built was gone. But sometime later, an old contact called him looking for help locating a certain product. The man knew the industry very well and was able to make the right connection. That led to another call and then another, and eventually he began working as a consultant and broker. Using all the knowledge and contacts he had gained over the years, he ended up making a much better parnassah without all the overhead and pressures of his previous business. What he thought was just what remained from his old business was exactly what Hashem used to build his future. This is a very important message now during the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah. We just stood before Hashem on Rosh Hashanah and thought about all the areas in our lives that we need to improve. We may have chalishut hada'at . We may think, Look how many years have gone by. Look at all the opportunities I've missed. What do I have left? But Hashem doesn't want us to be discouraged. He wants us to be encouraged. As long as He gives us another day, there is tremendous potential just in that day. Maybe someone hasn't learned as much Torah as he should have, but he can start right now, today. Maybe a person hasn't been praying the way he should, but he can start right now with today's tefillah, especially now when tefillah is so powerful. Maybe there's a relationship that a person needs to improve or a middah that he's been struggling with. Today he can take a step. We have no idea what Hashem can build from that one step. This is one lesson we can learn from Tzom Gedaliah. After so much had been lost, what remained still had so much value. The same is true in our lives. We should never say, "It's too late," or, "There's not enough left." We have today. Hashem has given us so much potential. Our job is to use what we have right now and trust that Hashem can build an entire future from it.

When we wake up in the morning, we are supposed to say modeh ani lefanecha and thank Hashem for giving us another day of life. We are to recognize what an opportunity we have to spend another day living life and perform mitvot . From the moment we get up, we have so many golden opportunities for mitvot , washing our hands properly, putting on tzitzit , saying birkot hashachar , and so on. We have endless opportunities to amass spiritual fortunes every single day. And it is with that attitude that we are supposed to get up excited to serve our Creator. A man I know, who we'll call Joe, told me he has a picture hanging on his wall that he looks at every morning when he gets up before he says modeh ani , and that picture gives him an extra special feeling of hakarat hatov to Hashem for the life that Hashem gives him. That appreciation extends to every moment of his day, and he lives life with enthusiasm and joy, happy to be alive and serving Hashem. His story begins on February 26, 1993. Joe worked for the Port Authority and his office was on the 88 floor on the North Tower in the World Trade Center. He was called down to a cafeteria on the lower level to deliver an envelope to his boss that day. Moments after he left, a bomb exploded on the B2 level of that building, killing 6 people and injuring over 1000. His boss, who he just delivered the letter to, was one of the casualties. Joe's entire body was filled with soot and he inhaled a lot of smoke, but baruch Hashem he was eventually evacuated, being led to an exit on the B1 level of the building. About 8 years later on September 11, 2001, Joe was in his office on the 88 floor of the North Tower when the first plane hit just five floors above him. After the initial shock, people began evacuating using the staircase as the elevators were out of commission. Joe was with another man there who was in his 90's. He told the man not to worry, he was going to stay with him. They went to the stairwell and saw that it was mobbed with people. Joe told the older man they would go back to his office and wait until the crowd dissipated and then make their way down. About 15 minutes later, they went back there and this time the stairs were clear. It took Joe and this older man about an hour and fifteen minutes to make their way down all those 88 flights. When they got to floor #20, a loud noise was heard and the lights went out. That must have been when the South Tower fell. When they finally got down to the bottom, firemen were telling them they couldn't exit from there. They went back up a few flights and they couldn't exit there either. They went back down again, finally, they made their way to the B1 level. The last time Joe was there was when he was evacuated in 1993. From that experience, he knew exactly where to go this time. They found an exit which led them out to a place which protected them from falling debris. Just a few minutes after they exited the building and took cover behind a larger building, the North Tower collapsed. Joe couldn't believe his eyes, watching as the horror unfolded. His life was spared a second time. He couldn't contact his wife and family but when he finally arrived home that evening to his house in New Jersey, there was a sigh of relief and celebration surrounding him. Unfortunately, he found out afterward that 16 of his coworkers did not make it out in time. He looked back at the tragedy in 1993 and said, Hashem was showing me the exit then that I needed to save my life now . A few days later, he hung up a picture of him and those 16 coworkers on his bedroom wall. When he wakes up in the morning, he looks at the picture and thanks Hashem for giving him another day of life. He has a reminder of how precious life is, but if we put a little thought into it, we could also have those same feelings of gratitude to Hashem every day and be excited and enthusiastic about getting another opportunity to live and do mitzvot and learn Torah and be the best we're capable of being.

The Gemara in Masechet Rosh Hashanah, on the pasuk וּמִי גוֹי גָּדוֹל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ אֱלֹקִים קְרֹבִים אֵלָיו , describes how fortunate the Jewish people are. Normally, when a person knows he's about to stand trial, he dresses in black, leaves his beard untrimmed and anxiously awaits the outcome. But the Jewish people are different. We prepare for Rosh Hashanah by putting on niceclothing, eating and drinking, confident that Hashem will give us a favorable judgment. What an incredible chesed. Hashem wants us to enter the awesome Day of Judgment happy and confident that He is going to give us the most wonderful year. Yet the Gemara elsewhere in Rosh Hashanah seems to say the opposite. The angels in Shamayim asked Hashem why we don't say Hallel on Rosh Hashanah. Hashem responded, "Is it possible that the King is sitting on the throne of judgment, with the books of life and death open before Him, and Yisrael should sing Hallel?" If we are so confident of a favorable judgment, why shouldn't we sing Hallel? There are many answers to this question. The Taz explains that although we are confident that Hashem will judge us favorably, there still has to be a feeling of awe and seriousness. We don't say Hallel because we understand what's taking place. Our lives are being judged. Our entire year is being determined. It's a very serious time. And it is precisely because we take the judgment seriously that we are able to be confident and celebrate. Rosh Hashanah itself is one of the greatest gifts that Hashem has given us. Imagine if there were never a time when we were forced to stop and think about what we're doing with our lives. We could continue year after year, allowing our sins to pile up, never asking ourselves where we're going or whether we're fulfilling the purpose for which Hashem put us here. Hashem gives us Rosh Hashanah to make us stop and think: There's a purpose to my life. Am I living the way Hashem wants me to live? Am I becoming the person I'm capable of becoming? Hashem loves us so much. He placed this Day of Judgment in the midst of the most favorable time of the entire year. Moshe Rabbeinu went up to Har Sinai for the second time on Rosh Chodesh Elul, and forty days later, on Yom Kippur, Hashem forgave the Jewish people for the Chet HaEgel. These are days filled with Hashem's mercy and closeness. The Judge is telling us, so to speak, "I love you. Come close to Me. I want to give you everything that is good." Our Judge is our loving Father. He wants to give us life. He wants to give us berachah. He wants to give us opportunities to grow. But He also wants us to understand what we're doing here. Life is not just about getting through another year. We were given a holy neshamah from under the Kisei HaKavod with a very specific mission. We were given tremendous potential, and Hashem wants us to use it. Imagine a father who gives his son a business to run. He gives him the building, the employees, the inventory and all the money he needs. His greatest desire is for his son to succeed. At the end of every year, he schedules a meeting with his son to go over the business. He examines what's going well, what's going wrong and what needs to change for the upcoming year. The son may dread that meeting, but if he understands his father's point of view, he will see it completely differently. My father isn't looking for a reason to take away my business. He gave me the business because he wants me to succeed. The meeting is what keeps me focused. It gives me the opportunity to correct my mistakes and become the person my father knows I can be. There's just one thing the son has to do. He has to take that meeting seriously. If he walks in laughing about his mistakes and shows no interest in improving, he has missed the entire point. But if he comes in sincerely saying, "I understand what you have given me. I know I can do better. Here's what I want to do to improve," then the father says, "You got the message. Now I can give you everything you need for another successful year." This is how we should view Rosh Hashanah. We recognize the enormous seriousness of the day. We think about our lives, what needs improvement and what Hashem expects from us. And we tell Him, "I want to do better. I know I can do better. I want to fulfill the potential You gave me." And then we can celebrate. We put on beautiful clothing. We eat lavish meals. We come into the day with confidence and joy because we know Who our Judge is. He's our loving Father. He gave us this day because He wants us to succeed. Once we understand the seriousness of life and show Hashem that we want to fulfill our purpose, we can look forward with confidence that Hashem will inscribe us for a year filled with life, berachah and all that is good. Amen.

On Rosh Hashanah we begin saying, זָכְרֵנוּ לְחַיִּים מֶלֶךְ חָפֵץ בַּחַיִּים — "Remember us for life, O King Who desires life." It is told that Rav Yisrael Salanter would spend a long time concentrating on those words because he wanted to ingrain within himself the recognition that his entire life was dependent upon Hashem. Every moment that he lived and every breath that he took was only because Hashem was giving him life. This is an important part of our avodah on Rosh Hashanah—to recognize how completely dependent we are upon Hashem and how much we need Him for everything. David HaMelech concluded Tehillim with the words, כֹּל הַנְּשָׁמָה תְּהַלֵּל קהּ , and Chazal explain, עַל כָּל נְשִׁימָה וּנְשִׁימָה שֶׁאָדָם נוֹשֵׁם צָרִיךְ לְקַלֵּס לַבּוֹרֵא — "For every single breath that a person takes, he must praise Hashem." Every breath is another revelation of Hashem giving us life. A person who understands this can live with Hashem every second of the day. It is told that when the Chafetz Chaim would get up to get a sefer from the bookshelf, he would first say, "Be'ezrat Hashem, I'm going to get a sefer from the bookshelf." He understood that even to walk across the room to get a sefer requires Hashem's help. We need Hashem for everything. This understanding could explain something very interesting about the way we thank Hashem. Our Rabbis tell us that when we thank Hashem, we should continue asking Him for more. Leah Imeinu, after having her fourth child, Yehudah, said, הַפַּעַם אוֹדֶה אֶת ה׳ — "This time I will thank Hashem." She felt that she had received more than her share and stopped asking. The pasuk then says, וַתַּעֲמֹד מִלֶּדֶת — "She stopped giving birth." Rachel, on the other hand, after giving birth to Yosef, immediately prayed, יֹסֵף ה׳ לִי בֵּן אַחֵר — "Please, Hashem, give me another son," and then she had Binyamin. At first glance, this is difficult to understand. When a human being does us a favor, the proper thing is to say thank you sincerely. If immediately after saying thank you we ask him for something else, the thank you may not appear sincere. It can sound as though we're only thanking him because we want to get more out of him. So why, when it comes to Hashem, do we ask for more immediately after thanking Him? The difference is that when we thank another person, we specifically do not want to convey the message that we are dependent upon him. We know he has no power on his own to give us anything in the future. Hashem can take away his ability to help us at any moment. We're just thanking him for what he already did for us. He gave us something, of course as a messenger of Hashem, and we thank him for that. But we hope we will never need him to help us in the future. With Hashem, however, it's exactly the opposite. When we thank Hashem, part of the thank you is recognizing that we are completely dependent upon Him. How could we just say thank You for what He did in the past while He is continuing to give to us at this very moment? While we're thanking Him for one chesed, He's giving us countless others. He's giving us our eyesight, our heart, our brain, our hands and our feet, and He's giving us the very breath with which we're saying thank You. Therefore, hoda'ah to Hashem means much more than just saying, "Thank You for what You gave me." It means saying, "Hashem, I recognize that everything I have comes from You. Everything I had until now was from You. Everything I have at this moment is from You. And everything I will have in the next moment will also come from You." And that's exactly why, after thanking Hashem, we ask Him for more. The asking is part of the thank you. It shows that we truly recognize Who Hashem is and how completely dependent we are upon Him. We're saying, "Hashem, thank You for the breath You just gave me, and please give me another breath. Thank You for sustaining me until now, and please continue sustaining me. I can't do anything on my own." If we were to thank Hashem and then feel that we're good on our own, the recognition would be incomplete. True hoda'ah means understanding that Hashem's chesed is not just something that happened in the past. It's taking place every single second. As Rosh Hashanah approaches, this is a recognition we need to strengthen. Hashem, my life is in Your hands. I need You for everything. I need You to breathe. I need You for my parnassah. I need You for my family and for my success. I need You for everything. And when we live with that recognition, we live with Hashem every second of the day. Every breath is another reason to thank Him, every need is another reason to turn to Him, and every moment becomes another opportunity to happily serve the One Who is constantly giving us everything we have.

On Rosh Hashanah, one of our main jobs is to be mamlich Hashem, to crown Hashem as our King. Part of that avodah is to feel happy that we are in Hashem's kingdom. Nechemiah told the Jewish people on Rosh Hashanah, "כִּי חֶדְוַת ה׳ הִיא מָעֻזְּכֶם — the joy of Hashem is your strength." What a zechut it is to be able to serve Hashem. How fortunate we are to be His children. How fortunate we are that He is our King. Hashem gives us so many blessings, but very often we focus specifically on the one thing we don't have. Someone is waiting for a shidduch. Someone is waiting for a baby. Someone is struggling with parnassah. When we focus on what's missing, a person may begin to feel, "Hashem, why aren't You giving this to me already? Everyone else seems to have it." And those feelings could take away from the joy the person is supposed to have in his heart in being part of Hashem's kingdom. Part of our avodah is to know that if we don't have something right now, then right now, not having it is the absolute best thing for us. That may be extremely difficult to understand, but if we knew exactly what our purpose was in this world, we would say, "Hashem, thank You even for this chesed. I hope that tomorrow it will be best for me to receive what I'm asking for. But right now, if You didn't give it to me yet, I know there was nothing better for me." We never want to doubt Hashem's chesed because of the way things appear to us. One day, Hashem is going to reveal Himself and show us how every single thing that took place in our lives was the best possible thing for us. Everything that seemed impossible to understand will become so clear. We'll look back and say, "I can't believe I thought that way. I thought this was so bad, and now I see how good it really was." Right now, in this world, we just don't have all the information. Someone shared with me a story that he read which illustrates this beautifully. It was a quiet Sunday morning on a New York subway. The passengers were reading, resting, and enjoying a few peaceful moments. At one stop, a man got onto the train with his children, and within seconds, the atmosphere completely changed. The children were loud and unruly. They ran through the train, shouting at one another, disturbing the passengers, and even grabbing people's newspapers. Their father just sat down, closed his eyes, and seemed completely unaware of what was happening. As the frustration on the train grew, one passenger finally leaned over and said to him, "Sir, your children are disturbing everyone. Please, what are you going to do about your children?" The man slowly opened his eyes and said, "You're right. What am I going to do about my children? We just came from the hospital. Their mother passed away an hour ago. I don't know what I'm going to do about my children." In that one instant, nothing changed, but everything changed. The children were still making noise. The father was still sitting there silently. But nobody on that subway saw an irresponsible father anymore. They saw a grieving husband and children whose world had just fallen apart. All they received was one piece of information, and suddenly the exact same scene looked completely different. That is how it's going to be when Hashem turns on the lights. We will be given the information we're missing now, and suddenly everything will look different. We'll say, "Hashem, now I understand. You were righteous the entire time. You were doing chesed with me the entire time. I just couldn't see it." Our job is to know this truth even before Hashem turns on the lights. We can be happy with what He gives us and trust Him also with happiness when He doesn't give us, knowing that everything He does is for our good. We are supposed to feel a genuine joy to be part of Hashem's kingdom. Our King loves us. He knows exactly what we need. He is always doing what is absolutely best for us. When we truly believe that, we will feel so fortunate and happy to be in Hashem's kingdom, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in.

Chazal tell us that the world was created for the mitzvah of Bikkurim. This is an astonishing Midrash. We know that a person comes into this world with a mission to serve Hashem in the circumstances that he is given, and through that he earns the ability to enjoy the delights of the World to Come for all eternity. How can Chazal say the world was created for the mitzvah of Bikkurim? Perhaps the answer is that Bikkurim teaches us how Hashem wants us to fulfill our mission. Imagine someone hiring a worker who comes to work every day with a sour face. He does whatever he has to do, but he can't wait to leave. The employer doesn't want to ask him to do anything because he feels like he's burdening him. And what about a worker who comes enthusiastically, but all he cares about is himself and how much he can get out of the company? He's also not the ideal worker. The best worker is someone who loves the company and loves the boss. He comes in excited, wanting to contribute and wanting to do more. That's how Hashem wants us to serve Him. He wants us to be excited to do the mitzvot. But how do we reach a level where we truly feel excited to serve Hashem, rather than feeling that His mitzvot are a burden? One of the greatest motivations is recognizing how much Hashem has already done for us. When someone gives and keeps giving, we naturally want to reciprocate. If we understood how much Hashem gives us every second of the day, we would be running to serve Him. The problem is that we don't fully recognize what we have been given and what we continue to be given. The Chovot HaLevavot gives a mashal to explain. Imagine, lo aleinu, parents pass away leaving behind two children, a baby and a sixteen-year-old. A nice family takes both children into their home, supports them, pays for everything they need and eventually marries them off. Which child should have more hakarat hatov? Obviously, the baby. That child was supported for nearly twenty years, while the other child was supported for only a few. But most likely, it is the sixteen-year-old who will feel much more gratitude. She understood what was happening when she entered that home. She knew what it meant to have nowhere to go and then to have a family open their home to her. The baby, however, grew up receiving everything from the beginning. By the time she was old enough to understand, everything already felt natural. The same is true of us in this world. We came into the world receiving from the first moment of our lives. Hashem has been giving and giving—our health, our eyesight, our ability to think, to eat, to walk and to enjoy everything in this world. We have been given these gifts for so long that they feel natural to us. And in the natural way of the world, unfortunately, these gifts often aren't appreciated until, lo aleinu, one of them is taken away. But Bikkurim comes to correct that. It teaches us to appreciate while we have. The landowner who works so hard in his field, plowing and planting, finally sees beautiful fruits growing. It would be so easy for him to say, "Look what I did." But the Torah tells him to take those fruits, bring them to the Bet HaMikdash and declare, "They came from the land, Hashem, that You gave me. These are the fruits that You gave me. Everything I have, You gave me." And that recognition changes the way we serve Hashem. Someone once did me a favor that saved me over three hours of time. Later, he said to me, "I know you're busy, but my children could use some chizuk. Could you please give them fifteen minutes?" My immediate thought was, Of course. You just saved me more than three hours. How could I not give you fifteen minutes? That's the way we're supposed to look at avodat Hashem. Hashem gives us twenty-four hours of life every single day. Then He asks us to use some of that time to pray and learn. How could we feel that we're giving up our time? How could a person say, "I'm so busy with my business or with my family"? Doesn't he know that his entire business was given to him by Hashem? His family was given to him by Hashem. And the same Hashem wants him to dedicate some of his time to learning and praying. Hashem gives a person every dollar he has and then asks him to give some of it to tzedakah. When we understand that, we don't feel the burden of giving tzedakah. We feel that we're being given an opportunity to express some of our hakarat hatov. Perhaps this is why Chazal say the world was created for Bikkurim. Bikkurim teaches us the attitude we're supposed to have in serving Hashem our entire lives: recognizing that everything we have is a gift from Him and then serving Him with that hakarat hatov. As Rosh Hashanah approaches, this is so important to keep in mind. We are living in a world in which Hashem is constantly giving to us. Everything we do for Him is just a drop in the bucket compared to everything He does for us. When we truly recognize that, serving Hashem takes on a different feeling. We can wake up in the morning excited to pray, excited to learn, excited to give and excited to improve. Every extra effort becomes another opportunity to say, "Hashem, I know how much You give me. I want to show You how much hakarat hatov I have."

The Ma'amar Mordechai writes at the beginning of Parashat Nitzavim that we always read Nitzavim before Rosh Hashanah to teach us that at this time of year, we are supposed to be praying on behalf of our friends every single day. The Perach Shoshan explains a beautiful hint in the words Atem Nitzavim Hayom . The word Nitzavim means standing, and Chazal tell us that standing is a reference to tefillah. Atem Nitzavim Hayom —we're all standing together in tefillah at this special time before Rosh Hashanah. Then he quotes the Be'er Heitev, who brings down in halachah that during this month, when a person writes a letter to his friend, he should bless him that he should be inscribed and sealed for a good year. Thus, we should be praying for our friends as well. At this time, we are supposed to be giving out blessings to others, wishing good things upon them and praying that they receive them. This is a time when we need extra love and unity. We are all going to come together to proclaim Hashem the Melech, and we should do it together as one. The Baal HaTurim writes on the words Atem Nitzavim that just as the Jewish People stood together in unity at Har Sinai, so too they stood together then, and so too must we stand together now. We should be thinking about each other, caring about each other and praying on behalf of each other. And there is a great zechut when we do that. A man told me that last year, he and his friend were working together in the same company. Things there were getting worse and worse until eventually they weren't making any money. They finally decided together that they were going to leave. They had no idea where they were going to go or what they would do next, but they decided they were going to learn Shaar HaBitachon together every single day. They learned as chavrutot and grew together in bitachon and emunah. They also made up that each one would pray for the other to find a good job. After some time, someone reached out to one of the men with a job opportunity. He went for an interview and liked what he heard. While they were still going back and forth, he heard about a second opportunity. He looked into that one as well and felt it would be much better for him. The first company told him there was no urgency, and if he wanted to pursue the other opportunity, it wouldn't be a problem. He should just let them know. In the end, he was hired by the second company. That very same day, the first company called him and asked what he had decided. He told them he had just accepted another position, but then he added, "I have a friend who is also looking for a job." That friend immediately went down for an interview, and they hired him on the spot. The two friends who had left their jobs together, learned Shaar HaBitachon together and prayed for each other every single day were both hired exactly three months after leaving their previous jobs—and they were both hired on the exact same day. This is a beautiful example of what Atem Nitzavim could look like in our own lives. Two people growing together, strengthening each other and each one sincerely praying for the other's success. And then Hashem looked down upon them and answered both of their tefillot together. As Rosh Hashanah approaches, we all have so much that we need and so much that we're praying for. But we should also utilize this special time to think about what others need. We should pray for our friends, bless them and genuinely want Hashem to give them everything they need. When Hashem sees all of His children standing together with love and unity, each one wanting the best for the other, that is a great zechut. May we all wish good upon each other and pray for each other, and in that zechut, may Hashem bless everyone with a wonderful and beautiful new year. Shabbat Shalom

The more a person learns about emunah and bitachon, the more strength and courage he will have to live life the way Hashem wants him to live it. Learning emunah is learning about Who Hashem is, how He runs the world, and what He expects from us. When we know that Hashem is the One providing our parnassah, and that our hishtadlut is just the means through which He sends it, we're able to make decisions with a confidence that otherwise we may not have had. A man related that his wife works as a substitute preschool teacher for a group of preschools in another neighborhood. Almost every day, the principal tells her where she needs to be the following morning. One of the biggest difficulties is traveling. It takes her at least twenty minutes to get to work, which means she has to leave early and miss the crucial hour of getting their own children off to school. Every morning requires new arrangements, and as their family grew, the situation became very difficult. For years, they just accepted it. They felt this was their hishtadlut for parnassah and part of the difficulties that come along with earning a living. Eventually, his wife worked up the courage to ask the principal if she could become the permanent substitute in the preschools in their own neighborhood. He immediately told her there were no available positions there and she had to stay with what she was doing. And so they continued on as before. Recently, however, the husband began learning Shaar HaBitachon in the Chovot HaLevavot every day with a chavruta. They were learning about the benefits of having bitachon, and one of them is that while people may have to travel great distances to earn a livelihood, the baal bitachon knows Hashem could provide his parnassah right near his home without all the difficulties of traveling. Those words changed his perspective. Until then, he felt that if his wife's job required her to travel every day, they had no other choice. But now he was learning what it means to truly know that parnassah only comes from Hashem. The principal was not the one providing for them. The job was not providing for them. It was Hashem Who was providing for them, and that knowledge gave him tremendous strength. He came home and told his wife, "That's it. You're not traveling to the other neighborhood anymore. Just tell the principal you're only able to work in the preschools nearby." This was very difficult for her to do. They didn't know what the principal would say or what would happen with her job. But learning Shaar HaBitachon gave him so much courage to live according to what he was learning, and he inspired his wife as well. His wife told the principal that she would no longer be able to travel to the other neighborhood. A few hours later, the secretary called her back and said, "It's not a problem. There's another substitute who works in the preschools in your neighborhood but lives near the ones where you've been working. She also just asked if she could stop traveling, so we'll just switch the two of you." They were thrilled. But then came the most amazing part. Who was the other substitute teacher? She was the man's chavruta's wife! The two men had been sitting together every day learning Shaar HaBitachon and internalizing its lessons. Without either one knowing what the other one was doing, they both came away with the strength to make a change regarding their wives' work schedules. This is the power of learning emunah and bitachon. It teaches us what life is supposed to look like. It teaches us Who is controlling everything, Who is protecting us, and Who is determining the outcome of everything we do. The more we internalize those truths, the less we will have to live with fear and uncertainty. When a person learns more about Who Hashem is and lives according to that knowledge, he will have tremendous strength. He will not feel trapped by his circumstances or frightened about what will happen if he does what's right. He knows that Hashem is always taking care of him, and his only concern is to live the way Hashem wants him to live.

After Kayin killed Hevel, Hashem gave him very severe punishments. The land would no longer produce for him as it did before, and he would become a wanderer, separated from Hashem's immediate presence. Kayin then said to Hashem that as he wandered the earth, whoever found him would kill him. Immediately afterward, Hashem told Kayin that He would protect him, and He even gave him a sign for it. What changed? Hashem had just decreed such harsh punishments upon Kayin, and now suddenly He was going to protect him? The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh there explains that when Kayin said whoever found him would kill him, he was recognizing that without Hashem's protection, he would not be able to survive. Kayin understood that his safety was completely dependent upon Hashem, and in the zechut of that recognition, Hashem had extra mercy upon him. This is a very powerful idea. We're talking about Kayin immediately after he committed one of the worst aveirot of all. Furthermore, we're talking about someone who spoke directly to Hashem. Yet, after he recognized how much he needed Hashem to protect him, that recognition alone was so precious to Hashem that He showed Kayin an outpouring of mercy. How much more so if a person today, who doesn't see Hashem openly, would recognize that he needs Hashem for everything? We have opportunities all day long to strengthen our emunah in this area. Before a person leaves his house, he could think, "Hashem, I need You to protect me every step that I take." Before he goes to work, he could say, "Hashem, I need You every step of my day for success." Before making any important decision, a person could say, "Hashem, I need You to guide me." When his children leave the house, he could say, "Hashem, only You can truly watch over them." Every time we sincerely think, "Hashem, I can't do this without You," we are implementing this beautiful fundamental in emunah. How fortunate we are. The One who takes care of us is our loving Father Who controls everything and always does what's best for us. Sometimes different circumstances bring us to truly internalize this truth. Rabbi Binyamin Pruzansky told a story about a man named Rav Shiya Erps, the director of Camp Kol Simcha. On one occasion, he became trapped inside a large industrial freezer. The heavy door had slammed shut, and there was no handle on the inside. Despite being very handy and physically strong, nothing he tried worked to get him out. The tools he had with him couldn't get the door open, his radio had no reception to be able to call anyone, and nobody could hear his cries for help. After nearly an hour in the freezing cold, he finally stopped trying everything and turned to Hashem and said, "Hashem, my tools, my strength and my radio have all failed me. I understand now that without You, I have nothing. You are the only One Who can save me. Please, Tatte, open the door for me." He then went over to the door one more time, pushed gently at it, and the heavy door swung wide open. He later reflected that he had never felt such a complete lack of control. He had been so sure that somehow his own abilities would save him. But only when he truly recognized that everything depended upon Hashem did the door finally open. If just recognizing his need for Hashem brought protection even to Kayin at such a low point in his life, we can only imagine how precious it is when we go through our day recognizing again and again, "Hashem, I need You. I know that everything I have comes from You, and I know that only You can give me what I need."

Emunah gives a person the strength to go through life feeling that he is always being cared for. Whatever situation we find ourselves in, we know Hashem is right there with us. He knows exactly what we need, He hears every tefillah, and He has unlimited ways of helping us. A woman recently shared a beautiful example. She wrote that it was difficult for her to see the families around her, as well as her coworkers, packing up and going away on vacation this past summer, while she knew that her family couldn't even afford some of the basics. She knew that in the natural way of the world, they were not going to be able to get away at all that summer. One morning, on her way to work, she began praying and crying to Hashem as she would speak to her own father. She said, "Tati, I really want to go away for Shabbat next week, from Thursday to Sunday, to a beautiful place that will work for our family, without us having to pay for it." She prayed a little more and then continued on to work. That day, she received a phone call from a relative inviting her family to join them at a place they had rented upstate during the coming week. She thanked them for the offer but explained that unfortunately those days wouldn't work for her family. She then added that what she would really love would be to go away the following Shabbat because that would work much better for their schedule. A few minutes later, the relative called back. They had arranged for her family to have the place they were staying in from Thursday until Sunday, exactly what she had just asked Hashem for. They had even gone directly to the owner and gotten a great rate without having to pay the usual third-party fees. And they said they would be more than happy to take care of all the costs. That morning, the woman cried out to Hashem asking for something that seemed completely beyond her reach. She didn't know anyone who was planning to offer her a vacation, and she didn't have the money to arrange one herself. All she knew was that she had a Father in Shamayim Who could give her exactly what she wanted, and within hours, what she had asked for, she had gotten. She wrote further, "Right now, I don't know where we're going to get the money to even pay for gas and food for this trip. But I do know that I have a loving, caring Father Who listens to my tefillot and loves me, and I know He will provide us with everything we need." This is what one experience of hashgachah peratit can do for a person. Hashem doesn't only give us what we need at the moment. Sometimes He'll give us an experience that will strengthen our emunah for the future. At first, this woman didn't know how she was going to afford a vacation. Then she didn't know how she was going to afford the gas and food for the vacation. But she was looking at that problem much differently than she looked at her previous problem because she had just seen firsthand how Hashem could give her something that seemed completely out of her reach. We don't always have to know in advance how Hashem is going to take care of us. Our job is to know Who is taking care of us. When we live with the feeling that Hashem is our loving Father, that we can speak to Him openly and ask Him for whatever we want, and that He has unlimited ways of providing exactly what we need, that can give us the confidence and feeling of love we need to go through anything in this world. As an aside, somebody heard about what happened with this woman and asked if he could make a contribution that would enable the family to fully enjoy their vacation that weekend. And so it was. They received all the money they needed and had a beautiful family getaway.

A man related that a family member of his betrayed him in business, and he is completely devastated by it. The financial loss alone is hard to deal with, but being hurt by a family member makes it so much harder. He wanted to know: Was it from Hashem, or did this person do an aveirah and harm him with his own free will? I told him there is no question that it came from Hashem. Yes, if the person did something wrong, he will be held accountable for it. But as far as we are concerned, what happened was meant for us and it had to happen. Although it is very difficult to deal with, we know that Hashem only does what is absolutely best for us. That means that for reasons we cannot understand, the loss of money, as well as the pain from the betrayal, were the best things that could have happened to this person, or else Hashem would not have allowed them to happen. We have no idea what yissurin in this world save us from, both here and in the Next World, but Hashem does. He is the only One who knows what we truly need to experience for our own good. On the surface level, Yosef HaTzaddik was "betrayed" by his own brothers. The pain of what he went through must have been extremely difficult, all the more so because it came at the hands of his own flesh and blood. But Yosef heroically overcame the challenge and said the most beautiful words to them years later: "It wasn't you who sent me here; it was Hashem." And ultimately, they were able to see that Hashem had done it for the greatest reasons. A person may not be halachically obligated to forgive someone who hurt him and does not feel remorse. But if he is able to overcome his natural feelings of resentment and replace them with feelings of emunah, and bring about shalom, that is considered a heroic act. As the Gemara says, when someone overlooks the wrongdoings that others do to him, Hashem overlooks that person's sins. What better time to utilize an opportunity to gain forgiveness than now, as we approach the awesome day of Rosh Hashanah. It may require superhuman strength, but we have that ability. A person could say, "Hashem, I know You want peace in the family, and so for Your sake, I am going to do what I can to keep it." Yosef HaTzaddik completely forgave his brothers for what they did to him. He was able to hug the very same people who wanted to kill him and eventually sold him into a foreign land. The Torah does not tell us these stories merely so that we should know what happened. It tells them to us so that we can learn from them and emulate our great ancestors. There are times when we ask Hashem for certain blessings that we may be unworthy of receiving. But Hashem, in His infinite kindness, may give a person a situation in which he has the opportunity to perform a heroic act. Perhaps that heroic act will become the zechut through which he receives the blessing he has been seeking. Bringing about shalom and harmony at a time when it is so difficult is certainly a heroic act, and it can bring down a tremendous amount of berachah. If a person could say, "Perhaps Hashem is giving me an opportunity right now to perform a heroic deed, and I'm going to rise to the occasion," that can give him additional motivation to overcome his feelings. We can never lose by going above and beyond. It may be uncomfortable, and it may even hurt, but the rewards will certainly be worth the effort.

https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemynh.html  Living Emunah on Yamim Noraim Gaining faith from the Days of Awe This week's parasha Ki Tavo begins with the mitzvah of bikurim , where a farmer brings a basket of fruits from the seven species to the Kohen and recites certain pesukim . The Mishnah describes the bringing of the bikurim as a very elaborate process. There were crowds of people waiting to greet the landowners in Yerushalayim, with music playing in the background. It is noteworthy to point out that the farmer only had to bring one fruit from each of the species. The sefer Mapik Margaliot writes, we see from here the unbelievable value that the Torah places on the littlest deeds that we do. Imagine a farmer with orchards full of fig trees or date trees and thousands of fruits that are going to grow upon them, and he takes just one to do the mitzvah of bikurim , and the Torah makes such a big deal over it. When he walks to Jerusalem with the basket, everyone who sees him stands up in honor of the mitzvah he's doing. To the onlooker, it may have seemed that a king or president had just arrived, but it was just a man holding a basket of fruit. To us, it looks like something simple, but the Torah knows how valuable it really is. Sometimes the evil inclination tells a person, "You're going to learn Torah now? It's not worth it. You're going to be late. You're not going to understand what's being taught. It's going to take you at least ten minutes just to find parking." Or if a person wants to go to shul to pray, the evil inclination tells him, "How much are you going to concentrate anyway? Most of the tefila you space out. It's not worth the effort." Let us make a simple kal v'chomer . If for one fruit, that is worth less than a penny to the farmer, the Torah gives him endless honor. How much more so if a person would wake up early in the morning and push himself out of bed to go to shul at a time when he wished he could sleep just a little longer. He fights himself and he goes anyway. How many worlds is he building in Shamayim for those efforts? Or after a long day's work, a person comes home and is so tired he just wants to relax, but instead he strengthens himself and goes back out to learn, sometimes in the freezing cold, searching for parking. Every word of Torah gives endless rewards. How much more so when they are learned with difficulty? Every deed that we do is worth so much and we can never underestimate even the smallest things that we do. A woman related, she heard a short class about giving chizuk to others. The rabbi specifically mentioned that if someone is going through a difficulty and that person has ever gotten chizuk that has helped him, then he should use that chizuk to give someone else he knows who is going through the same difficulty. The woman told this to her son who was having a very hard time in shidduchim . He took the advice and called someone that he knew was struggling in the same area. He gave him all the lines that have helped him in the past. The other boy thanked him for the kind words and then said, "You know, I have someone that I think would be great for you." P.S. A couple of weeks ago, they were celebrating their engagement. Every deed accomplishes worlds in Shamayim . We don't necessarily get to see their effects down here, but rest assured, every deed we do is immeasurable. Shabbat Shalom.

Many communities have the minhag to blow the shofar every day in Elul. The purpose is to awaken us, to instill fear and trembling as the awesome day of Rosh HaShanah approaches. There is also the minhag to read the mizmor L'David Hashem Ori v'yishi . And in that mizmor, David HaMelech says: " מִמִּי אִירָא… אִם־תַּחֲנֶה עָלַי מַחֲנֶה לֹא־יִירָא לִבִּי ". "Whom shall I fear? … Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear" (Tehillim 27:1–3). At first glance, this seems like a contradiction. On one hand, we sound the shofar to create fear. On the other hand, we recite words of Tehillim telling us there is nothing to fear. Rabbi Menashe Reizman pointed out another similar contradiction. In Parashat Shoftim, the Torah commands: " כִּי־תֵצֵא לַמִּלְחָמָה עַל־אֹיְבֶיךָ… לֹא תִירָא מֵהֶם כִּי ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ עִמָּךְ " "When you go out to war against your enemy… you shall not fear them, for HaShem your G-d is with you" (Devarim 20:1). Even if they appear greater and stronger, we are told not to be afraid, because we have HaShem on our side and no one else has power. Yet immediately afterwards, the shoterim announce exemptions from battle: " מִי־הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר־בָּנָה בַיִת־חָדָשׁ וְלֹא חֲנָכוֹ… מִי־הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר־אֵרַשׂ אִשָּׁה וְלֹא לְקָחָהּ… פֶּן־יָמוּת בַּמִּלְחָמָה וְאִישׁ אַחֵר יַחְנְכֶנּוּ " "Who is the man who has built a new house and not inaugurated it… who is the man who has betrothed a woman and not taken her… lest he die in battle and another man take her" (Devarim 20:5–7). Again, it seems inconsistent. First we are told there is nothing to fear, and then the Torah acknowledges the possibility of death in battle. Rabbi Reizman brought the Chovot HaLevavot (Sha'ar HaBitachon, fourth condition), who explains that true bitachon requires a person to be fulfilling the responsibilities HaShem has placed upon him. We often ask HaShem to grant our requests, but at the same time, He too has requests from us — that we live according to the Torah and mitzvot. When we strive to do His will, then we can confidently place our trust in Him to help with our needs. If someone ignores HaShem's will completely, it shows he doesn't truly know who HaShem is — and without that recognition, he cannot have genuine bitachon . Rabbeinu Yonah does write that even a rasha who trusts in HaShem will be surrounded with chesed. But that refers to a sinner who now wants to improve, who expresses a desire to return. Even that thought of change allows him to rely on HaShem's kindness. But someone who has no care for HaShem's will cannot say he trusts Him, because he doesn't truly know Him. Sometimes, HaShem must make life uncomfortable to wake a person up, to bring him to fulfill the mission for which he was created. Now we can resolve the contradictions. It is true that one who goes to battle with full awareness of ein od milvado will not be harmed. But to reach that state of bitachon , he must first experience the right kind of fear — the fear that motivates him to return to HaShem and strengthen his connection. That is why the shoterim warned the soldiers: war is dangerous, people may die. These words were meant to shake them into teshuvah, to awaken them to HaShem. Once that awakening leads to closeness and true trust, then indeed there is nothing to fear. So too in Elul. First we blow the shofar — to arouse fear and awareness that Rosh HaShanah is coming. Then, after we are inspired to draw near to HaShem and commit to doing His will, we can place genuine bitachon in Him. At that stage, there is truly nothing to fear, for HaShem Himself is our salvation.

Click this link for the new Living Emunah from Artscroll on Tefillah https://www.artscroll.com/Books/lemtfh.html The month of Elul is a tremendous gift from Hashem. It's an opportunity for us to prepare for a new beginning and attain teshuvah for our past wrongdoings. Hashem does not expect a person to become perfect overnight, but we do have to show that we care. We have to show that we want to grow. And besides for the will, we have to put forth effort. When a person truly wants something in avodat Hashem and does what he can to achieve it, he will often see Hashem giving him siyata d'Shmaya to accomplish things he never would have been able to accomplish otherwise. A young man recently went with his family on vacation to a place he really did not want to go. He never missed a minyan, but where they were staying, the nearest minyan was about a half hour away. Renting a car there wasn't an option, Uber didn't really work, and the only way to get to shul was by taxi. Each ride was going to cost about $60, which meant that to go to Shacharit and back and then Minchah and Arbit and back every day would cost him $240 a day. He tried contacting the local Chabad rabbi to see if maybe there were other Jews staying near him with whom they could make a minyan, but nothing worked out. Finally, he decided, "I'm going to minyan no matter what it costs." A few days into the trip, he received a phone call from a man who said, "I deal in Rolex watches, and I have one at the front desk of the hotel you're staying in. Can you bring it back with you to New York? I'll pay you a few hundred dollars." The young man asked, "How did you even know to call me?" He replied, "The Chabad rabbi gave me your number. He said you're a good guy." The young man agreed and then told the man, "I want you to know, every dollar you're giving me is going toward a mitzvah." He explained how much he was spending every day just to get back and forth to minyan. The man couldn't believe it. He said, "If that's what you're using the money for, then it would be my zechut to pay for every single day." And with that, the young man's taxi expenses to minyan were paid for the entire trip. First, he showed Hashem how much he wanted to do the mitzvah. Then he was willing to sacrifice for it, and Hashem took care of the rest. Another man told me that he took it upon himself to make sure people in shul were wearing their tefillin properly. He noticed that so many people had their tefillin falling below the proper place on the hairline, so he learned how to adjust the straps. Over the course of a year, he fixed between 200 and 300 pairs of tefillin. A few months ago, he started feeling different when he would pray. Day after day, he felt something was missing. He didn't feel the same connection to Hashem, and it was spilling over into the rest of his day. This continued for weeks. One day, he didn't have his tefillin with him and borrowed a pair from his friend. That day, suddenly, he felt so much better. The next day, he went back to his own tefillin, and once again things didn't feel right. It occurred to him that maybe there was something wrong with his tefillin. He brought them to his sofer, and indeed, it was discovered that his tefillin were pasul. He said, "I could have gone my entire life without ever knowing my tefillin were pasul." But he went out of his way to help hundreds of other Jews with the mitzvah of tefillin, and then Hashem gave him the extraordinary siyata d'Shmaya to discover the problem with his own. Another man said he went away with his family for a couple of weeks this summer. When they arrived, they discovered that the local shul prayed much later than they were accustomed to, and on Shabbat they would reach the Amidah only after the zman tefillah. This bothered the man very much because he was always careful to pray within the proper zman. He spent the first several days of his vacation searching for another minyan. The possibilities were miles away, but it was so important to him that he kept trying to find a solution. That Friday morning, he was sitting in the shul near his house when suddenly a man walked in and asked, "By any chance, could you join us for a minyan tomorrow morning that will be praying within the zman?" He couldn't believe what he was hearing. The man explained that six of them had just arrived from out of town and were looking to put together an early minyan. Suddenly, the minyan this man had been searching for was right down the block from his house. The following Shabbat, those people had left, and once again he had the same problem. He prayed to Hashem and hoped that somehow he would be able to make the zman again. Amazingly, that next Friday, another group arrived in town, staying in a different house—again, six people. Together with some people from his own family and a neighbor, they were once again able to make a minyan within the zman. This is a powerful lesson for the month of Elul. We may look at ourselves and see that a lot needs improving. Sometimes we may wonder, how am I going to change? It's too hard. But Hashem doesn't ask us to do everything ourselves. He wants us to show Him that we truly want to grow, and He wants us to put forth our best effort. When someone says, "Hashem, I want to do this. I'm going to try. I'm going to sacrifice. I'm going to do what I can," then hopefully Hashem will give him the siyata d'Shmaya he needs to accomplish it in the best way.

Click this link for the new Living Emunah from Artscroll on Tefillah https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemtfh.html The pasuk says in Tehillim, אם ה' לא יבנה בית שוא עמלו בוניו בו – if Hashem will not build the house, the builders will be toiling in vain. This pasuk was said by David HaMelech to his son Shlomo regarding the construction of the first Beit HaMikdash. And the lesson he gave him is extremely powerful. David was saying, you may have all the money in the world, all the manpower, the best architects, the top engineers, everything at your fingertips, but if you don't have Hashem helping, then all of that is completely worthless. The pasuk continues, אם ה' לא ישמר עיר, שווא שקד שומר - if Hashem will not guard the city, then all of the efforts of the guard will be in vain. David was saying, you may have the best possible army and the most powerful ammunition, but if you don't have Hashem guarding, then all of that is worthless. How important it is for us to truly believe that we are nothing without Hashem. When the Jewish People were in jeopardy of going into exile, Hashem sent the navi Hoshea to tell them what to do to save themselves, and he gave them two instructions. First, make teshuva. And second, stop depending on the strength of man. He said, you can't rely on Ashur to help you, you can't rely on Mitzrayim to help you and don't think that your own strength can help you. You must know that you have nothing and are completely dependent on the mercy of Hashem. The next pasuk says, if they will accomplish those two things, Hashem will have an outpouring of love towards them and all of the decrees would be abolished. This is how valuable believing that people are nothing without Hashem is. The more a person believes he is dependent on Hashem, the more Heavenly mercy he gets. And the more he feels he can handle things on his own, the less mercy he gets. Rav Aharon Rabinowitz of Lida, a small town in Lithuania, once visited a very wealthy man attempting to raise money for a certain cause. This man had an enormous factory that was used for grinding wheat. Everyone from his town, and all the neighboring towns, came to his factory to grind their wheat, and that alone made him wealthy. In addition, he owned hundreds of acres of land, as well as boats and forests. He told the Rabbi, he serves Hashem, but not out of fear because he has nothing to fear. He was fabulously wealthy, plus he had insurance on all of his properties and holdings. However, one day, one of the top officials in the Russian government came riding by on his horse and he rode over the bridge that this wealthy man made by the river near his mill. The bridge collapsed and the official fell in and drowned. The wealthy man was accused of causing the death of this official on purpose and they claimed that he was a spy for Poland. He feared what the Russian authorities would do to him and so he took all of his money with him and ran away to the other side of Poland. He figured he would start a new business there with all of the money he brought with him. But to his dismay, a short time after he arrived, the currency that he brought with him was disqualified by the government and he was left poor and destitute. He was forced to sleep in a room in the local shul that was designated for the poor people of the town. A couple of months later, Rabbi Rabinowitz came there and saw this man and couldn't believe he was living in such poverty. The man said to him, "Hashem showed me clearly that we could never rely on our own strengths and possessions." We need Him every second of the day and no matter how much a person has, he is nothing without Hashem.

Click this link for the new Living Emunah from Artscroll on Tefillah https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemtfh.html The process of Shidduchim can be very difficult. There could be long periods of waiting, suggestions that seem to go nowhere, and times when a person wonders how the right Shidduch will ever come about. But there is something very comforting to always remember. The Yad Hashem is so prevalent when it comes to Shidduchim. Hashem is involved not only in bringing the right people together, but also in making sure that it happens at exactly the right time. A young man got married at the age of 30 to a girl in her 20s. They came from completely different backgrounds, to the point that one would have never imagined such a match being made. Yet when they finally met, things progressed very quickly, and Baruch Hashem, they got married and are very happy together. It turned out that this same Shidduch had been suggested two years earlier, and at that time the boy's mother was so taken aback by the difference in backgrounds that she immediately said no. A year after the wedding, the young man was sitting together with his wife and mother when the subject came up. He said, "Ma, why did you say no two years ago? You caused me two extra years of agony. We could have been married that entire time." His wife immediately interjected. "No, you don't understand," she said. "If this would have been suggested to me two years ago, I never would have agreed to it. So many things happened to me during those two years that completely changed my perspective. Only when the Shidduch was suggested at this time was I ready to consider someone from such a different background." What appeared to be a missed opportunity was actually Hashem's perfect timing. The Shidduch was there all along, but it had to wait until the perfect moment when both sides were ready for it. Hashem also has endless ways of bringing two people together, even people whose paths would seemingly never cross. There's a rabbi in a girls' school who started exercising a couple of years ago because his doctor said he needed to stay in shape. Someone helping the rabbi got him a trainer, and this trainer sometimes works with two people at once. For more than a year, the rabbi regularly trained alongside a certain young man. Over that time, he had an opportunity to see this boy up close. He saw his fine middot, his character, and that he was a true ben Torah. Eventually, when one of the girls from his school was ready for Shidduchim, the rabbi thought of this boy. Based on their different backgrounds and circles, it was a match that ordinarily would never have been suggested. But because Hashem arranged for this rabbi to exercise alongside this young man for more than a year, he knew who the boy really was. He suggested the Shidduch, and Baruch Hashem, the two were perfect for each other and are now happily married. Sometimes Hashem will even use a mistake to bring couples together. A boy was suggested to a girl who was just starting out in Shidduchim. She found out that the boy was a few months younger and was hesitant to proceed. She wanted someone older and more mature. But she was encouraged not to reject such a good suggestion over a couple of months. So she agreed to go out, and Baruch Hashem, they saw that they were perfect for each other and eventually got engaged. Only afterward did the families discover something amazing. The boy wasn't a few months younger. He was almost a full year younger. How did everyone get the age wrong? The Shadchan who suggested it was Israeli, and the date of the boy's birthday was misunderstood because dates are written differently in Israel and America. For example, imagine the girl's birthday was December 15, 2002, and the boy's was December 3, 2003. In Israel, his birthday would be written 3-12-03, meaning December 3. But read the American way, that same date means March 12, 2003. Instead of knowing that the boy was almost a year younger, the Shadchan thought he was less than three months younger. By the time they discovered the mistake, the girl already knew that this boy was perfect for her and that the concerns she had were not concerns at all. Hashem made it that the Shadchan for this particular couple had to be Israeli because He knew exactly what was necessary to bring the Shidduch about. When it comes to Shidduchim, we never have to figure out how it's going to happen. We don't have to worry that maybe the right person won't be suggested or maybe an opportunity will be missed. Hashem knows exactly how to bring people together. He knows when to bring them together. And when the time is right, He makes it happen. And if a person needs to wait, that's also Yad Hashem. Knowing that Hashem is involved in every single detail can give us a calmer feeling, even though the process itself may be difficult.

Click this link for the new Living Emunah from Artscroll on Tefillah https://www.artscroll.com/ Books/lemtfh.html This week's parasha opens up with the words, "כי תצא למלחמה על אויבך – when you go out to war against your enemy." The Zohar HaKadosh writes that אויבך-your enemy is referring to the יצר הרע – our evil inclination which means the Torah is calling our struggle with the evil inclination a war. Sometimes people get down on themselves because they always have to struggle to do anything proper in religion. "Nothing is ever easy," they say, and they feel like that means that Hashem doesn't want their service. Others get down because they feel that they are so evil. "Why can't we be happy for other people's good fortune?" They think to themselves, or, "Why is it so hard for us to forgive people?" We must internalize the fact that everybody is created with an evil inclination and it is that inclination which enables us to bring glory to Hashem. The Mabit writes there would be no kavod (glory) to Hashem if we only had our pure neshama that wants to do good all the time. All of the glory comes when we subdue that evil inclination and serve Hashem despite the pull the other way. We should not feel down when we have inclinations towards evil. We should feel excited at our opportunity to bring glory to Hashem by overcoming them. The sefer Nafshi Cholat Ahavatcha uses this Mabit to give us chizuk when it comes to praying. Many times the yetzer hara gets us to not pay attention to what we're saying when we're praying. And even when we try hard and extra hard to focus our minds, our minds still manage to somehow wander and we become frustrated. The natural tendency of a person in that situation would be to just stop trying and say to himself, "It's not helping anyway so why should I bother?" And even if a person does manage to want to make an attempt after he failed, the yetzer hara tells him, "Now you're going to start concentrating? You already messed up most of the prayer. Of what value is it now to have kavana for just one paragraph?" We must think to ourselves, it's exactly the opposite. Because it has been so difficult to concentrate, that is precisely why every word that we do concentrate upon afterward is so precious. That is what brings all the glory to Hashem. Hashem has so much satisfaction when we battle this inclination and then we overcome it. There is no glory in a computer being able to know the meaning of the words, because that's what it's programmed to do. But for a person who has so many thoughts flying through his mind and still manages to focus on some of the words he's praying to Hashem, that is extremely valuable. We should never underestimate the value of concentrating on even one word of the tefila. As the Chovot HaLevavot says, what might seem to be small in our eyes is very big in the eyes of Hashem. For someone who is jealous of his friend's successes and he cries to Hashem for help because he wants to improve in his middot and he works on himself and he reads sefarim that help him with those middot and finally after months, or even years, he is able to be happy for another person, that is where all the glory is because he did battle and he overcame that terrible, evil inclination. If someone feels his inclinations are so evil, and he says to himself, "I'm such a bad person," he is not understanding it properly. It just means he has a greater opportunity to serve Hashem by overcoming it. We are in constant battle with this yetzer hara, but that's the will of Hashem for us, to go to war against it, to do our best to overcome it and if we're fighting hard, we'll merit the continuation of the pasuk, "ונתנו ה' אלוקיך בידך – Hashem will help us beat him." Don't get down, don't feel bad when you have those inclinations. Fight them. Do your best. Every victory is so precious and brings such glory to Hashem. Shabbat Shalom.

The Shomer Emunim writes, whenever a person experiences even the slightest inconvenience or suffering, he should immediately recognize that it came from Hashem and should accept that it is what he needed for his best. It can be something as small as his food being delayed in coming or the taste not being the way that he wanted. They too were from Hashem for his best. If an individual hurts someone or shames him, or takes away his parnasa , and that person accepts it with love in honor of Hashem, the person's level will soar to the greatest heights and it is considered as if he gave Hashem the greatest honor. There are different forms of pain in this world. The Arizal and the Ramak, who knew how things work in the Upper Worlds, both said that when a person gets shamed by somebody else, it is worth more than any type of suffering in this world that a person could possibly give himself as a kappara . In the olden days, people used to bring upon themselves self imposed yisurin , but none of them can compare to one shaming from another individual. However, the value is only so great if the person accepts it from Hashem with love. The Arizal said, if people would know the true value of being shamed, they would actually go around the streets searching for people to shame them. The Gemara says, Rav Nachman and Rav Papa both decreed fasts because of droughts. They and their communities cried and prayed, but to no avail. When they did not get answered, the Rabbis felt ashamed that they were not worthy of Hashem helping them, and at that moment, the rain started pouring. The feelings of shame that they had accomplished more than all of their prayers and tears. And therefore, the Shomer Emunim advises us not to be foolish and lose out on the endless gains we can amass if we are ever shamed. The best reaction would be to say, "Hashem, I know this was from you and I know that I needed it. Thank You for doing what I needed and please forgive me for my sins." A young man told me, he went to a class where the rabbi discussed this topic at length. The very same day, his boss at work utterly shamed him. His initial reaction was to snap back with anger, but he caught himself and realized the opportunity he was being given. That evening, he sat down in a room for an hour, working very hard to accept what was done to him and thank Hashem for it. He mentioned that for the last two weeks he had a shooting pain in his foot that went all the way up to his knee. After he finished accepting what happened, he got up and the pain was gone. I told him, the pain was obviously some type of kappara , but he accomplished way more than that pain could have ever given him with his acceptance of being shamed that day. The Shomer Emunim writes further, if a man married a woman who turns out to be someone with a temper and she causes him a lot of distress, that was decreed from Shamayim , based on the amount of suffering he needs to go through for his tikkun in this world. However, if he is able to maintain his composure and not fight back, but rather accept that it is coming from Hashem and turn to Him and say, "Please let this suffering be an atonement for me," then in the words of the Shomer Emunim ,אז נתהפך הכל לטובה ושלום -Then the entire situation will change for the better and his home will become one of peace. The rabbi testified, he has seen with his own eyes this approach working numerous times. This is tremendous shalom bayit advice. If someone has a difficult spouse, each time that spouse causes him pain, rather than snapping back, the person should accept it as coming from Hashem, make repentance, and eventually Hashem will change that difficult spouse's heart to be one that wants peace and tranquility. Everything that happens in life comes from Hashem and when we accept what He does with love, the gains are endless.

Imagine a young man did a crime that warranted a life sentence in jail. Everything he did was caught on camera. There was nothing he could possibly say or do that could absolve him of his fate. He was also told that the judge is very strict, and it was a guarantee that he would get the full term. There was no lawyer or advocates that could possibly help him. Furthermore, when he was to go in for the trial, he would have to go alone, with no support from family or friends. Here, he was just starting out in life, looking forward to a bright future, and now it was abruptly coming to a halt. The trial was scheduled to take place in a few weeks. This young man would most likely experience extreme anxiety each day leading up to the trial. He would have trouble falling asleep; he would have trouble eating; he would have trouble focusing on anything other than the dismal life he was about to enter. But then, on the night before the trial, he receives a phone call. He picks it up and it is none other than the judge himself. The young man's heart started racing a mile a minute. The judge then tells him, with a very warm and soothing tone, he would like him to come over to his house to talk. The young man goes and, when he arrives, the judge greets him with the biggest smile. He says, "The rules in court are very strict. There is no leeway to take away any of the jail time. However, before the trial starts, there is a completely different set of rules. I am the most merciful and loving judge that you could possibly imagine. I want you to live a long and happy life. I want you to get married and have children and grandchildren. If you will tell me now that you feel remorse for your crime, and that you will never do it again, I'll call off the trial and consider it like that crime never took place." The young man wouldn't believe what he was hearing. If that happened, he would immediately apologize to the judge for the crime and express true remorse and tell him he would never do it again. He would then go home and celebrate with his family, looking forward to a happy life ahead. This scenario seems far-fetched, but in actuality, we are all presented with the exact same opportunity. The Shomer Emunim in perek 1 of his ma'amar on hashgacha peratit describes the terrible judgments that a person can potentially receive after he leaves this world. And they are far worse than a life sentence in prison here. It also says in the Gemara that although Hashem is so merciful, He does not overlook even one sin that a person did in this world. In the Next World, everything operates according to strict justice and even the lightest of transgressions will have to be accounted for. The judgment is very scary. There is no moral support from family or friends and everything a person did is, so to speak, caught on camera. However, the Midrash Tehillim , Mizmor 17 on the words מלפניך משפטי יצא tells us אמר הקב"ה לישראל, בני עד ששערי תפלה פתוחים עשו תפלה ותשובה שאני נוטל שוחד בעולם הזה, אבל משאני יושב בדין לעולם הבא איני נוטל שוחד – Hashem tells us "My precious children, while the Gates of Tefila are still open, make repentance and pray to Me for forgiveness because I take bribery in this world however, once I sit in judgment in the Upper World, I can no longer be bribed." Making teshuva is considered bribery, because instead of receiving endless punishments for our sins, we could just feel remorse and tell Hashem we won't do them anymore. And with those feelings and words, we could completely absolve ourselves of all judgments in the Next World. Hashem is the most merciful Judge that we could imagine. He invites everyone to see Him, kavayachol , before the trial so that He could dismiss the entire case and give everyone the greatest life of eternal bliss.

We say every day in Modim , נודה לך ונספר תהילתך. The Maharal explains נודה לך to mean that we thank Hashem that we are His, that He does everything for us. With those words, we are declaring that we recognize we are powerless to do anything on our own. And therefore, נספר תהילתך we constantly relate the praises of Hashem, attributing all our successes to Him. And that is our greatest praise, like the pasuk says in Yirmiya ( perek 9, pasuk 22). The more a person is able to take himself out of the picture and put Hashem in the picture, the greater success he will have. A student once asked his rabbi for guidance on how to bring Hashem more into his business life. The rabbi sent him to a different student of his who was a very successful banker. He said to this student to go and observe the banker and then ask him for advice. The student listened and went to observe the banker dealing with his customers with an unbelievable display of bitachon . After the workday was finished, the banker invited the student into his office and pulled out the Chovot HaLevavot from his drawer. He said, "Every day I learn the Shaar HaBitachon and, afterward, I turn to Hashem and say, ' Ribono Shel Olam , I know that from the day I started this job I never accomplished anything without You. I never worry about tomorrow, how I will repay loans or debts. I trust You with all my heart and I know You could help me fulfill every request. Please, be with me always and help me fulfill my obligations.'" He then told the student this was his secret to his success and source of strength. Another man who had just started out fundraising for a yeshiva went to his rabbi for advice and asked him how to succeed with that. That rabbi told him, "Whenever you speak to someone about the yeshiva's need for funds, have in mind that you are really talking directly to HaKadosh Baruch Hu . In your mind, feel like you are asking your loving Father for help with the yeshiva. Don't focus on the person sitting in front of you. You are talking to Hashem and He is listening." The man took the advice and he practiced it on his first fundraising trip. Since this was his first time, he didn't even know what was considered a successful trip. So when he told the yeshiva how much he raised, they replied that he had been amazingly successful. Some of the philanthropists who were asked for contributions gave in the thousands and the lowest was not less than $100. Some time later, he was told by a relative of his that one of the wealthiest men in the country used to be hosted by his grandfather when he was a young man. For a period of time, he even slept there. So his relative suggested that he go and see him and ask for a donation. He took the advice and, when he arrived at the wealthy man's home, the wealthy man greeted him warmly. They reminisced about their family lives and the conversation was going great. He was sure he was going to get an enormous donation for the yeshiva. After their long conversation, he told the wealthy man why he came to see him. The wealthy man then pulled out some money from his pocket and said he would be happy to contribute. However, it was a low sum. The man said, "I learned a great lesson that day. It was such a shame that I spoke to the wealthy man that entire time when I could have been speaking to HaKadosh Baruch Hu instead." The more we recognize that Hashem controls everything and take ourselves, and people, out of the picture, the more success we'll have.

The pasuk says in Shir HaShirim about Hashem that He is משגיח מן החלונות מציץ מן החרכים – He watches over us through the windows and peers through the cracks. The sefer Shirat Shlomo explained this pasuk with a mashal of a father who heard that his son became sick with an illness that put him into a coma. The father quickly traveled to the hospital and never left his bedside until he became healed. When his son finally opened his eyes, he was so surprised to see his father there. He asked him how he got there so quickly. His father replied, "I didn't just get here. I have been by your side the entire time that you were here." The same is true of us and Hashem. During this long, almost two thousand-year exile, we have lost our ability to see Hashem, kavayachol . And when it suddenly comes to an end and Hashem reveals Himself, we are going to be in amazement at seeing the presence of the Shechina. We are also going to ask Hashem how He came so suddenly, and Hashem is going to say that He was always with us. He never left our side for a moment. Even though now we aren't able to see Hashem openly, we are definitely able to feel His presence and pick up on the signals that He sends us all the time. A person may say that he hears about how Hashem is involved in so many other people's lives, but he never gets to see it in his own life. We must know, Hashem is involved in everyone's lives without exception. He speaks to all of us all the time, but it is up to us to see it. And that depends on the way we train our minds to think. A young lady sent me the following story about herself, which will help us understand this point better. She said she had been taking the city bus to work for the last year. The beginning of the ride is pleasant but then, when the bus stops at a certain transit center, a lot of homeless people get on and the bus fills up with a terrible odor of alcohol and drugs. Each day, she would feel so down at that moment. She would sometimes think, Yosef Hatzaddik's wagon was filled with sweet spices on his way down to Mitzrayim , and that is how he knew that Hashem was with him. Why is my commute to work accompanied by the most unpleasant odors? Then, one day at the transit center, she was struck with a completely different feeling. The bus was filling up and it reached its capacity and the smell became very strong. But suddenly it hit her; all those people were taking things that harm themselves just to feel happier. Thank You Hashem that despite the fact that I am in shidduchim and it is rough and my friends are all married and I am bored and lonely, I have enough meaning and purpose and reason in my life to be grateful, that I don't have to resort to doing those things. הודו לה' כי טוב . From that moment on, her entire perspective changed. Every day she would anticipate the time when the bus would reach that transit center so she could, once again, be reminded of how much beracha she has in her life and how good Hashem is to her. Recently, baruch Hashem, she got engaged and will be moving to a new neighborhood and will no longer need public transportation regularly. She is so excited about how she was able to change her attitude and really feel Hashem with her. She will now miss that moment of daily connection on the bus, but she knows she will find it in other ways. This young lady is teaching us a great lesson. She thought that Hashem abandoned her, as she suffered from the foul odors every day on the bus. But little did she know, that was precisely where she was going to find Hashem and connect to Him in ways that she could have never dreamed of. Hashem is with us all the time but we have to use our minds the right way to feel His presence.

Chazal teach that on Rosh Hashanah, Hashem judges every individual based on what he did every second of every day over the past year. With this knowledge, we should be doing everything in our power to make teshuvah and improve our ways. Especially now, in the month of Elul, when Hashem reveals an outpouring of mercy towards us, we must take advantage of this opportunity. But is there something we can do, in addition, that will make the judgment easier? The Ba'al HaTurim, commenting on the pasuk " תמים תהיה עם ה' אלקיך " , writes that whoever fulfills this mitzvah is considered as if he fulfilled the entire Torah, from aleph to tav. What does this mean? It means that one who does not worry about the future, but trusts that Hashem is leading him on the perfect path, and accepts wholeheartedly the way Hashem deals with him—without questions or complaints—is credited as if he has kept the entire Torah. Rabbi Menashe Reizman asked: Doesn't the Gemara say that it is forbidden to think that Hashem is a vatran —that He simply overlooks our wrongdoings? One of the fundamentals of emunah is that Hashem rewards mitzvot and punishes averot. If so, how can it be that someone who trusts Hashem's dealings with him, but still has sins, should be considered as if he fulfilled the entire Torah? Rabbi Reizman explained: It's not only the Ba'al HaTurim who says this. It is explicit in the pesukim themselves. In Parashat Balak, it says, " לֹא הִבִּיט אָוֶן בְּיַעֲקֹב וְלֹא רָאָה עָמָל בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל, ה' אֱלֹקָיו עִמּוֹ וּתְרוּעַת מֶלֶךְ בּוֹ ". These words are read in the Malchuyot section of the Musaf Amidah of Rosh Hashanah. Rashi explains this pasuk to mean that Hashem is not exacting with a person for his sins—even when he angers Him. Why? Because such people do not preoccupy themselves with trying to figure out the future. Instead, they place their full trust in Hashem. And because of this, Rashi says, they become worthy of blessing. What is the explanation? There are two ways a person can go through life. One way is with constant questioning: Why is my life the way it is? Why does he have so much blessing while I don't? Why does he have such good children and I struggle? Why does everyone else seem to get the good positions and I don't? Why are his daughters married off so easily, while mine are waiting so long? This is the natural human way—always comparing, always doubting, always feeling that life is unfair. If someone chooses this path, then Hashem treats him with the same precision. Hashem will look into his deeds with equal scrutiny: Why don't you concentrate on the words of tefillah? Why don't you have proper kavanah when you say berachot? But if a person does not question Hashem, if he refuses to ask "why" or "is this fair," and instead accepts that everything Hashem does is absolutely fair, upright, and the very best possible outcome—even when, from our limited perspective, it looks as if Hashem is doing "wrong" with us—then Hashem responds measure for measure: You don't question My actions, I won't question yours. This is not considered Hashem overlooking our sins. It is not a case of Hashem being a vatran . On the contrary—it is deserved. We have earned this special relationship. If we are tamim im Hashem Elokecha , then Hashem is tamim with us. This is a wondrous principle. But it is far easier said than done. The nature of man is to compare himself to others, to feel lacking, to complain—especially when things seem unfair. People try to improve, but the salvation they hope for does not always come. People pray with all their hearts, but do not always see their prayers answered. People think they have so much bitachon, but then they feel let down. Everyone has reasons they would naturally want to question. But if we can rise above that nature, if we can truly trust Hashem's will for us and believe with all our hearts that whatever is happening is absolutely the best thing for us, then we will enter a new category of human being: one who is tamim im Hashem Elokecha . And that comes with the most amazing benefits.

The Torah says about the mitzvah of teshuva , according to the Ramban,כי קרוב אליך הדבר מאד בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו – teshuva is very close to us, it's in our mouths and it's in our hearts. When it comes to sins between us and Hashem, this is understandable. But what about when it comes to sins between man and man? If someone took money from someone else but can't find him to return it, how will he achieve teshuva just with his heart and his mouth. Or what if he wronged another person who refuses to forgive him? How will he achieve teshuva with his heart and his mouth? When Rav Zalman of Volozhin was trying to find somebody who he insulted in his youth, he couldn't locate him and he began to cry, thinking that he wasn't going to get forgiven. The Vilna Gaon found out about it and told him, when a person does all that he can to fix a sin, Hashem will send him help from above to fix it, even if that sin is bein adam lechavero. The Chovot HaLevavot writes in the Shaar HaTeshuva , perek 10, if someone stole money but he honestly feels remorse and wants to pay it back, but he doesn't have the money to pay, Hashem will give him the money just so he could achieve teshuva . The Chovot HaLevavot writes as well, if a person wronged another but he has a real desire to make teshuva , Hashem will put feelings of mercy in the other person's heart to forgive him. As long as we have a real ratzon in our hearts, Hashem will help us make the teshuva we need to be forgiven. Rabbi Shmuel Travis told a personal story which took place about 20 years ago. An older man in his 90's named Mr. Leib prayed in his shul. Mr. Leib moved to his area, Rishon Letzion, 15 years prior and he prayed in his shul every day. One day, Mr. Leib asked the Rabbi if he could speak to him in private. He told the Rabbi he wasn't always religious and growing up in Russia was very difficult for him. He had gone into business selling leather with his brother, but the taxes were extremely high. They formed a corporation of ten people which exempted them from the taxes. But, under that corporation they did some shady things and one of the men there was extremely corrupt. The brothers had to fire him but, in an act of revenge, this man told the KGB about their shady practices. They were punished mercilessly for their crimes. They then took revenge on this man and told the KGB about what he did when he was with their company. They came down very hard on this man and took a lot of money away from him. Mr Leib then told the Rabbi, "I can't live with myself. I informed on another Jew in an act of revenge and I never got forgiveness from him. Please, Rabbi, I'll do whatever it takes, I just need to be forgiven. The Rabbi asked Mr. Leib if he knew anything about that man and his family now. Mr. Leib replied he had heard the man passed away over ten years ago. The Rabbi then said, technically, he could ask forgiveness by the man's grave with a minyan, but he would need to find the man's heirs to pay back the money for the loss that he caused him. Mr. Leib then began to cry and said he would do anything to get forgiven. The Rabbi told him he would discuss the matter with other Rabbis and that Mr. Leib should come back to him the following week on a Wednesday. That next week, Mr. Leib came back to the Rabbi on Tuesday and his face was glowing. He told the Rabbi he didn't need any rulings, his issue was solved and he explained. On Sunday night he felt feverish and he decided to go to the doctor on Monday morning. He prayed in the first minyan, as usual, and went right afterward to the doctor. The doctor's office was still closed as it was very early in the morning. Mr. Leib was waiting outside and saw another man waiting by the bus stop next door. They made conversation with each other. Turned out, this man was from the old neighborhood that Mr. Leib was from in Russia. Not only that, he discovered that this man's wife was the daughter of the man he was trying to get forgiveness from. He then went back with this man to his home and told his wife all that happened. She said she remembered the episode and exactly how much money the KGB took from her father. She then told him she had three siblings back in Russia, three brothers who were her father's heirs, and she gave him their contact information. Mr. Leib had a bank account in Russia with money that he was not able to bring over with him but was able to transfer it to people in Russia. It had just the amount he needed to make full restitution to those heirs. He contacted them and made the bank transfer, dividing up the money in three ways. Later on, they each sent him a receipt to show that he paid. Mr. Leib then went to the Rabbi and showed him the receipts. He said, "Here, this is my proof that I have received teshuva ." He asked the Rabbi that when the time came he wanted to be buried with those receipts. This man had a strong desire to make teshuva and he even shed tears to show it. Hashem gave him the siyata d'Shamaya he needed to find the people he was looking for. Teshuva is very close to us, it's in our hearts and our mouths. All we need is a strong desire to do it.

With many struggling in business at this time, people are asking what they could do spiritually to improve their financial status. We know the Sefer Hachinuch writes in mitzva 430 that whoever is careful to say Birkat Hamazon properly will have his sustenance given to him in a dignified manner for his entire life. The Sefer Ta'ameh Haminhagim u'Mekoreh Hadinim writes that saying Birkat Hamazon out loud with joy is a segula for wealth. A rabbi from Yerushalayim related that this past year he has had a lot of struggles in parnasa and Baruch Hashem, his daughter got engaged, which meant a lot more expenses. His friend encouraged him to start eating bread every single day and utilize the wondrous segula of saying Birkat Hamazon . The rabbi told this friend that his diet only allowed him to eat bread one day a week on Shabbat. But the friend insisted that the segula has been tried and tested and told him to eat just the bare minimum necessary to say Birkat Hamazon on a daily basis. Later that day, the rabbi went to the Kotel to pray Arbit and there he saw a Hashgacha Peratit newsletter. On the first page was a writeup from Rabbi Pinchas Shafer about a man who was struggling with parnasa, who began saying Birkat Hamazon and saw amazing yeshuot . The rabbi was convinced and he and his rebbetzin both accepted upon themselves to start eating bread every single day. The first thing the rabbi said was how much he enjoyed saying Birkat Hamazon and truly concentrating when thanking Hashem. Less than two weeks since they started, a wealthy friend of his came over to him one day and said, "I want to help with the upcoming wedding of your daughter. And then he handed him an envelope with 10,000 shekels inside. The rabbi became emotional, seeing how Hashem had just helped him in such an open way. That Friday, he told all of his children of the recent developments and asked them to each begin saying Birkat Hamazon with kavana from a siddur . He also told them that we don't do mitzvot just for a segula and proceeded to tell them what a zechut it was to thank Hashem properly for all of His goodness and chesed, especially during the mitzvat aseh of Birkat Hamazon . That Shabbat, they were all inspired to say Birkat Hamazon the right way. During that upcoming week, the rebbetzin who had been unemployed found an easy and pleasant job. The rabbi who learned during the day and had a job at night, seeing all of the Heavenly help with parnasa, decided to ask for a raise at his job. The very next day, he was told that the raise was approved. Furthermore, one of his children needed a new pair of shoes and went to the store to buy them. When he picked out the shoes he wanted, the salesman said, "Those are free." He explained that someone returned them after wearing them for an hour. He told that customer they couldn't take them back after they were worn. And so the person said, "No problem, just give them to someone who needs them." He put a mark on the box and that was the pair that this boy picked out. Another one of the rabbi's children needed a new suit, and he heard there was a sale at a popular store. The regular price of a suit is about a thousand shekels. On the outside of the store, it said some suits were as much as 50% off, but when he saw the selection, he did not like any of those suits. He took the suit he liked to the register, and there he was told that on that suit there were two sales and the price came out to only 360 shekels. Those are the stories that happened to them in just the last two months. The rabbi said the greatest gift he got from all of this is a new appreciation for saying Birkat Hamazon and thanking Hashem in general. We could all benefit from saying Birkat Hamazon the right way, and truly thanking Hashem the way we are supposed to.

The Shomer Emunim writes in his ma'amar on hashgacha peratit ( perek 6), any suffering that a person bears in this world, especially if he believes that it's coming from Hashem and doesn't question Him, then it will cleanse him from endless potential suffering in the Next World. If a person was able to see what he was gaining through each suffering in this world, he would dance with the greatest joy, realizing the unbelievable kindness that Hashem is bestowing upon him. The greatest gains from any affliction come about if the person accepts it with love. Fortunate is the person who accepts his suffering with love. Aside for the tremendous benefit it brings him, the Gemara in Ta'anit says, it is so powerful, it brings about salvations to the entire world. The Shomer Emunim writes further, if a person gets even a small affliction and instead of attributing it to happenstance, he recognizes it was from Hashem and he says, "I deserve this because of my sins," and he asks Hashem to be forgiven, that would bring him forgiveness for all of the blemishes he created in the Upper Worlds, and all the judgments would then become sweetened for him and it will be considered as if he received much more suffering than he actually did. The angel that used to learn Torah with the Bet Yosef told him, on one occasion, the reason why his wife wasn't having children. It had something to do with her neshama having a male element to it. But then he was told, because she went through certain sufferings and she accepted them happily, that made her soul so pure. Through that, she was zocheh to have children. A man once came to the Steipler Rebbe in need of chizuk due to all the problems he was experiencing. The Steipler told him not to dwell too much on the problems of this world. He went on to tell that man about all the problems he had. He said if he would have paid attention to all of his suffering, he would have remained an am ha'aretz , not learning even one page of Gemara . He said some of his problems were so great they could have been distributed to a hundred people and there would have been enough for all of them. Yet, because of his emunah, he knew all of his problems were sent by his loving Father Hashem, for his benefit, and that enabled him to move on each time with happiness. He grew in Torah, amidst the suffering, until he became the Gadol Hador. If people keep saying they are waiting for this problem to end, for that issue to become easier, they will be forfeiting their greatest opportunities for spiritual growth. We do hope the problems will become easier and go away, but in the meantime, if we persevere and continue fulfilling our roles as ovdei Hashem happily, we could reach the greatest heights. There are also great segulot involved in a person accepting what is happening to him with love. It brings about Heavenly mercy, it makes a person more fit for salvation, and most importantly, it purifies him and brings him to great spiritual levels. Chazal tell us, if Iyov wouldn't have complained about his suffering, he would have risen to the level of our holy Avot, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. This is the awesome value of not complaining, and rather accepting that whatever is happening is happening because of Hashem and it is for our best. If when a person is going through troubles, he is able to continue on living happily and serving Hashem to the best of his ability, his rewards will be endless.

Someone who internalizes the principles of emunah and lives his life accordingly will find so much of the worry and stress that plagues people slowly dissipating. He knows every moment of his life is so carefully planned by Hashem. He knows whatever is meant for him to have he will get. He knows no one can take anything from him or harm him if it's not the will of Hashem. And he knows everything Hashem decides for him is always the best possible outcome that could happen. A woman who has been working on her emunah for the past couple of years told me how much strength it has given her. She said, "Very often we find ourselves in situations which are shared by many people and we feel like we are part of a global crisis. We tend to succumb to the situation by reasoning that we are just a victim of the crisis, whether it be a shidduch crisis or a housing crisis or a getting accepted into yeshiva crisis and so on. We need to remember that each and every person is an only child to Hashem, who has a different plan for every single person." Recently, she started falling prey to that conventional thinking as her family became one of the thousands in the housing crisis, unable to find a decent living quarters for an affordable price. They prayed and hoped to find a suitable place to live in that they could afford, despite real estate agents telling them that they were being very unrealistic. Baruch Hashem, they are blessed with a large family and live in a highly sought after neighborhood for a number of years. One day, their landlord said he needed them to vacate as soon as they could because he wanted the apartment for his own family. Moving to another neighborhood was not an option, due to family obligations and work considerations. Then, one Monday morning, she saw an ad for an apartment that sounded just right. After speaking to the owner, her optimism increased. The location, the size, and the price were just what they were looking for. Her and her husband's schedules were completely booked for the next few days and so she figured she would call back to schedule a viewing later in the week, but the next day the ad was gone and she had misplaced the phone number of the landlord. It appeared that someone else beat them to that apartment. They consoled themselves with the thoughts that no one could ever take something from them if they were destined to have it and, if they didn't get it, it was for sure for their best. For the next two months, they were unable to find anything suitable. Then, one day, she received a call from a friend who said someone in a class she goes to mentioned that she has an apartment that she is looking to rent out. The description sounded exactly what they were looking for and the address rang a bell. She took the phone number and set up a meeting to see it. The apartment was perfect and they agreed to take it on the spot. After signing the lease, they couldn't help but ask the owner if this was in fact the same apartment that was advertised in the local paper a couple of months before this. The owner said indeed it was. People came to see it then but were turned off by the condition of the apartment. He decided to remove the ad and do renovations before showing it again. Just as they were completing the renovations, his wife told her close friends only about it because they wanted people with close references. And that is how they got this apartment. The woman said, "We thought that the perfect apartment slipped out of our hands. Little did we know, Hashem was not only holding it for us, He was fixing it up and making it ready for us to move into without us having to do anything." The struggles of life can get stressful, but the more emunah a person acquires, the better he will be able to perform as he goes through them.

The pasuk says in this week's parasha Re'eh, עשר תעשר, which the Gemara explains to mean, give ten percent of your earnings to charity and you will become wealthy. Although the pasuk is speaking to a landowner giving ten percent of his crops to charity, Tosafot bring from the Sifreh that the same applies to a businessman giving ten percent of his earnings. The Tur writes in Yoreh De'ah, siman 247, it has been tried and tested, when a person gives tzedaka, he does not lose, rather the opposite happens, he gains wealth and honor from it. Furthermore, it nullifies harsh decrees and saves the person from death. The Rama is posek that giving tzedaka brings a person wealth and this is the only area in which a person is allowed to tell Hashem he is waiting to see the fruits of his labor. The Chafetz Chaim in his sefer Ahavat Chesed writes the halacha is like this Rama. As with all mitzvot, there are exact details on how to perform them and in order to reap their full rewards, they must be done correctly, and therefore, a person must learn all of the halachot of giving maaser to ensure that he is doing it correctly to reap its benefits A woman once sent a question to the Imreh Emet regarding maaser. She wrote, my husband makes a minimal parnasa and he is still careful to separate maaser. That maaser, however, comes at the expense of us being able to buy shoes and clothing for our children. Is my husband still obligated to give maaser under those circumstances? The Rebbe replied, when one gives maaser, he must give it with an open heart and when he knows that the money going to tzedaka is not really his, it's much easier to give it with joy. Strictly speaking, you are not obligated to give but there is a segula if you give with an open and happy heart, with a true desire to give, then you fulfill what it says in the pasuk 'let your heart not feel bad when you give' and that pasuk continues and says, because of that type of giving, Hashem will bless you in all of your deeds and in every undertaking. We see from here, one of the requirements to merit the blessing is to give with a happy heart. Moreover, if we do find somebody giving maaser and not becoming wealthy, there is for sure a great reason that we are not capable of understanding at this point. But we must trust that Hashem is doing it for the absolute best of the person giving. A wealthy man who started becoming careful in giving maaser began losing his wealth at the same time. He went to Rav Eliashiv, z"l, asking how such a thing could happen. The Rabbi replied, it seems that some of your money was earned in a non-kosher way. So long as you were not giving maaser, you did not have the zechut to become cleansed from that severe sin. But now that you began giving, you have become worthy. Hashem is now giving you kapara for all the dishonesty you had in business and that is the greatest chesed He could possibly do for you. Giving tzedaka is wondrous. It benefits us in both worlds. Let us not only give, but give with a happy heart. Shabbat Shalom.

There is no one who doesn't need chizuk in emunah, from the greatest rabbis to the common layman, no exceptions. Gedolei HaDor of yesteryear have testified themselves that on days they did not work on their emunah, it was automatically weaker. We see things take place in this world which threaten to damage our emunah. Tzaddikim experiencing hardships and tragedies, the best girls having so many struggles in shidduchim, and the list goes on. There are so many things we don't understand and it leads people to doubt their emunah. We must constantly strengthen ourselves by filling our minds with what Chazal teach us and with what the Torah says about Hashem. The pasuk says,ומחה ה' אלוקים דמעה מעל כל פנים – in the future, Hashem is going to come and personally wipe away the tears of all those people who had sorrow in their lives. At that time, Hashem is going to give a class and explain to everyone how everything they ever experienced was only resulting from Hashem's complete love and mercy upon them. Things that made no sense will suddenly make perfect sense. Questions which people carried around for years will no longer be questions. Everything will be so clear and then, we'll be able to live in complete bliss. But until then, we have a great opportunity to believe in Hashem's goodness, although it is not always clear. The pasuk says about Hashem, He is ריעך וריע אביך – He is your friend and the friend of your father's. Hashem is our greatest friend in the world. There is no one who loves us more than Him. There is no one who cares about us as much as Him. There is no one who takes care of us as much as Him.בנים אתם לה' אלוקיך – Hashem calls us his children. Just like when a parent buys a present for his child he is so excited to give it to him and see the big smile on his face, every time Hashem gives us a blessing, it says באור פניך נתת לנו – He gives it to us with a shining countenance, kavayachol , so excited for us to be happy. And just like when a child is in pain, the parent feels that pain, so too whenever a Jew is in pain, Hashem feels the same pain like it says בכל צאתך לו צער . If a person had even one child who was suffering, lo alenu , it would consume the parents' minds at all times of the day. They would not be able to enjoy anything while their child is suffering. Hashem has millions of children and, lo alenu , many of them are suffering tremendously. Hashem doesn't just feel the pain of one child, He feels the suffering of every single child, every ache and pain of a Jew who is sick, every bit of shame of someone who got embarrassed, every rejection, every loss of money, every longing for a child, every longing for a shidduch , every mourner's pain, etc. So why doesn't Hashem just take everyone out of their pain if He has to bear it all? The answer is because He loves us so much and knows what we need to fulfill our purpose here, He's willing to take all that pain just so that we'll be happy for all eternity. We will never fathom the love that Hashem has for us, but the more we contemplate it, the easier it will be for us to go through life.

One of the inspiring aspects of Hashem's hashgachah is seeing how He can use anyone, at any time, to be the messenger who gives us exactly what we need. Very often, we imagine that our salvation has to come through a certain person or a certain circumstance. But we have to know that Hashem has endless messengers that He can use. He can place us in the most unexpected situations and have someone we never would have dreamed of become the one to give us exactly what we need. A young man who spends the year learning Torah always takes a summer job to help support himself. This year, however, the job he normally took was no longer available, and he began looking for something else. A summer camp offered him a great position. It was a prestigious job with very good pay, and it seemed like the kind of opportunity that could continue for many summers to come. But there was one aspect of the job that raised a question regarding tzniut. He asked his rabbi, and his rabbi told him, "It's not for you." Although he needed the money and it was a great opportunity, he listened to his rabbi and turned the job down. A couple of weeks later, while still looking for a job, just after the summer had begun, he heard that a friend's home had been struck by lightning, and he went there to help. He returned the next day and continued helping. While they were there, they noticed a man in the basement repairing all of the electrical outlets. This young man happened to love electrical work, although he had not yet received his license. He asked the electrician what he was doing there. The electrician explained that he normally worked only on large commercial projects and never took residential jobs, but because he knew the homeowner and no one else was available to help, he came. The young man asked if he could help. The electrician asked, "Do you know what you're doing?" He replied, "Yes," and the electrician invited him to join him. He was very impressed with the young man's work. Before leaving, the young man asked if he knew of any job opportunities. The electrician said that he did, and he arranged an outstanding position for him that included on-the-job training toward earning his license. Not only was the salary much higher than what he would have earned at camp, but he was also able to remain in his hometown instead of traveling away for the summer. Afterward he said, "Look at the messenger Hashem sent me. I went to do a chesed for my friend, and there I met a commercial electrician who is almost never in private homes. Yet he became the messenger Hashem used to give me exactly what I needed." Another man shared the following story. Five years ago, he left his job. When he and his employer parted ways, there was still a substantial amount of money owed to him. The employer made a small payment, but it wasn't even a tenth of what he owed. The man tried many times to collect the balance and even considered going to Beit Din, but nothing ever came of it. Eventually, he wrote the money off and accepted that he was probably never going to see it. Now, five years later, he noticed he had a missed phone call. It was from his former employer's business partner. Since he hadn't spoken to him in years, he sent him a text asking, "Did you mean to call me? Is this perhaps about the unpaid balance that I'm still owed?" The partner responded, "Actually, I didn't mean to call you. It was a mistake, and I don't know anything about an unpaid balance, but let's talk later." That evening, the former employer himself called. "What unpaid balance are you talking about?" he asked. The man explained what had happened when he left the company five years earlier. The employer looked into the matter and said, "If I still owe you the money, I'm going to pay you." And he did. He paid him the entire balance. Five years later, the money suddenly arrived. And how? Because his former employer's business partner accidentally called him. That mistaken phone call became the messenger Hashem used to bring him his yeshuah. We spend so much time trying to figure out who is going to help us and how our salvation is going to come. But we have to know that Hashem has countless messengers. It's not our job to figure out who they will be. Our job is to trust the One Who sends them. When we know that Hashem has unlimited ways to help us, we can remain calm, knowing that our yeshuah can always come in the blink of an eye, and that it can arrive through someone or something we never would have expected.

One of the benefits of hearing stories of Hashem's salvations is that they expand our understanding of what is possible. Sometimes we hear about a yeshuah that seems almost unbelievable. We wonder if such things could really happen. The answer is, of course they can, and that is exactly why we need to hear them. The more we recognize that Hashem's abilities are unlimited, the easier it becomes for us to put our trust in Him and pray with real hope. We stop limiting Hashem's possibilities to what seems realistic to us, and we begin to understand that Hashem is never bound by nature or statistics. A talmid chacham who spends his days learning Torah related what happened when two of his children became engaged one after the other. He had no idea how he would pay for two weddings. Rather than focusing on people, he worked on strengthening his bitachon in Hashem. He prayed that Hashem should help him not even think that any specific person would be his source of salvation. He asked that his eyes be directed only toward Hashem. Whenever the thought entered his mind, "Where will I get the money?" he immediately replaced it with the conviction that Hashem would provide it. His entire avodah was to remain calm, continue trusting, and continue praying. One day, an avreich approached him after Minchah and told him that a generous donor wanted to help. He was asked to prepare a detailed list of every expense for the first wedding, including everything he could think of. A few days later, the avreich returned and handed him an envelope containing the entire amount in cash. His family gathered together and said Nishmat to thank Hashem for this amazing yeshuah. As the shopping continued, however, they realized they had forgotten many important expenses. Instead of becoming anxious, they strengthened themselves even more, believing that this too was orchestrated by Hashem so they would continue relying only upon Him. Soon afterward, a different avreich knocked on his door and handed him an envelope containing fifteen thousand shekels, explaining that it was from a donor who wanted to help with the wedding expenses. That amount covered all of the additional costs. While they were still rejoicing over those miracles, the first avreich returned with another envelope, this one containing the full amount needed for the second wedding as well. Every expense for both weddings was covered with dignity and generosity. Most people would say this story is hard to believe, but it really happened, and that is exactly why we need to hear it. Hashem wants us to know that there is no limit to the ways He can help those who put their trust in Him. Another man told me that he was struggling through an extremely difficult period in business. He had accumulated a great deal of debt and spent every day praying to Hashem for a yeshuah. Finally, he received a large order from a major online retailer for sixteen thousand units of one of his products. That order enabled him to pay back part of his debt and gave him a little breathing room. He thanked Hashem and continued praying, "Please, Hashem, You showed me so clearly that You can help. Please send me another order." The very next day, he noticed that the retailer's website was selling his product for far below the price that he had sold it to them for. There was clearly some kind of pricing error in their system. Incredibly, because of that mistake, every one of the sixteen thousand units sold out in a single day. A couple of days later, the company called him back saying that their inventory had completely disappeared and they needed another shipment. They placed the exact same order again, and within days Hashem had doubled his yeshuah. He was now able to pay off all of his debts and still had money left over. Who could have imagined that a computer glitch would become the vehicle for his salvation? This is why we need to hear stories of Hashem's kindness. They teach us never to put limits on His abilities. Our minds naturally think within the framework of what seems possible, but Hashem's possibilities are infinite. A salvation can come in any way, and most of the time it comes in ways we could never foresee. Our job is not to figure out how Hashem will help us. Our job is simply to know that He can. Every day that we pray, we should remember that no situation is beyond Hashem's ability to change and no request is beyond His ability to fulfill. We need to pray with real hope, anticipate great salvations, and believe with complete bitachon that Hashem can give us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it, in ways far greater than we could ever imagine.

One of the greatest lessons that Hashem taught us was through the forty years that the Jewish people spent in the desert. There they had no homes, no farms, no businesses, and no way to provide for themselves. And that was one of the greatest blessings because they knew with absolute clarity that they were completely dependent upon Hashem for every aspect of their lives. That made it much easier for them to adhere to the Torah and mitzvot. Moshe Rabbenu told the people in Parashat Ekev how their food came in the form of the mann, their water came from a rock, and their clothing never wore out. Every single day they lived with the clear recognition that Hashem alone was sustaining them. And that was a lesson they were going to need for the rest of their lives. Because Moshe warned them that everything was about to change. They were going to enter Eretz Yisrael. There they would build beautiful homes, earn their own living, buy and sell, and accumulate wealth. And at that point there would be a great danger. They were going to think that it was their own strength and ability that brought them their success. They would no longer see as clearly that Hashem was providing everything for them. Therefore, Moshe told them in advance that nothing was really going to change. The mann might stop falling, but Hashem would still be providing every meal. They would build sturdy homes, but it would not be the homes protecting them—it would be Hashem. They would work and earn money, but it would still be Hashem Who was giving them every dollar. The desert was meant to teach them a lesson that they would carry with them for the rest of their lives. Although the miracles would no longer be as open, the One providing for them was not going to change. He would still be the very same Provider. And this lesson was not written only for that generation. It was written for all generations, including us. We may no longer receive mann, but every bit of sustenance we receive comes from Hashem. We may think we're earning our own living, building our own homes, and solving our own problems, but behind every success stands the same Hashem Who sustained His nation in the desert for forty years. A man who passed away this past week, Moshe ben Nizha a"h,, left his family with many great lessons, one of which was shared by his children. Several years ago, he had to spend a month in Italy on business. While he was there, he sent his children a picture and asked them to enlarge it and frame it so he could hang it on his wall. They assumed he was going to send a picture of the beautiful hotel where he was staying. Instead, he sent them a picture of a plain stone staircase with a brick wall beside it. They couldn't understand why he wanted such a picture enlarged. He explained that years earlier he had stayed at that very same hotel. One day, after everyone had left, he was climbing that staircase to his room when he tripped, slammed his head into the stone wall, and then fell backward onto the concrete floor. He was badly injured, bleeding from his head, and unable to move. He had no phone with him, no family, no friends, and nobody knew where he was. It was an isolated area, and no one was expected to come by. Lying there helplessly, he looked up toward Shamayim, and with the little strength he had left, he prayed, "Hashem, please save me." Less than a minute later, someone unexpectedly appeared. The man was not supposed to be there at that time, yet he noticed him lying on the floor and rushed over to help. Amazingly, this man was a doctor. He treated him, bandaged his wounds, and made sure he received the care he needed. Although he had suffered a concussion, he made a complete recovery. That staircase became one of the most meaningful places in his life. He wanted that picture hanging on his wall because he never wanted to forget that moment. Whenever life became difficult or it seemed that there was no solution, he wanted to look at that picture and remember. He wanted to remember lying helplessly on the floor in a foreign country with absolutely no one to turn to for help, and how Hashem sent him his salvation in less than a minute. This is the lesson Moshe Rabbeinu wanted us to take from the desert. We all have moments in our lives when Hashem's hand is obvious and crystal clear. Those moments are not only meant to help us then—they are meant to become our own "desert." We should take a picture of those moments and carry them with us for the rest of our lives. Then, if life ever becomes too comfortable and we begin feeling that we're managing on our own, or when we face a challenge that seems impossible, we can look back and remember that nothing has really changed. The same Hashem Who helped us then is helping us now. The same Hashem Who provided the mann in the desert, and the same Hashem Who sent a doctor to a secluded staircase in Italy, is guiding every detail of our lives today. When we internalize those moments of clarity, they become a source of strength for every situation we will ever face. No matter where we are, and no matter how impossible things appear to be, Hashem is always with us, just as He always has been, and He can help us through every situation.

On our quest to acquire perfect emunah and think correctly, we want to purify our minds with the right hashkafa according to the Torah. The pasuk in parashat Ekev warns, if a person becomes well-to-do, he will forget about Hashem, saying, it is my might and strength that made me this wealth. The Saba from Kelm points out, the Torah does not say, maybe he will say this, because the nature of a person is to automatically think that way. It is only with proper training that we can uproot this thought process. If we see a successful businessman, what are our thoughts about his wealth? Do we think about what appear to be the immediate causes that brought him his wealth, like the product he sells or the stocks he bought? Or do we think that Hashem wanted him to be wealthy and He gave him his wealth? If we see an army successful in battle, do we think about their great strategies and war tactics? Or do we attribute their success to HaKadosh Baruch Hu? This is one way in which we could test our level of emunah, seeing if our initial thoughts have adapted to the way that Hashem wants us to think. The Gemara says in Masechet Berachot that Rav Huna had four hundred barrels of wine that soured, and when the Rabbis heard about it, they immediately told him to check into his deeds. Rav Huna asked the Rabbis why they suspected him of doing something wrong, and they replied, because without a question it was Hashem who made the wine sour, and it was a kapara for something that the Rabbi did wrong. Rav Huna looked into his deeds and indeed discovered his error in a different business dealing, and right after he made teshuvah , the issue of the wine went away. The baalei mussar point out from here, usually the way it works is when someone experiences some type of misfortune like this, he thinks about all the different natural causes of why the wine may have spoiled, but Chazal are teaching us with their pure emunah that the natural causes don't matter. Everything that takes place is because of Hashem. If we fix what Hashem wants us to fix, then the issue goes away. The Apta Rav used to say, the way of the world is when someone makes a certain hishtadlut and it doesn't work out the way he hoped, he thinks, “If only I would have done things differently, then I might have gotten what I wanted.” If the person said something he wishes he didn't say, he would think, “If only I would have said something else, then I would have gotten what I wanted.” Both of those reactions are incorrect. The outcome that took place was exactly the outcome that Hashem wanted to take place. And if the outcome could have been different because of different words or a different hishtadlut , then Hashem would have put those thoughts in the person's brain at the time he was making the hishtadlut . It is extremely difficult for someone to put in a lot of effort into something and then believe that the result had nothing to do with his efforts. But this is the way Hashem wants us to think, because this is the absolute truth. This is the way He runs the world. Even if someone says, “I did it and Hashem helped me do it,” that is tarnished emunah. אין עוד מלבדו , there is nothing other than Hashem. He doesn't need our help. He wants us to put in our efforts for various reasons. One of them is to test us in this very area, to see if we'll believe it was Him, even though we had to put in the effort. The more we train ourselves to think this way, the better we'll get at it. And b’ezrat Hashem, we will train ourselves to the point where our initial thoughts are with pure emunah.

When it comes to physicality, Hashem helps us every step of the way from beginning to end. At times, He will even give a person a drive to make a hishtadlut to, let's say, earn money or accomplish something else in the physical realms that He wants him to accomplish. But, when it comes to spirituality, that is where we must develop the will to achieve on our own and we must attempt to make the efforts to accomplish on our own. Only after that will Hashem give us His help in bringing our efforts success. Rabbenu Yonah writes in the Shaarei Teshuva that if a person has a true desire to come closer to Hashem, and he wants to accomplish mitzvot that are not in his capabilities of accomplishing, Hashem will give him abilities that he did not possess before. Our job is to produce the strong desire and do what's in our power and Hashem does the rest. Even when it comes to the performance of one mitvah, if we want to accomplish it, but we're not capable of doing it, we can still get Heavenly help from Hashem to succeed with it. A man from Israel told a personal story which took place about 30 years ago. He had some work done in his house and after it was finished, he still owed the carpenter a few hundred shekel. Many years had passed and he had forgotten about that debt and the carpenter never came back to pick up the money. He was at a class and the Rabbi was speaking about the gravity of not paying people what we owe. The man immediately remembered this debt and after the class asked the Rabbi if he could donate the sum that he owed the carpenter to tzedaka, being that he didn't even remember his name. The Rabbi told him he needed to track the person down and pay him directly. The man was in agony, realizing this was nearly impossible. He cried to Hashem to help him pay that debt back. The very same night, when he got home from shul, his wife had done some cleaning and asked him if she could throw out some old papers. He looked at the papers and, amazingly, one of them had the name and number of that carpenter and, baruch Hashem, he contacted him and paid him back. He had a true desire to do that mitzvah and Hashem gave him the siyata d'Shamaya to accomplish it. A woman, who we'll call Sara, told me a story which also took place about 30 years ago. When she was in 11th and 12th grade, she took upon herself a weekly chesed job. A little boy named Ari Yossi who had special needs had a therapy session every Tuesday but his mother did not drive. This girl picked up that boy every Tuesday at 5:00 for his appointment and she would then wait there until it was finished and then drive him back home. She did this for close to two years, never missing a week, knowing how important it was and how much that mother needed this help. At the end of their school year, the girls had a different schedule for finals. They would just go to school for the tests and then go back home to study. Sarah was at her friend Devora's house studying one day and they received a call that the elderly woman they visit in the local nursery home was in the hospital. Two of her friends were already there and asked if they wanted to come visit. Of course they said yes and Sarah drove her car for 20 minutes to the hospital. They spent some time there with the elderly woman and then Sarah drove all of her friends home. One of those friends lived on the same block as Ari Yossi, the little boy she picked up every Tuesday. As she was driving past his house, she saw the mother and little boy coming out of the house towards the street. She waved and kept driving, noticing that the mother looked a little confused. That's when it hit her, she looked at the car clock and saw it was exactly 5:00 and it was Tuesday. She had totally forgotten about the appointment, being that her schedule changed. What were the odds that she would be passing that house at that exact time she was meant to pick them up? This friend who lived on the same block at Ari Yossi was one of those people who were already in the hospital who called her to come. That was Hashem, orchestrating the events to work out perfectly. This was before people had cell phones. If she didn't take Ari to that appointment, he would have missed a much needed therapy session and of course the mother would have been stressed, waiting for her to come with no way of reaching her. Sarah was very careful to do that mitzvah every week with joy, the one time she was thrown off schedule, Hashem brought her there to do the mitzvah right on time. If we have the will and we make the effort, Hashem will take us the rest of the way.

Those who truly know that Hashem runs the world live their lives on a more elevated level. They don't get upset from things that people usually get upset about, they don't worry about things that people usually worry about and they don't get stressed from things that people usually get stressed out about. Rather, they have a feeling of security and peace of mind, knowing that everything happens exactly the way it is supposed to happen. A man told me, he was asked to go record various speakers in a different city on a day that that community designated for inspiration. When the day came, he drove with all of his equipment for over an hour, but when he arrived, he was immediately asked by the host, "Didn't you get my message?" "No," he replied. The man said, "I left you a message a few days ago that we no longer needed you to come. Sorry for this confusion." The man's phone had broken and he wasn't able to retrieve any messages on it. With a smile on his face, he said, "No problem. Hashem wanted me to make this trip for some reason and I accomplished that." On his way back, he began to think, from past years of doing this recording, he usually received $500 as compensation for his time. He was so happy that he didn't feel bad at all about that. He said, "I got credited in Shamayim for making the efforts to do this good deed and regarding my parnasa , I made my hishtadlut . Now Hashem will send the money from where He wants it to come from. The moment he got back to his house, he received a phone call from someone asking him to do a similar job. This person has also called him in past years and usually gave him a job that she paid $200-$300 for. This time, the job was a little bigger, but instead of offering him the $200 more that it was worth, she told him she would give him $1000 for it. Immediately, Hashem compensated him for the efforts that he made that morning. And he never felt stressed the entire time. Another man told me, his sister graduated high school a few years ago and, for a private reason, she was not going to seminary in Israel as the rest of her grade was doing. One day, her friend's mother called her mother saying, "Your daughter's not going to Israel? How is she going to find a shidduch ?" Her mother replied, "You think a girl has to go to Israel to find a good husband? Hashem is the one who makes matches and we are always in His hands." Towards the end of that year, while all of this girl's friends were still in Israel, she got engaged and, baruch Hashem is now married with two children. Even more amazing is that this girl wasn't even officially dating at that time. Her mother was at work one day and overheard someone saying they needed a shidduch for a great boy. She inquired about it and that's the boy that her daughter married. She was still only 18 years old at the time. When a person understands that Hashem runs the world, he is able to be calm no matter what kind of circumstances he finds himself in. He also knows Hashem is the only one he needs to impress. Another man told me he received a phone call from a friend asking if he could help make peace between their fathers. The fathers have had animosity toward each other for some time and he wanted to put an end to it. He said, "I know your sister is still not married and she is approaching 40 years old, perhaps as a zechut for her to get married, your father would be willing to make peace with my father." The man called his father and he said he was absolutely willing to make peace. And he did. Baruch Hashem, that same year his daughter got married. Everything happens in this world by the word of Hashem. The more we internalize this, the better our lives will be.

The pasuk says in Mishlei , "כי את אשר יאהב ה' יוכיח" – Hashem chastises those whom He loves most. If a person has to endure a difficulty in this world, it is a blessing in disguise. By experiencing yissurin , a person becomes cleansed from his sins, enabling him to enjoy eternal bliss. The Ruach Chaim writes, if a person would take away time from indulging in physical pleasures and instead delve into Torah study, that would count for him as if he experienced yissurin. This means besides for the rewards given for the Torah study itself, the person will also be cleansing himself from his sins through it. Rabbenu Yona writes in the Yesod HaTeshuva , when a person holds back his evil inclination to indulge in something forbidden, that as well counts as yissurin and will cleanse him from his sins. Sometimes, Hashem gives a person yissurin to help him improve his ways. Our entire purpose of being on this earth is to follow Torah and mitzvot to the best of our ability. In Hashem's great love for us, He helps us with that by reminding us, in order that we shouldn't fall off the proper path. And thus, Chazal teach us, if a person sees that afflictions are befalling him, he should view it as a calling to change his ways. A man told me he has somewhat of a heart condition and, in recent weeks, his heart rate became very rapid. He had a cardiac ablation procedure which did not help him. After exhausting all other options, his doctor told him he needed to put him out with general anesthesia and then shock his heart to get it back to normal. The man was obviously fearful of such a procedure but there was no other choice. On the day of the procedure, as he was lying in the hospital bed, the man began talking to Hashem. He said, if his heart would become normal again, he would start learning the Daf Yomi immediately. A few minutes later, the doctor came in to administer the anesthesia and he told the patient, it looks like your heart rate just went down on its own. Let's wait a little and see what happens. After waiting, the doctor called off the procedure. The man left the hospital with a healthy heart and began learning the Daf Yomi.Our job is Torah and mitzvot and we are to respond to yissurin with an improvement in those areas. It is the job of every parent to ensure that his or her children are utilizing the potential that Hashem gave them. If a parent sees his child going off or not living up to his potential, he is to do everything in his power to help him improve. The job is difficult, but when a parent does everything in his power to help his child, then he will know he did his part and the rest is in Hashem's hands. Recently, a shul in New Jersey held a raffle campaign with the winning prize being a car, namely a Tesla. When the winner was called by phone, he was in complete shock. He is not from that community and bought a ticket just a few hours before the drawing. He explained that he has a son who is not doing well spiritually and told him he was leaving yeshiva. No matter what this father said or did, he couldn't convince his son out of it. Finally, in a last ditch effort to save his son, the father told him, "I will do anything you want if you stay in yeshiva." The boy said, "Okay, if you buy me a Tesla, I'll stay." The father said, "If that's what it takes, I'll get you one." He made a phone call and ordered the car. The price was $40,000, which he did not have to pay for it. Then he found out about this raffle and bought a ticket, hoping that Hashem would have compassion on him after seeing how hard he was trying to keep his son religious. And that's what happened, he won the raffle and kept his son in yeshiva. If we are doing the best we can spiritually, then we can be confident we are doing our part and Hashem will take care of the rest.

A person who truly knows Hashem and understands His unlimited capabilities will always remain upbeat, happy, and hopeful because he knows he can always be helped. No matter how difficult the situation becomes or how many avenues seem to close, he knows Hashem can always help him. This knowledge gives a person tremendous strength in tefillah. Since we know that Hashem can always change any situation, we continue turning to Him with hope no matter how long we've been waiting. This is very different from a person putting his faith in man. I once read a parable about a man who became very sick. His friend asked him how he was doing, and he replied, "I'm okay. I just got an appointment with a great doctor, and I'm very hopeful that he's going to help me." A month later, his friend asked how the appointment went. The man replied, "The doctor didn't have enough experience with my condition, but he referred me to a specialist who does. I have an appointment with him in two weeks, and I'm very hopeful that he's going to help." A few weeks later, the friend asked again. "The appointment went well," the man said. "He gave me medication, and I'm waiting for it to work." A month later, when asked whether the medication had helped, he replied, "No, but I'm taking a different medication now, and I'm hopeful this one is going to work." When the second medication did not work either, the man still had hope. "My specialist got me an appointment with the best doctor in the world in this field. I'm so excited because I know he's going to be able to help me." Finally, he went to see that doctor, but the doctor told him, "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do to heal you." The moment the man heard those words, all of his hope disappeared. As long as there was another doctor, another medication, or another possibility, he was able to remain hopeful. But once the greatest expert told him there was nothing more he could do, he despaired. A person, on the other hand, who knows that he has Hashem never reaches such a point. Hashem never tells anyone, "I'm sorry, I'm not able to help you." Hashem can always help. There is never a situation beyond His capabilities and never a moment when He runs out of options. Therefore, there is never a time when we should feel that there is no longer a reason to pray. Even if we've been praying for years and have not seen the answer we're looking for, the yeshuah can always come in the blink of an eye. A few years back in Israel, a sixty-year-old woman gave birth to her first child, a healthy baby girl. After waiting so many years, she experienced the greatest happiness of her life when the staff finally placed her baby in her arms. With Hashem, there is always hope, and there is always a reason to continue praying. Furthermore, even when the yeshuah is delayed, it doesn't mean that our tefillot are not being answered. Hashem may already be using those very tefillot to bring about the salvation without us even realizing it. A man once told me he was getting older and had been trying for years to find his shidduch, but nothing was working out for him. He decided to undertake a major tefillah campaign. He flew to Eretz Yisrael and went to the Kotel for forty straight days, spending hours every day pouring out his heart to Hashem for a shidduch. He then returned home to America, but nothing seemed to change. A month passed, then another, and eventually almost an entire year went by. He wondered what had happened to all his tefillot. What had all that praying accomplished? The following summer, a shidduch was suggested, and baruch Hashem, the couple eventually got married. Afterward, he discovered something remarkable from his wife. At exactly the time he had been praying at the Kotel, a major change had taken place in her life. She had attended public high school and was not fully religious. That summer, right after she graduated, she suddenly woke up one morning and told her mother she wanted to attend seminary in Israel for the coming year. It was totally out of the blue. She went to seminary, became fully religious, and decided she wanted to marry a ben Torah. Eventually, she married this very man. For an entire year, he thought his tefillot hadn't accomplished anything. In reality, while he was standing at the Kotel praying, Hashem was already using those tefillot to prepare his yeshuah. He just couldn't see it. Hashem was working on the other side of the world, transforming the life of the woman who would eventually become his wife. The tefillot were accomplishing their purpose from the very beginning. It just took time for him to see what they had accomplished. This is something we must always remember when we pray. We should never measure the effectiveness of our tefillot by what we see immediately afterward. A person may pray today and see no change tomorrow, the next month, or even after a year, but that does not mean his tefillot were not effective. Hashem hears every word, and He may already be putting the pieces of the yeshuah into place in ways that we cannot yet see. Because we know Who we are praying to, we never despair, and we never stop praying. No situation is ever beyond Hashem's ability to change, and no salvation is beyond His ability to bring. Every tefillah matters, and even when nothing seems to be happening, Hashem may already be using our tefillot to bring our yeshuah. Knowing this enables us to continue praying with hope and anticipation, confident that Hashem can always help us and that the answer to our tefillot may already be on its way.

The Midrash in parashat V'Etchanan says a person should be happier with his yissurin – afflictions – more than when he receives open good because yissurin cleanses a person and gets rid of his averot . The Yalkut Shimoni in Tehillim says a person should thank Hashem when yissurin befall him because yissurin bring a person much closer to Hashem. At the end of Rebbe Avraham, brother of the Vilna Gaon's life, he was bedridden in excruciating pain, suffering from open wounds all over his body. When his son began to cry seeing his father in that condition, his father said this was the greatest gift that Hashem bestowed upon him. He said, "If I had the strength right now, I would get up and sing and dance out of joy in Hashem's goodness in giving me these yissurin . This is how our great chachamin viewed yissurin because they knew of their great effects. How great it would be if a person was able to achieve the effects of yissurin without having to actually experience them. The Gra wrote in a letter that there is a way to achieve this. He said if we follow his instructions, we will receive untold reward in the Next World by absolving ourselves of all our sins without having to suffer any physical pain. He wrote there, if a person would hold himself back from speaking something he shouldn't be saying, or if he would control a certain desire, that would accomplish more than any other form of yissurin . He writes further, for every second that a person holds himself back from saying something he shouldn't, he will also merit a special pleasure in the Next World that no angel could ever fathom. This means if someone is ready to relate a juicy piece of gossip to a crowd of people which would for sure make him the center of attention, he should stop himself and think, "If I hold back now, that would take the place of so much yissurin that may have been destined to befall me." And if it is very hard to do, he should know that for every second that he holds himself back, it's considered an additional affliction. Plus, he will receive untold rewards for his restraint in the Next World. This does not only apply to holding back from lashon hara . The Gemara says in masechet Moed Katan that Rabbi Yanai's student used to ask him very difficult questions during their daily class. But on the holidays, when the attendance of the class was very large, this student never asked the Rabbi a question because he didn't want to potentially embarrass the Rabbi if he didn't have a good answer. The Gemara applied to this student the pasuk in Tehillim , ושם דרך אראנו בישע אלוקים, which the Gemara explained to mean, as a reward for holding back his desire to show off his understanding of the material, he merited to be amongst those who were going to experience great salvation from Hashem. Every time we break our evil inclination, that is considered yissurin and, potentially, can wipe away endless amounts of averot . Imagine if a person was being told off and had a nasty comment he could say back that would allow him to enjoy sweet revenge, but instead he closed his mouth and didn't say a word. The kapara brought about by that act is unimaginable. Additionally, for every single second that he keeps his mouth closed at that time, he will be rewarded with the greatest rewards. Yissurin are great and accomplish so much for us, but nobody likes going through the painful process to receive those benefits. Here, the Vilna Gaon is giving us priceless information. We could accomplish more than any type of yissurin by holding back from saying things we shouldn't or by breaking any other desire for any kind of temptation. These are difficult things to do but it is well worth it. The next time a person is put into such a circumstance, he should pause and think about the golden opportunity that is being presented to him at that time.

As we go through another Tishah B'Av, we have to ask ourselves a painful question: Why do we still not have Mashiach? What are we still doing wrong? The Sefer HaBerit asked this question a couple of hundred years ago. He looked around at the people of his generation and saw they were learning Torah, they were praying, and they were doing mitzvot. So what was missing? He concluded that they were lacking one of the most fundamental principles of our Torah. Sometimes people view religion as a checklist. We perform mitzvot, fulfill our obligations, and then ask, "So what do I get now?" But our mission as Torah Jews is not just to do mitzvot. It is to develop a relationship with Hashem, to love Hashem, to know Hashem, and to understand what pleases Him and what pains Him. A relationship cannot be one-sided. The Sefer HaBerit wrote that in his day, many people were serving Hashem only for themselves. They wanted a better Olam HaBa, a better Olam HaZeh, a good spouse, successful children, a beautiful home, a long life, and honor from others. They knew the path to those berachot was through Torah and mitzvot, and so their focus became, "What do I get out of this mitzvah? What does this do for me? What does that do for me?" "I'll pray for others only because of the reward I'm going to get. I'll show compassion to others only because of the blessings it will bring me." Everything revolved around one question: "What's in it for me?" Even when standing before Hashem in tefillah, the conversation was always, "Hashem, please give me this. Please give me that." We're constantly asking Hashem what He can do for us, but do we ever stop and think about Him? Do we ever stop and think about what's causing Him pain? The Beit Yosef writes in Maggid Meisharim that the heavenly maggid told him if we could comprehend even one trillionth of the pain that Hashem experiences during this exile, we would not be able to have any enjoyment, knowing that we are the ones causing Him all of this pain. Hashem longs to rest His Shechinah with us. He wants to be close to us. He wants to have a home among His children. Yet because of our shortcomings, that cannot happen. Does that pain ever affect us? When we pray for Mashiach, is it only because our lives will become better? Because there will be peace, prosperity, and no more suffering? Or do we pray because we want Hashem's glory to be restored? Because we can't bear the thought of our Father being in so much pain—a pain that will not be relieved until He is able to dwell with His children once again? Imagine if we said, "Hashem, I want to do more mitzvot because I know they will bring You pleasure. I want to pray for Mashiach because I want You to be happy. I want Your Shechinah to return. I want to be close to You." A loving parent wants nothing more than to hear a child say, "I just want to be close to you." That is what the Sefer HaBerit meant. If we could shift our focus from ourselves to Hashem, if we could begin thinking more about Him than about our own benefit, then our entire avodat Hashem would change. We would make peace with others, not because of the segulah of blessing that comes from it, but because we can't bear to cause our Father pain by allowing His children to keep fighting. We would perform mitzvot not only because of what we receive from them, but because of what they mean to Hashem. May Hashem hear all of us say, "We want You. We want to be close to You. We don't want You to be in pain." And in that merit, may we finally experience the great day of geulah, when the Shechinah will return to dwell among us forever.

It says in the Reshit Chochma that the true determinant whether a person is considered a tzaddik is from the way he deals with others when it comes to money. It says in the Tana Diveh Eliyahu Raba that בעלי אמנה – those who are honest when it comes to money are the ones who will merit to be together with Hashem במחיצתו-in His partition, as it says in Tehillim, "עיני בנאמני ארץ לשבת עמדי-My eyes are on the faithful of the land; they will dwell with me." Someone who has Yirat Shamayim is extra careful to make sure he never owes anybody money. His first priority is honesty and integrity. Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous individuals who don't have a problem violating the will of Hashem and taking money in treacherous ways. What should a person's attitude be if he was swindled by one of those people? I met a man recently who told me that some ten years ago over $200 million was stolen from him, which he was never able to recover. After a couple of years of depression and thinking about what could have been and what should have been, he began delving into the topic of emunah. And today, he is happier than ever. He understands the money came to him from Hashem and was taken away from him by Hashem. He used the experience to get closer to Hashem and now spends his days involved in communal work. As much as it looks like people can use their free will to take money from us, it's not true. They could use their free will to try to take, but they can't actually accomplish anything if it is not the will of Hashem. Hashem has countless ways of foiling people's plans and when He doesn't, it's because that's what was meant to be. Of course, the deceitful party will have to pay for his actions, but that's not our business. Somebody told me they were swindled out of an inheritance by their very own family member. They know no one can take a penny from them, and they know they're allowed to make a hishtadlut to try to get it back, but it bothers them so much to know that they were betrayed by their very own family. They don't know if they can ever have any type of relationship with them ever again. It's a hard nisayon to deal with, but they should know, the more they're able to rise above their nature and view what happened as totally coming only from Hashem, the better off they will be. They still have the mitzvah of not bearing a grudge, and they still have the mitzvah of not harboring hatred. Those are commandments given by Hashem. He knows how difficult they are, and He will reward those who make the efforts to keep them. Hashem can give us the money that's meant for us in so many ways. Our primary goal is always making sure we are pleasing Him. A man who lives in Israel told me that he has a daughter and a son-in-law, who we'll call Yosef, who work together in their own travel agency. They recently had a dispute with somebody over a thousand shekels. Yosef explained to the other party why it was clear that he owed the money, but he just wouldn't hear it. Yosef then suggested politely that they go to a Bet Din to settle it. The other party said, "No way, I'm taking you to a Bet Mishpat," (a secular court). Although Yosef knew he was one hundred percent right and would definitely win, he also knew it would be a chilul Hashem for him to be in a secular court over this. He has a picture in his home of Rav Shteinman with a caption saying, "My whole life, I never saw anybody being mevater – giving in – and losing as a result." So with great strength, he told the other party, "Forget it, I'm dropping it." The very next day, Yosef was in a convenience store and decided to buy a scratch-off ticket, something he never does. He scratched off the numbers and was delighted to see, he won exactly 1000 shekels. הרבה שלוחים למקום-Hashem has many agents. What is meant for us to have, we're going to get. We have to concentrate on doing what Hashem wants us to do. We need to be considered a tzaddik in Hashem's eyes, and everything else will fall into place.

One of the tests in bitachon comes when we become convinced that our salvation has to come through a specific person, a specific organization, or a certain circumstance. We know Hashem can help us, but deep down we think there is only one path to accomplishing it. It is up to us to realize that Hashem never needs any specific avenue to bring a yeshuah. It can always come in infinitely more ways than we could ever imagine. I read a story about R' Rabinowitz from Israel whose young daughter was born with a deformity in her leg. After three successful surgeries in Los Angeles, there was only one operation left. The final surgery would allow her to walk normally for the rest of her life. The family naturally assumed that just as the insurance company had paid for the first three surgeries, it would pay for the fourth and final one as well. But then they were told they had reached the coverage limit. The insurance company had already paid over a million shekels and refused to pay any more. The family tried everything they could. They appealed to the Ministry of Health. They contacted different askanim. They hired a lawyer. They met with a medical specialist whose opinion they hoped would help their case. But everything they tried did not work. Even the specialist's report actually worked against them. It appeared that the entire future of their daughter's treatment depended on one thing—convincing the insurance company to change its mind. They did not become discouraged. The family strengthened themselves in bitachon. They learned Sha'ar HaBitachon every day. They accepted upon themselves to become more careful with berachot and answering Amen, and they poured out their hearts to Hashem in tefillah. The rabbi's wife would spend time alone speaking to Hashem in her own words, thanking Him for all the kindnesses He had already shown them and asking Him to continue helping them. Then one of their children said something that completely changed their perspective. "Why do we keep asking Hashem that the insurance company should pay? What difference does it make who pays? Hashem can pay for the surgery even without the insurance company." Those simple words made a tremendous impact on the entire family. So often we become attached to the messenger instead of the Sender. We think the yeshuah has to come in a certain way, and when we see that it is not going to come that way, we begin to feel that hope is lost. But Hashem is never limited by a messenger. If one avenue proves not to work, we must know that Hashem has endless ways—ways that we never even knew existed—to help us. This family continued making normal hishtadlut, but now they did it with the understanding that the source of their salvation was not their hishtadlut and it was not the insurance company. They did what they had to do, and they knew the outcome was in Hashem's Hands. They asked the surgeon for a discount since the insurance wasn't going to cover the surgery, and amazingly, he gave them a fifty-percent discount—something the secretary said she had never seen in forty years. They were then connected with a free-loan fund that agreed to help them. One day, while walking somewhere, the rabbi met a childhood friend who connected him with a wealthy donor in New York who agreed to cover the entire cost of the surgery. Then, just as they landed in Los Angeles, they received a phone call informing them that the Ministry of Health had reversed its decision and approved full funding for the surgery. Hashem gave them multiple solutions all at the same time. Initially, they thought everything depended on the insurance company, but Hashem showed them that He has unlimited ways of helping. He can give a discount on the surgery. He can provide a loan. He can send a wealthy donor. He can cause the insurance company to change its mind. Whenever we find ourselves thinking, "If only this person says yes," "If only I get this deal," or "If only this opportunity works out," we should remember the child's simple words: "What difference does it make who pays?" Our job is to do normal hishtadlut and then understand that Hashem will send the yeshuah in the way that He wants. And He has infinitely more ways to do it than we could ever imagine.

There are times when we have a certain plan that we're excited to carry out. We picture exactly how things are going to unfold, and we feel that our plan is going to be the best possible outcome. But then, suddenly, something happens that throws everything off. The opportunity disappears, someone interrupts our plans, and naturally, we feel disappointed and frustrated. At those moments, we have to remember a fundamental principle of emunah. It is very possible that if we react the right way, we will gain far more than we ever could have had our original plan succeeded. What appears to be an obstacle may actually be Hashem redirecting us to something much greater. Rav Shmuel Tzvi Kovalsky made sure that every year on his father's yahrtzeit he would be the chazzan at the minyan. It was something that meant a great deal to him, and it was his way of bringing an aliyah to his father's neshamah. One year, while waiting for the next minyan, he noticed an elderly man who appeared to need help. Although he realized that if he helped that man, he might lose the opportunity to be the chazzan at the next minyan, he offered to help anyway, figuring he would wait for the following minyan. The man first asked him to help fold his tefillin. Afterwards, he asked if he could accompany him home. Rav Shmuel assumed it would take only a few minutes because he knew the man had lived nearby. However, the man explained that he had recently moved five blocks away and that the walk usually took him thirty minutes. Rav Shmuel became very concerned that he might miss every remaining minyan to be the chazzan. Nevertheless, he strengthened himself and continued doing the chesed. When they finally reached the building, the elderly man apologized and explained that the elevator was broken. He lived on the fourth floor and couldn't get up the stairs alone. Once again, Rav Shmuel strengthened himself and continued the chesed. He silently said, "Hashem, please let this chesed serve as an aliyah for my father's neshamah in case I'm not able to be the chazzan." He then helped the man all the way up the four flights of stairs. By the time he got back to shul, the final minyan had already started and someone else was the chazzan. Rav Shmuel was heartbroken, but that night his father appeared to him in a dream. "My son," he said, "every year you are the chazzan for me on my yahrtzeit, and I receive so much nachat ruach from it. But this year you gave me something much greater. The nachat ruach I received from your sacrificing something so important to help another Jew far surpassed what I would have received had you simply been the chazzan. You were willing to give up something so precious to you in order to help someone else. That brought me an immeasurably greater aliyah." Rav Shmuel thought he was losing his opportunity, but in reality, Hashem gave him something much more valuable. A woman related a similar experience. She recently attended the wedding of a close friend who had finally become engaged after many years. Everyone was dancing with tremendous joy when someone accidentally bumped into her very hard and knocked her sheitel off her head. The embarrassment was overwhelming. As she bent down to pick it up, she made a conscious decision. "I forgive the person who just did this. I have no anger toward her." She remembered what Chazal teach—that when a person experiences public embarrassment and accepts it without retaliation, it is an especially auspicious time for tefillah. Right then she prayed that her two closest friends, ages twenty-five and twenty-four, should both become engaged within the month. Amazingly, three weeks later the twenty-five-year-old became engaged, and on the very last day of that month, the twenty-four-year-old became engaged as well. This woman had gone to the wedding expecting nothing more than an enjoyable evening. Instead, Hashem placed before her an unexpected challenge. Had she become upset, the night would have ended with disappointment. Instead, she accepted the situation with emunah, transformed a painful moment into a powerful moment of tefillah, and merited to accomplish something far greater than she could have ever imagined. When our plans suddenly change, instead of asking, "Why did this happen?" we should ask, "What does Hashem want from me right now?" If we respond with emunah, we may discover that what seemed like an interruption was actually the greatest opportunity of all.

ArtScroll will be offering many books at 50% off in the upcoming weeks including some volumes of Living Emunah. Click the link to view the selection. artscroll.com/categories/wk1. html In this week's parasha, Devarim, Moshe Rabbenu reviews some of the events which transpired during the forty years in which the Jewish People traveled through the desert. One of which was the episode of the meraglim – the spies. The pasuk says when the Jews heard the negative report from the meraglim, they complained and said, "בשנאת ה' אותנו הוציאנו ממצרים לתת אותנו ביד האמורי להשמידנו– Because of Hashem's hatred for us He took us out of Egypt to have us wiped out at the hands of the Emorim." Rashi, there, writes, they thought Hashem hated them, but in truth Hashem loved them. Their crying that night came from a misunderstanding of who Hashem is and that proved to be their downfall. Many people today still misinterpret Hashem and think that He hates us, Heaven forbid, even though He loves us so much. If you would combine all of the love that exists in the world today, it won't even come close to the love that Hashem has for every single Jew individually. Having the wrong perception of who Hashem is destroys our emunah and makes our lives so much more difficult emotionally. Somebody told me he has so much blessing, but he's afraid to enjoy it because he thinks at any moment Hashem is just going to take it all away from him. His fear comes from a misunderstanding of who Hashem is. He believes that Hashem is looking to hurt people, but there could be nothing further from the truth. אהבת עולם אהבתנו – Hashem has an eternal unbreakable love for us. If He ever does take something away from a person, it's because it was the absolute best thing Hashem could have done for him. Hashem looks to give us. He loves bestowing blessing upon us. He begs us to do the mitzvot and follow Torah so that He can give us all that He wants to. If someone has the wrong idea about Hashem, he needs to uproot his negative feelings and replace them with feelings of love for Him. Rabbi Lugassi wrote in his sefer Ne'emneh Hashem, one advice for a person to build up love for Hashem is for him to think about Hashem's love when he's about to experience a pleasure that he's excited for. For example, if someone is about to eat a delicious food that he loves, he should pause beforehand and think, Hashem is the one who created this food and He is the one who is giving it to me right now so that I could enjoy it. In fact, He is the Source of all pleasures in this world. I thank Him for giving me the ability to enjoy this right now. The fact that we are even able to have a feeling of pleasure is a present from Hashem. He created us so that we could enjoy ourselves. Real enjoyment comes from spirituality. Physical pleasures are a very distant second, but they do give us some form of enjoyment as well, and it is Hashem who is the source of it. If we get a new car, or a new home, or a new suit or a new piece of furniture or jewelry, whatever it is, we should understand, the pleasure we have in them comes from Hashem, and the gift itself also came from Hashem. How much more so should we have those feelings when we get married or when we have a child. Hashem wants us to be happy more than we do. If we could learn to trust Him and live the lives He told us to live, that will give us the ultimate pleasure, then we'll be able to truly enjoy both this world and the Next one.

Chazal teach us that the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed because of Sinat Chinam—baseless hatred. And our Rabbis have explained that, in truth, almost all hatred is baseless , because we know that whatever another person does to us is ultimately coming directly from Hashem. Even though people have free will, person A cannot use that free will to harm person B unless Hashem allows it—and that only happens if it's meant to be. If someone is able to cause us pain, it's only because Hashem decreed it for our benefit. It may have saved us from something far worse. Instead of resentment, we should feel joy that Hashem is taking care of us in the way He knows is best. When we overcome our natural reactions and respond with emunah, our relationships become more peaceful and loving. That inner peace brings happiness—but more than that, it is Avodat Hashem of the highest level, and it opens the gates of blessing. Chazal say, "The only vessel that can hold blessing is peace." A person can have a spouse, children, multiple homes, cars, and all the wealth in the world—but if there is no peace, none of it can be enjoyed. It's worthless. One of the greatest pieces of advice for someone who wants more happiness and more blessing in life is to make peace with those they are at odds with. A man told me a story that began about ten years ago. His father had a bitter falling-out with a longtime business partner, and the partnership ended with deep resentment. The partner left, and the father continued running the business with his son. But after the split, the company began to struggle. The atmosphere at work became heavy, and nothing was going right. There was tension everywhere. Seven years later, out of nowhere, the former partner walked back in and asked for a job. Surprisingly, they agreed—and gave him a high-level position. From that day on, the business began to grow and flourish. Today, it's more successful than it ever was. The son couldn't understand how this man just showed up again. When he asked his father, the answer became clear: "That machloket was bothering me for years," his father said. "One day I decided to call him, apologize, and make peace. I felt such relief afterward, and I guess he felt comfortable enough to return and ask for a job." There's no doubt: the success came from the act of shalom. When peace is made, everyone feels better—and even more importantly, we bring tremendous nachat ruach to Hashem, who wants nothing more than to see His children getting along. People may hurt us, but it's our job to fulfill Hashem's will and love them anyway. It's not always easy. But with a little chizuk, we can do it. A woman shared with me that she and her husband weren't invited to a certain wedding. They knew the reason and were okay with it. But on the day of the wedding, they kept getting phone calls from others: "What time are you going?" "Want me to save you a seat at the reception?" "Are you bringing the kids?"—all assuming they were invited. Each call felt like another dagger. By the time the wedding started, they were fuming. The woman wanted to forgive, but it felt too painful. The very next morning, she opened a daily email on emunah that she hadn't opened in over a week. The title? "When You Aren't Invited to a Wedding." She couldn't believe it. She read it again and again until the message sank in. It reminded her that everything comes from Hashem—that even this was tailor-made for her benefit. With that perspective, she found the strength to truly forgive. And afterward? She felt so free. Holding on to anger and hurt only poisons us. But when we let go, when we forgive—even when it's hard—and believe that everything is from Hashem, we feel lighter, more joyful, and we open our lives to blessing. If we can do that, B'ezrat Hashem we'll merit the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash. Amen.

ArtScroll will be offering many books at 50% off in the upcoming weeks including some volumes of Living Emunah. Click the link to view the selection. artscroll.com/categories/wk1. html One of the mistakes people make is believing that if they don't have enough money, they can't have what they need. We naturally assume that the deciding factor in what we'll be able to own is the balance in our bank account, but we know otherwise. Hashem is never limited by a person's salary or financial circumstances. If He wants someone to have something, He has unlimited ways of making it happen. Money is only one of His many messengers. A rabbi recently shared a story. For a few years, he and his wife had been trying to move from their apartment into a house. Their family had grown, baruch Hashem, and they had outgrown their apartment. Living in Brooklyn, however, they found themselves in one of the most expensive real estate markets, and every possibility seemed to be far beyond their reach. Then one day, they discovered what appeared to be the perfect house. It was exactly where they wanted to live, close to everything important to them. They had always assumed they would have to move to a less convenient neighborhood, but this house was perfect in every way, and there was a "For Rent" sign in front. There was only one problem. The owner wanted only to rent it, not sell it, and the rent was over $7,000 a month, far more than they could afford. They were currently paying $4,500 for their apartment, and there was no way they could take on such an additional expense. They were disappointed, but they continued praying and asking Hashem for help. A few days later, they attended a simcha. During a conversation, the rabbi's wife happened to mention the beautiful house they had seen and how they wished they could live there. The woman she was speaking to replied, "A relative of mine lives next door to that house. I think I can find out who the owner is." A short time later, they discovered that the owner was someone they knew very well. He had recently become a regular attendee of the rabbi's classes, and two of his children attended the yeshiva where the rabbi taught. Hashem had connected them long before they ever discovered this house of their dreams. The rabbi called the owner and asked if he would be willing to sell. The owner said he couldn't, but he did offer to lower the rent slightly. Even with the discount, however, it was still far beyond their budget. They continued praying, and then an unexpected idea entered the rabbi's mind. The yeshiva where he taught had recently discussed giving him a small raise because of the extra work he was doing. Since the homeowner paid tuition to that yeshiva, perhaps they could structure the raise differently. Instead of increasing his salary, which wouldn't make much of a difference, maybe the yeshiva would agree to reduce the homeowner's tuition by a larger amount, allowing the owner to lower the rent accordingly. The board considered the proposal and actually agreed. The rabbi then returned to the homeowner and asked if he would accept the tuition reduction in exchange for lowering the rent. He then asked if, even after that, he might lower the rent just a little more. The owner replied, "For you, I'll do it." Suddenly, the impossible became possible. The monthly payment for the house of their dreams was now almost exactly what they had been paying for their apartment. Looking back, it was clear that Hashem had been arranging everything in advance. He inspired the owner to attend the rabbi's classes instead of someone else's so they would develop a relationship. He arranged the conversation at the simcha that revealed who the owner was. He placed the creative idea into the rabbi's mind and gave the yeshiva board the willingness to approve it. Every piece was orchestrated perfectly for this family to move into the home they needed, even though they did not have the money to afford it. How often do we look at something and say, "I know I need it, but I just can't afford it"? Of course, if something is beyond our budget, it may very well be because it isn't good for us to have. But we don't know Hashem's calculations. Therefore, we can still pray for Him to give it to us in other ways. Hashem never needs a person to have money in order to give him what He wants him to have. Sometimes He gives a person more money. Sometimes He lowers the price. Sometimes He inspires other people to help. And sometimes He creates opportunities that never existed before. Hashem has countless ways to give a person exactly what He wants him to have. Our job is to make a normal hishtadlut and pray as hard as we can for the yeshuah we need. Hashem will decide if, how, and when that yeshuah will come. If He wants us to have something, no financial obstacle will ever stand in the way. When the time is right, He will open doors that no one ever imagined could be opened.

One of the great benefits of having emunah is the sense of calm that it brings when we realize that Hashem is guiding every step we take in life. People may think their future depends on the decisions they make, the people they meet, or the opportunities they find, but in truth, Hashem is arranging all of that. A person is always exactly where Hashem wants him to be. He meets the people Hashem wants him to meet. He lives in the house Hashem wants him to live in. He works at the job Hashem wants him to have. Even the unexpected detours and closed doors are guiding him to exactly where he is meant to be. A woman shared the following story. Her son was learning in a yeshivah in Lakewood. For years, it had been his dream to learn Torah in Eretz Yisrael. About a month earlier, however, he spoke with his Rosh Yeshivah, who told him that since he was learning so well, he should remain in America. They accepted the Rosh Yeshivah's decision and moved on. The young man was a Canadian citizen, and because his yeshivah did not provide the visa documentation he needed to remain in the United States, he had to return home to Toronto for a short time before attempting to reenter America. When he arrived back at the border, he was denied entry. He was devastated. The entire plan had suddenly collapsed. What would they do now? That very day happened to be the last day to submit an early application to the Mir Yeshivah in Yerushalayim. Although the young man still expected to return to America, he submitted the application anyway. The mother said she worked very hard to strengthen her emunah, constantly reminding herself that Hashem was in charge. After Shabbat, her son finally reached his Rosh Yeshivah and explained everything that had happened. This time, the Rosh Yeshivah gave him completely different guidance. "You should go learn in Eretz Yisrael." Within hours, he found an affordable flight leaving that very day, and all of a sudden he was on a plane heading to Eretz Yisrael, fulfilling the dream he had cherished for years. Looking back, they realized that the closed border had never been an obstacle. It was the very vehicle Hashem used to bring him exactly where he was meant to be. Chazal tell us, " רגלוהי דאיניש אינון ערבין ביה " —a person's feet are his guarantors. They carry him to the place where Hashem has decreed he needs to be. Sometimes we set out intending to go in one direction and end up somewhere entirely different. What seems like an unexpected turn is often Hashem gently directing our steps to the place where our mission awaits us. Every encounter is carefully orchestrated. Every opportunity is handpicked. Every delay has a purpose. Every person we meet is part of Hashem's perfect plan. We don't always understand why we are led down one path instead of another, but we can be certain that every detail has been arranged with precision. When we truly internalize this, life becomes so much calmer. Instead of constantly wondering, "What if I had made a different decision?" we can say, "Hashem placed me exactly where I need to be." Instead of regretting the opportunities we think we missed, we can appreciate the opportunities that Hashem arranged specifically for us to have. And instead of worrying about the future, we can continue forward with confidence, knowing that the One Who brought us to where we are today will continue leading us to every place we need to be tomorrow.

When a person needs a yeshuah for a problem he has, his first thoughts are usually to focus on that problem, think of ways to solve it, and pray to Hashem to take it away. Sometimes, however, the salvation comes from a completely different angle—from focusing on someone else's problem and trying to help bring them a yeshuah. A woman related that her daughter needed a great deal of dental work, but she couldn't find a dentist who accepted their insurance. The treatments were going to cost $10,000. At that time, she was teaching from the Sefer Shemirat HaLashon . She came across a teaching from the Chafetz Chaim that when a person has mercy on others, Hashem has mercy on him. She immediately prayed, "Hashem, please send me someone that I can have mercy on." That very day, she received a phone call from a woman raising money for her niece's wedding. After carefully verifying the story, she found out that the kallah came from a distinguished family in Eretz Yisrael and needed exactly $10,000 to make the wedding. She felt that Hashem had answered her tefillah by giving her the opportunity to help with this great mitzvah, and help she did. That same day, she mentioned her daughter's dental situation to a friend, who suggested trying a certain dentist. The woman replied, "I know about that dentist. They aren't accepting any new patients." Her friend answered, "Don't worry. Hashem is in charge. Try anyway." On Shivah Asar B'Tammuz, she managed to get an unexpected appointment. Amazingly, not only did the dentist agree to take her daughter as a new patient, but he also accepted their insurance. The entire $10,000 bill was covered. As if that wasn't enough, she later discovered that the very friend who told her to call this dentist had been the one who canceled her own son's appointment the day before because he didn't want to go to the dentist on a fast day. The lesson that she had just learned from the Chafetz Chaim became her own reality. She looked for an opportunity to have mercy on someone else, and Hashem had mercy on her. A man told me another story with the very same message. His wife found out that a close friend needed to undergo a very dangerous medical procedure. Wanting to create a zechut on her behalf, they organized hundreds of people to learn the laws of Shemirat HaLashon for forty straight days. The man prepared a booklet and divided it into daily lessons with clear and concise halachot. Many schools joined the initiative, and hundreds of people strengthened themselves in guarding their speech. This created an enormous zechut for the woman with countless people growing in this great mitzvah. Baruch Hashem, her procedure went very well. Then something completely unexpected happened. The very man who had organized the entire undertaking was told that he himself needed to undergo a dangerous medical procedure. The timing was incredible. His procedure was scheduled just as the fortieth and final day of the Shemirat HaLashon campaign came to an end. Baruch Hashem, his procedure was a success. He had organized this learning solely to help someone else. He never imagined that the very zechut he was creating for another person would become the zechut that would help him through his own medical issue. When we are given the opportunity to help others, we may think Hashem is simply giving us the chance to help someone else. In reality, He may also be preparing the very yeshuah that we ourselves may one day need. Every act of chesed, every mitzvah, and every opportunity to help another Jew has the potential to help us in ways we could never imagine. The Chafetz Chaim wasn't just teaching a beautiful idea. He was revealing one of the ways Hashem runs this world. When we look for opportunities to care about the pain of others, Hashem looks upon our pain with greater compassion. Sometimes the yeshuah that we are hoping to receive begins with becoming the yeshuah for somebody else.

We spend a lot of time making different calculations. We think about what's going to bring us the greatest benefit, what's going to produce the best outcome, and what will help us accomplish the most. That's a good approach when it comes to our physical lives, but when it comes to avodat Hashem, there is a different rule. Our job is not to calculate what we think will accomplish the most. It is to do exactly what Hashem asks us to do and trust that His calculations are infinitely greater than ours. Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian brings out this lesson very clearly in the first of this week's two parashiyot. In Parashat Matot, Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu to go to war against Midyan, and immediately afterward he would leave this world. Rashi, quoting the Midrash, points out the greatness of Moshe Rabbeinu. Even though he knew that fulfilling this command would bring about his own death, he did not hesitate for a moment. He fulfilled Hashem's command with joy and without delay. Rabbi Lopian notes that we find what appears to be a different approach by Yehoshua bin Nun. Hashem also commanded Yehoshua to wage war and conquer Eretz Yisrael, and after that mission was complete, his life would come to an end. Chazal tell us that Yehoshua delayed the war, and as a result, he lost ten years of his life. Rabbi Lopian explains that Yehoshua had the best of intentions. He knew Moshe Rabbeinu's prophecy that after Moshe died, the Jewish people would eventually stray from the proper path. Yehoshua understood that as long as he remained alive, it was considered as if Moshe was still alive, because Chazal teach that as long as a student lives, it is as if his rebbe is still living. Indeed, the Jewish people remained loyal to Hashem throughout Yehoshua's lifetime, and only after he died did they begin serving avodah zarah. Yehoshua therefore made a calculation. If he delayed the war, he would live longer, and Klal Yisrael would remain on the proper path for a longer period of time. It seemed like a wonderful calculation. Moshe Rabbeinu could have made the very same calculation. He could have thought, "If I delay the war against Midyan and remain alive longer, I'll continue leading the Jewish people, and they too will remain on the proper path." But Moshe Rabbeinu did not make calculations. Hashem told him to do something, and he did it immediately. In the end, Yehoshua's calculation accomplished just the opposite of what he intended. Instead of gaining years, he lost ten years of his life, and consequently, the Jewish people strayed from the proper path earlier than they would have had he fulfilled Hashem's command immediately. Moshe Rabbeinu, on the other hand, only gained. Because he fulfilled Hashem's command without delay, the prophecy that the Jewish people would stray from the path was postponed until after Yehoshua's passing. Hashem fulfilled the prophetic words אחרי מותי כי השחת תשחיתון to mean not only after Moshe's death, but after the death of his faithful student as well. By trusting Hashem, Moshe accomplished far more than he ever could have by making his own calculations. Very often we also make calculations when it comes to Torah and mitzvot. We say, "I know I should give tzedakah, but first I want to become more financially secure." "I know I should spend more time learning Torah, but right now I need to build my career." "I know I should do this mitzvah, but maybe if I wait a little longer, it will work out better." Our job is not to calculate how Hashem's commands will produce the best results. Our job is to do what Hashem wants now. Hashem, Who sees the past, present, and future all at once, has already made every calculation. Living with emunah means recognizing that Hashem's calculations are infinitely greater than ours. If we do our job by fulfilling His will with joy and without delay, trusting that we only gain by listening to Him, then we will fulfill our mission in this world properly. Shabbat Shalom

One of the hardest experiences in life is watching an opportunity that we almost had slip away. A person may have worked so hard for something, and everything seemed to be falling into place, only for it to disappear at the very last minute. At that moment, it feels as if we lost something that was meant to be ours. That is precisely when we need to dig deep and access our emunah, trusting that not only was it not meant for us, but it would have been the worst thing for us to have. Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Meir Ehrlich related the following story. A heartbroken man came to him. He had been living in a tiny apartment for a long time and had finally found what seemed to be the perfect house. He had already spoken with the owner, and everything looked very promising. The real estate agent told him that another buyer had made an offer, but if he would submit a bid that was even one euro higher, the house would be his. The man was thrilled. He prepared all the paperwork, and on Friday, just before faxing in his proposal, something very unusual happened. The papers suddenly became soaked, the writing smudged, and he had to start all over again. Time passed, and he realized he was not going to finish before Shabbat. His wife told him, "Shabbat is almost here. Put everything away. You'll continue afterward." She wanted the house just as much as he did, but she wanted to honor Shabbat even more. Together they put everything aside and welcomed the Shabbat. After Shabbat, he contacted the agent only to hear the disappointing news. The house had been sold to the other buyer. The man was devastated. "Maybe I should have ignored the clock and kept writing," he asked the rabbi. The rabbi comforted him. "Don't you see that Hashem orchestrated this? Is it natural for the papers to become ruined at the exact moment you were about to send them? You don't yet understand why, but you can be certain that this house was not good for you." The rabbi later related that after telling this story to a man sitting next to him on an airplane, the passenger replied, "Please tell that Jew my story. He doesn't yet know the happy ending to his, but I was privileged to see mine." This man then related that seventeen years earlier, he had wanted to buy a beautiful apartment in Herzliya. The negotiations dragged on until they finally agreed on a price. Then the Second Lebanon War broke out, and the seller became willing to accept his offer. The agreement came during the Nine Days, and before signing, he asked his rabbi, Rabbi Yosef Cohen, what to do. His rabbi told him, "Do not sign during the Nine Days. Wait until the fifteenth of Av." He listened. But by the time the fifteenth of Av arrived, the war had ended, the prices had risen again, and the owner refused to sell the apartment for that price. The deal fell apart. The man was crushed. After spending six months in Eretz Yisrael hoping to buy an apartment, he returned home empty-handed. Some time later, he returned to Herzliya to continue looking. He told the new agent, "Please don't take me down the street where the first apartment I almost bought is. It will hurt too much to see it." The agent tried to avoid that street, but by mistake they found themselves there. Unable to resist, the man glanced toward the house and froze. The house wasn't there. It was just an empty lot. The agent asked, "That was the apartment you almost bought? Didn't you hear what happened?" After the new owner began renovating, an architect discovered that the entire structure was dangerously unsound. The municipality declared it unsafe, and the house had to be demolished completely. The buyer, who thought he had purchased a beautiful home, suffered an enormous financial loss and tremendous aggravation. At that moment, the man realized that what had seemed like his greatest disappointment had actually been one of Hashem's greatest acts of kindness towards him. How many times in life do we cry over opportunities that we think we lost? The job that didn't work out, the house that someone else got, the investment we couldn't make, or the shidduch that never came to fruition. We only see the closed door, but we don't see what is behind it. Sometimes Hashem allows us to discover years later why He said no, and sometimes we never find out. But our responsibility is always the same—to believe that if Hashem prevented something from happening, then that opportunity was never ours to begin with. The opportunities that Hashem takes away are no less an expression of His love than the ones that He gives us. We call them disappointments, but in Shamayim they are called salvations. One day, we will look back and realize that some of the greatest blessings in our lives were not only the things that Hashem gave us, but also the things that He lovingly withheld from us.

Part of the process of growing in emunah is to train ourselves to think with pure hashkafa . Our nature is to see things the way they appear to be, but we must be able to see beyond what meets the eye. When a person is sick and goes to the doctor, usually he gets better, and if he doesn't go and neglects his sickness, he usually gets worse. It is only natural to think that the doctor or the medication is what cured. The person may have learned that it is really Hashem who cures, and he says three times a day in the Amidah that Hashem is the רופא חולי עמו ישראל , but it's still very hard to fully believe that when what he sees seems otherwise. The Chazon Ish wrote in a letter, people think that the advancement of medicine has prolonged life because if someone gets a certain sickness in today's day and age, after the cure has been discovered, he will live, whereas if he got that sickness in a previous generation, he would have died from it. People think that if there wouldn't be such a thing as car accidents, many more individuals would be alive today. People think that because Hatzalah arrived on the scene when they did, the person who they helped lived, but if they wouldn't have gotten there on time, the outcome would have been different. Says the Chazon Ish, these thoughts are a denial of Hashem's providence in the world. Nobody who was ever decreed to live, died, and no one who was decreed to die, lived. The way it works is, if a person is destined to die, then Hashem gives him a sickness that does not have a cure, or a heart attack in a place where Hatzalah is far away, or puts him in a car accident with no chance of survival. If someone is meant to live, however, he may get a sickness that has a cure, or a heart attack when Hatzalah is right near him, or be in a car accident and only sustain injuries. It is never the circumstances that cause anything, it is only Hashem. The Chazon Ish writes further, not only did the advancement of medicine not add life, in fact, it has only brought about more illnesses, because in the past, when medication was not available, only a limited amount of people would be given a certain illness, because it was through that illness that they would leave the world. But now that the sickness is curable, many more people will get it, because it is used as a form of yisurin , rather than a way to take a person from the world. People think that medication, or the advancement of it, has taken away pain. That's also not true, because the amount of pain that a person has to endure is determined on Rosh Hashanah, and there are infinite ways for pain to come upon a person. Hashem decides what pain comes, and how the pain comes, based on what's best for the person. Moreover, with all of our advancements, mental illness has increased exponentially. In the past, there was not so much of a fear of sickness, and there were many cities that didn't even have a local doctor. Today, there's a doctor on every corner, and everyone's afraid of the next sickness they might get. The Chazon Ish continues, people's misunderstanding of the world has also led to them not fulfilling certain religious responsibilities, namely having additional children. As the pasuk says, ולערב אל תנח ידיך . People do not want to go through the struggle of raising more children, as they would rather take it easy. If we believe that it's the children that cause the difficulties, that would be a good point. But once again, it is Hashem who decides how many struggles a person needs to have for his own good, and those struggles could come in many different ways, including parnasa , relationships, health, and the list goes on. In the zechut of struggling in a mitzvah, like raising children in the ways of Hashem, that will only remove other potential forms of struggle, and the person will be rewarded for this struggle as well. This is the pure hashkafa of emunah that the Chazon Ish has ingrained into himself and shared with us. Of course, we appreciate all of Hatzalah's efforts, and we appreciate medication and everything else that Hashem provides for us, but we must know, אין עוד מלבדו - He is the Hatzalah, He is the medication, only He decides who lives. The more we understand that, the purer our emunah will be.