Remember when bochurim would travel for days to arrive
at their yeshivos? You don't? I also don't. It was well
before our time. They used to traverse the fields and forests
of Europe for days on end, subsisting on the staples which
their mothers lovingly packed for the journey. A safe arrival
could not be announced by telephone. One waited for a letter.
There was also no airmal!
Were people more patient in those days? Did they have more
faith in Divine Providence? Perhaps they were, generally, but
individually, people have always existed on many and various
levels. Perhaps they fretted and prayed more, entreating
Hashem to protect their loved ones. Perhaps it was this
difficult situation and the ensuing entreaties that ensured
the safety and success of their beloved sons away from
home...
So where does that leave us? We carry on the tradition. We
can be proud of taking up a worn volume of Dovid Hamelech's
Praises and both thoughtfully and tearfully invoking the
mystical formulas for protection, health or comfort. We can
peruse the oft suddenly meaningful phrases and connect with
Jewish experience throughout the centuries. We can imbue our
consciousness with a heightened awareness of our dependence
on the A-mighty.
Here's a curious tale which might awaken us to our dependence
on Hashem in areas in which we tend to think we are totally
independent...
A middle-aged professional was battling against the traffic
and the clock to arrive at an important business appointment
on time. The success of this deal was imperative. Arriving on
time was paramount to clinching the deal, and a late arrival
would certainly fudge it. He tapped his fingers nervously on
the steering wheel as he approached the last turn to his
destination. He was making good time but he'd need to find a
parking spot quickly. He began a fervent prayer to Hashem:
"Please don't desert me now! I need Your help to close this
deal and if I don't find a parking space soon..."
In the middle of this supplication, he turned the last corner
and saw to his amazement that another driver was just
vacating a nice, big comfortable spot!
"Great! Forget it, I've got the parking place I need!"
*
How often do we ignore the Heavenly assistance that precedes
us as we commute hastily through contemporary life? When we
ask for help from Above, do we dare imagine that it will
materialize? When it does, do we truly acknowledge the source
of the fait accompli?
Even more important, after the fact, do we remember to praise
Hashem for singling us out for attention and thank Him for
His omniscient care? Who are we, anyway, that the Ribnono
Shel Olom disrupt His universal and intense, minute by minute
concerns to dote over whether we arrive on time, have
something to drink or find a convenient parking space? The
least we could do is drop a line, special delivery or slow
boat, to let our Provider know that the assistance was
appreciated! Sometimes we can trace a long list of
circumstancs which led us to find the solutions to our
problems and then we recognize that indeed, the medication
was prepared long before the illness.
In Meir Wickler's new book, Zoreia Tzedokos, we find a
great many examples of just such instances. It is a veritable
textbook for a course of knowing Hashem in all your ways.
Every turn of the author's pen points out in detail how the
Creator has His `finger in every pudding.'
One needs only to open one's eyes and one is compelled to
catch one's breath at the scope of His concern for the
treasured flock. Who needs to know why He loves us so much
when the proof of His love is so overwhelmingly evident? One
should ask why we aren't racing to shower Him with love in
return and running to repay every kindness and gracious act
of His.
Indeed, if we would begin to acknowledge just how important
we are to Hashem, despite our puniness, we could never stop
praising Him for showering us with gifts. So the next time
you find your wishes and petitions granted, whether it
happens before or after you thought to state them, remember
to Whom all of the praise is due.
He gave you life, parents, a home, teachers and classmates,
neighbors and friends, health, (good or not so good), likes,
the air you breathe, the vitamins in your fruit, the minerals
in your vegetables, the protein in your eggs and fish; He
gave you clothing, money (which YOU think is hard earned),
the rays of the sun (which enter into your eyeball, actually
causing you to feel great), and every cell of brain capacity
for understanding or creative imagination.
You are ZERO without Him, and when you acknowledge Him, you
identify with Eternity! That's how you connect to recognizing
the plan in your life and the direction you should be taking.
Then you can become aware that every new possibility is a
love note from Hashem, Who patiently waits for you to return
His Everlasting Love.
When a fellow Jew knocks on the door to ask for a
pittance, know that he was sent for you to repay Hashem. When
a nudnik keeps calling to remind you of a favor she's been
nudging you to do for her, she is also a living love note.
When you have to decide which of the ladies on the bus is
more tired, older or more deserving of the seat than you, you
repay His kindness. When you stand quietly in line behind
others with larger loads to check out, without stealing your
way forward, you are repaying for patience granted. When you
hold your tongue instead of delivering that really funny quip
at someone's expense, or pithy but sharp retort, no matter
how apt, you are repaying the amnesty you enjoy from
retribution.
We all have debts to pay in the Divine ledger. Let's get busy
now discovering novel ways to use these gifts to repay our
loans.
Where is a person who desires life? Let him love days for
seeing the good. Then he will have no reason to say anything
bad, because he will not see anything bad. He loves every
single day because he uses each day to see the good in it!
If he really loves discovering good, discovering life, then
he will not be looking for bad and will have no bad reports.
Evil will be caught in his `good- thought trap' long before
it enters his mouth, and his tongue and lips will be
protected from reporting what is not true.
What could possibly be `not true?' If everything that comes
from Hashem is good, then everything that happens in
intrinsically good. If we interpret events as `bad,' we must
be declaring that we know better than Hashem what is good.
That would truly be falsehood and deceit, for not only the
acts of Divine Providence which we are privileged to see and
understand are part of the Great Plan for Redemption, but
every little detail in all of our lives moves the clock
forward to that wonderful inevitable moment.
May we witness it soon in our days, in this very month of
Redemption!
