Description: Belief in Hashgachah 08
Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh
Volume I Pages 87-90
Now that we have clarified how to work on our Emunah in a way that will prevent us from becoming angry, frustrated and annoyed with the situation we find ourselves in, we can move on to the next step. We’ve discussed that if we put Hashem into the picture, and we think, ‘Who makes this car work? Why did it start, and why did it stop? Hashem stopped it. Why did He stop it? Does He hate me, chas v’shalom? No! He loves me! If He loves me, why is He doing this? This must be something very important, very good for me.’
This thought process is not an easy thing to achieve, internalize, and be authentic about it. It takes constant repetition – both by thinking about it and talking about it as we have learned previously. Both when things are challenging, but more importantly, when things aren’t challenging, just doing what we want them to be doing – we need to think, ‘Who makes this work? Why does it work sometimes, and sometimes it doesn’t? Hashem is running the show here!’ If we think about this, thousands of times, and talk to ourselves about it – we will eventually be successful internalizing it – really feeling it. We should ask Hashem for help as well – ‘Let me feel it!’ Then when a difficult situation comes up, we naturally will have the right thought process, and we won’t get upset or angry, frustrated or annoyed.
Not only won’t we get angry, but we’ll move to an even higher level – we will be happy! ‘Sameach b’yesurim’, we will rejoice in suffering. This is the ultimate achievement in this concept of Emunah. If we truly believe in purity that Hashem runs everything, that all is under His hashgachah, He loves us, cares about us, and only wants what is 100% good for us – we will be happy with whatever comes our way! This takes tons of work, and it’s not something a person can expect to achieve easily. There will be many times when we get super frustrated despite our best efforts to maintain our Emunah. If we don’t let these times get us down – and continue to get up and work on it – eventually we will grow and grow in this essential middah.
Now let’s discuss when we get angry because of something a person did to us. This is a whole different level of challenge. When the situation doesn’t work out the way we’d like, there’s no one to get angry at, it’s much easier to attribute everything to Hashem and learn to accept it. But when someone deliberately hurt us, maliciously insulted us and caused us pain – it’s very hard to get past that! He or she had a choice – they are a baal bechirah! They chose to attack us – so naturally we will get mad!
There’s a well-known story with the Bais Halevi, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zatzal the Rav of Brisk. One of his congregants came in with a question about a cow, whether it was kosher or treife. The Beis Halevi concluded it was treife, and the man accepted the decision calmly with piety, although this was a great monetary loss. Sometime later, this same man was in a monetary dispute with a friend and they came before the Beis Halevi for a ‘din Torah.’ After deliberation, the court ruled against the man, and required him to pay his friend. The man was furious, and beside himself with rage! The Beis Halevi remarked, ‘Before when I ruled on your cow that it was treife, you accepted the ruling without question, although the amount of money involved was greater than the dispute here! Why now are you so angry? But now there’s another person involved! You have someone opposing you – someone you perceive is taking what’s rightfully yours – that’s war!” It’s very difficult to accept Torah views on something, even when we truly can accept them otherwise – but not when someone is at fault!
Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh
Volume I Pages 87-90
Now that we have clarified how to work on our Emunah in a way that will prevent us from becoming angry, frustrated and annoyed with the situation we find ourselves in, we can move on to the next step. We’ve discussed that if we put Hashem into the picture, and we think, ‘Who makes this car work? Why did it start, and why did it stop? Hashem stopped it. Why did He stop it? Does He hate me, chas v’shalom? No! He loves me! If He loves me, why is He doing this? This must be something very important, very good for me.’
This thought process is not an easy thing to achieve, internalize, and be authentic about it. It takes constant repetition – both by thinking about it and talking about it as we have learned previously. Both when things are challenging, but more importantly, when things aren’t challenging, just doing what we want them to be doing – we need to think, ‘Who makes this work? Why does it work sometimes, and sometimes it doesn’t? Hashem is running the show here!’ If we think about this, thousands of times, and talk to ourselves about it – we will eventually be successful internalizing it – really feeling it. We should ask Hashem for help as well – ‘Let me feel it!’ Then when a difficult situation comes up, we naturally will have the right thought process, and we won’t get upset or angry, frustrated or annoyed.
Not only won’t we get angry, but we’ll move to an even higher level – we will be happy! ‘Sameach b’yesurim’, we will rejoice in suffering. This is the ultimate achievement in this concept of Emunah. If we truly believe in purity that Hashem runs everything, that all is under His hashgachah, He loves us, cares about us, and only wants what is 100% good for us – we will be happy with whatever comes our way! This takes tons of work, and it’s not something a person can expect to achieve easily. There will be many times when we get super frustrated despite our best efforts to maintain our Emunah. If we don’t let these times get us down – and continue to get up and work on it – eventually we will grow and grow in this essential middah.
Now let’s discuss when we get angry because of something a person did to us. This is a whole different level of challenge. When the situation doesn’t work out the way we’d like, there’s no one to get angry at, it’s much easier to attribute everything to Hashem and learn to accept it. But when someone deliberately hurt us, maliciously insulted us and caused us pain – it’s very hard to get past that! He or she had a choice – they are a baal bechirah! They chose to attack us – so naturally we will get mad!
There’s a well-known story with the Bais Halevi, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zatzal the Rav of Brisk. One of his congregants came in with a question about a cow, whether it was kosher or treife. The Beis Halevi concluded it was treife, and the man accepted the decision calmly with piety, although this was a great monetary loss. Sometime later, this same man was in a monetary dispute with a friend and they came before the Beis Halevi for a ‘din Torah.’ After deliberation, the court ruled against the man, and required him to pay his friend. The man was furious, and beside himself with rage! The Beis Halevi remarked, ‘Before when I ruled on your cow that it was treife, you accepted the ruling without question, although the amount of money involved was greater than the dispute here! Why now are you so angry? But now there’s another person involved! You have someone opposing you – someone you perceive is taking what’s rightfully yours – that’s war!” It’s very difficult to accept Torah views on something, even when we truly can accept them otherwise – but not when someone is at fault!