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Daily Chizuk #1269
Weekly Parasha
Everyday Exile: The Cleansing Power of Personal Galut
Parashat Vayeshev: A Little Tranquility?
The Midrash says in the beginning of this week’s parasha, Vayeshev, ביקש יעקב לישב בשלווה – after all the trials and tribulations that Yaakov Avinu had gone through, he wanted a little tranquility, but immediately afterwards, Hashem brought about the tragedy of him losing Yosef for 22 years. The Midrash continues with a quote in the name of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, “It’s not enough that the tzaddikim are going to get a glorious life in the Next World? They want tranquility here as well?” On the surface level, these sound like harsh words. What would have been so bad for Yaakov to have some peace and tranquility in this world as well?
Very often, people are left with questions on how Hashem is dealing with them, especially after they have done so many good things in the hope of attaining a yeshua they have been longing for. They may have gone to tzaddikim for berachot, prayed very hard, accepted upon themselves new stringencies in mitzvot, but yet what happened after that only made their salvation harder to get. How could it be that after doing so many good things their situation became worse? We have no understanding of the calculations of Hashem, but we know for a fact that if the person knew the calculations, he would be thanking Hashem for every moment of what he had to endure and he would understand why exactly things were panning out the way they were, specifically after he did so many good things.
For now, it is our job to trust and continue doing the best we can serving Hashem. In the future, Hashem will reveal how much we have gained from our experiences and how much more we have gained from our emunah during those experiences.
Shabbat Shalom!!
The Midrash says in the beginning of this week’s parasha, Vayeshev, ביקש יעקב לישב בשלווה – after all the trials and tribulations that Yaakov Avinu had gone through, he wanted a little tranquility, but immediately afterwards, Hashem brought about the tragedy of him losing Yosef for 22 years. The Midrash continues with a quote in the name of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, “It’s not enough that the tzaddikim are going to get a glorious life in the Next World? They want tranquility here as well?” On the surface level, these sound like harsh words. What would have been so bad for Yaakov to have some peace and tranquility in this world as well?
Very often, people are left with questions on how Hashem is dealing with them, especially after they have done so many good things in the hope of attaining a yeshua they have been longing for. They may have gone to tzaddikim for berachot, prayed very hard, accepted upon themselves new stringencies in mitzvot, but yet what happened after that only made their salvation harder to get. How could it be that after doing so many good things their situation became worse? We have no understanding of the calculations of Hashem, but we know for a fact that if the person knew the calculations, he would be thanking Hashem for every moment of what he had to endure and he would understand why exactly things were panning out the way they were, specifically after he did so many good things.
For now, it is our job to trust and continue doing the best we can serving Hashem. In the future, Hashem will reveal how much we have gained from our experiences and how much more we have gained from our emunah during those experiences.
Shabbat Shalom!!
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