21 Jul PARSHAS VAESCHANAN

There was a bachur who was having difficulty controlling his anger, so he asked the
mashgiach of his yeshiva for counsel. The
mashgiach told him the following mashal:
A band of robbers boarded a ship, pretending to be regular passengers. When the ship
was deep at sea, they eavesdropped on
the captain’s cabin, to determine whether
it was a good time to hijack the ship. The
ship’s officers were debating whether they
should make a short stop at a nearby island
or continue on to their primary destination.
They disagreed noisily and even angrily, as
some sailors desired the stopover, while others were in a hurry to get back home. The
thieves considered this a good time to take
over the ship. They entered the office, and
within moments the captain and his crew
were handcuffed, their mouths sealed. The
mashgiach asked the bachur, “In your opinion, were the sailors still angry with each
other?” The bachur said that they weren’t
angry with each other anymore. “What
changed?” The bachur couldn’t pinpoint the
reason, so the mashgiach explained: At first,
they thought they run the ship, and each one
felt that he should have the final word. But
now, they understood that the ship isn’t in
their hands, and there opinions aren’t significant anymore… The mashgiach concluded,
“Similarly, when you know that Hashem is
running the world and not you, there’s never
a reason to be angry. Perhaps you wish matters were different, but you aren’t in charge.
You are not running the world; Hashem is.
He made the situation, so why should you
be upset and angry?
The Yismach Yisrael zt’l considered himself
the worst Yid in Alexander. “So why did
they choose me to be the Rebbe?” he asked.
“It’s because they knew that I wouldn’t become a baal gaavah, for what do I have to be
a baal gaavah about? I don’t have even one
good middah. Therefore,” he told his chassidim, “please, don’t learn from my ways,
because there is nothing to learn from. But
one thing you can learn from me: Although
I lack Torah and mitzvos, I keep myself
happy, all the time. You can learn that from
me, for if the lowest person can be happy,
you can surely be happy, too!”
There’s a parable of someone who was
throwing coins and bills off a high building
because he wanted attention. But everyone
was looking down to collect the money,
and no one was looking up at him. So he
began throwing stones, and finally everyone looked up to see who was throwing the
stones. This is people’s nature to recognize
Hashem when there are hardships, but not
when everything is good.
The Baal HaTurim writes, “[Moshe] said
shirah, praises to Hashem, so his prayer
would be answered.” How does shirah help
prayer to be answered? The Imrei Shaul of
Modzitz zt’l explains that the praises imply
that he is certain that Hashem will help him.
So he sings and he praises Hashem even before the salvation actually occurs. That trust
and attitude is mesugal for his prayers to be
answered. As it states (Tehillim 106:44),
Hashem checks to see whether when people
are going through hard times, they are already praising Hashem, and thanking Him
for the salvation that will certainly come.
There was a man who lived in one the
southern cities of Eretz Yisrael who was
having a hard time marrying off his children. His oldest child was twenty-eight,
and there were another four children over
twenty. For some reason, they weren’t finding their bashert, and the father was very
heartbroken about it. He also had financial
problems. He mortgaged his house to help
his chavrusah marry off his children, but his
chavrusah didn’t pay the monthly dues, and
the bank put up the house for foreclosure.
Once, this man came to Yerushalayim for
a wedding, and a relative asked him why
he looks so down. He told him about his
older children and his financial problems.
The relative replied, “There’s a great tzaddik here, in Yerushalayim. He’s called the
Rebbe of Gur. Tell him your problems, he
will certainly help you.” This man wasn’t
a chassid, and he didn’t want to go to the
chassidic Rebbe, but his relative convinced
him to go. So he went and poured his bitter
heart out before the Rebbe. The Beis Yisrael
asked him, “Do you ever praise Hashem?
Praise should be 60% and requests should
be 40%.” This man told his relative the
counsel he received. The relative said, “You
have a lot to thank Hashem for. You have
health, a wife and children. You always have
food on your table… Focus on the good.
Get into the practice of praising Hashem as
the Rebbe recommended: 60% praise and
40% prayer.” Two months later, the oldest
daughter was engaged. Within a half year,
three of his children were married and two
more were engaged to be married shortly.
Thinking about the wonders and praising
Hashem had brought him, he realized that in
Hallel, we say Hodu laHashem Ki Tov six
times (the final verse is repeated twice…)
while Ana Hashem is said four times. It is
as the Beis Yisrael advised: sixty percent
praise and forty percent requests. That ratio
brings salvations.
The Rebbe of Ruzhin zt’l once heard his
daughter complaining about something.
The Rebbe told her, “One groan brings on
more suffering, and one praise brings more
goodness.” The Rebbe told his daughter the
following story: There was once a wealthy
man who was always complaining about his
lot. Heaven said, “If you think your situation
is bad, you will be shown what’s truly bad,”
and he lost all his money. He complained
even more. Heaven said, “If you think your
situation is bad, you will be shown what’s
truly bad,” and he became a metzora. Now
he wasn’t even able to go to people’s homes
to ask for handouts, because people were
afraid to catch his disease. He complained
some more, and once again, Heaven showed
him that matters could be even worse. He
became hunchbacked, and it was hard for
him to eat. When he hit this very low level,
he said, “At least I’m alive. Baruch Hashem,
I’m alive!” Heaven said, “If you think this is
good, you will be shown what’s truly good,”
and his hunched back straightened out. He
praised Hashem for this, and he was healed
from his leprosy. Now he could speak with
people, and ask them for help. He praised
Hashem for Hashem’s kindness. Heaven
said, “If you think this is good, you will
be shown what’s truly good,” and someone loaned him money so he could restart
his business again, and he became wealthy
again. Because a moan brings on sufffering,
and praise brings on goodness.
“And you who are attached with Hashem
your G-d you are all alive today” (4:4). The
Rebbe of Bohush zt’l said people have three
misconceptions when it comes to deveikus.
(1) They think that this takes place after one
leaves this world, and not while still living
in this world. (2) If it is possible to have
deveikus in this world, it is only the tzaddikim that reach that level. (3) And even if
you will claim that deveikus is for everyone,
it will only be when one is already old, but
not when one is young. To disprove these
thoughts the verse says ‘you can connect
with Hashem even today, when you are
alive. All of you, and not only the tzaddikim. And you reach this level “today.” You
don’t have to wait until you are older. Rebbe
Henoch of Alexander zt’l explained the
verse in the following way: you can become
attached to Hashem, today, by focusing on
“today.” When one thinks that he must be
attached to Hashem always, the feat seems
impossible, even daunting, and it scares
people. Instead, one should think, “I only
have to be connected to Hashem today.”
With this mindset, the objective doesn’t
seem daunting, and one can achieve it.
Notice that a bar mitzvah bachur isn’t called
bar mitzvot, although when he turns thirteen
he is obligated in doing many mitzvos. This
is because if he will think about the many
mitzvos he must do, he may give up before
he begins. We tell the thirteen-year-old bachur, you are a bar mitzvah, you are obligated in one mitzvah. With this mindset, you
will keep the entire Torah.
Emunah should be spoken about constantly.
It should always be on our lips. As it states,
“You shall know today, and you shall review it to your heart that Hashem is G-d in
heaven above and on the earth below…”
(4:39).
The Zohar (Shmos 26:) states, “Why is it
necessary to [constantly] review emunah?
Moshe told them, if you want to know
clearly that Hashem is G-d, then you must
review it. The heart is a mixture of the yetzer
hara and the yetzer tov. You can therefore
forget Hashem, since the yetzer hara is so
intertwined with the yetzer tov. The solution
is emunah.
The Chidushei HaRim writes, “Chassidim
know a lot of concepts, but they must review them. As it states, ìà úåáùäå êááì…
One must review that there is none other
than Hashem. It seems that everyone knows
this; however, the truth is that acquiring
emunah isn’t so simple. One should repeat
ten times, twenty times… a thousand times,
until he knows there’s no one other than
Hashem.”
When reviewing emunah, do so with words,
because speech is very powerful and influential. Emunah gets engraved onto one’s
heart by speech. The Yesod HaAvodah
zt’l (letter 16) writes, “One should say the
Ani Maamins every day. Even if he still
doesn’t believe them, it is important to recite
them… Saying the Ani Maamins will surely
make him a believer, because holy speech is
a great segulah for this.”
Why do we say the Ani Maamins after
Shacharis? The Shefa Chaim of Klausenberg zt’l explains that one has to pray
for emunah. Therefore, we say the Ani
Maamins after the tefilah, because that’s
when we can attain emunah.
Moshe Rabbeinu prayed 515 prayers to
enter Eretz Yisrael. Had Moshe Rabbeinu
prayed just one more prayer, Hashem would
have let him go into Eretz Yisrael. But
Hashem warned him, “Don’t speak to Me
about this matter anymore.” Had the nation prayed for Moshe’s sake, it would have
been counted as that one extra prayer, and
Moshe would be permitted to enter Eretz
Yisrael. Indeed, the Midrash (Devarim
Rabba:10) teaches that Moshe complained
to the nation that they should have helped
him go into Eretz Yisrael. The Midrash
states, “Before Moshe’s demise he gathered the nation and he rebuked them. He
said, ‘One person redeemed six hundred
thousand [because Moshe’s prayers saved
the entire nation from the egel] and sixhundred-thousand people can’t redeem one
person…? Don’t you remember how I led
you [for forty years] in the desert…?’” But
they didn’t consider praying for Moshe. The
Sfas Emes explains that they thought, “If
Moshe Rabbeinu prayed so many prayers,
and his prayers weren’t effective, what can
our prayers accomplish?” They didn’t realize that they also have the power of prayer,
and if they would pray just one more prayer,
Moshe would have been allowed entry
to Eretz Yisrael, and the course of history
would have been changed.