14 Jun EMUNAH

Rebbe Shlomke of

Zvhil would often

say: People claim

that they believe in

Hashem, and they

believe that they

truly do, but the

real test comes

when something doesn’t go their way. Do

they also remember their emunah at these

times? Do they say: “Even this is from

Hashem, and it is for the good,” or are they

upset and distressed? These are the

moments when it is seen whether one truly

has emunah or not. Reb Yechiel Michel

Feinstein’s zt”l daughter suffered from a

severe case of asthma. The family had

three breathing inhaling machines in the

house, so there would always be at least

one available in case of an asthma attack.

One night, their daughter had an attack,

and the family was franticly looking for

the nebulizers, but they couldn’t find any

of them. They called Hatzalah. By the time

they came, she had already died. Only then

did they find the machines. All three of

them were stored under her bed. They

didn’t think of looking there before. The

family was inconsolable and they blamed

themselves for what happened. Why

weren’t we wiser and store the machines

in a place where we will always find

them? Why didn’t we think of looking

under her bed? Their conscience didn’t

give them peace of mind, and they were

berating themselves and each other for

what happened. Reb Yaakov Galinsky

zt”l came to be menachem avel. He told

them, “My rebbes taught me that the

concept of hishtadlus is only about the

future; not about the past. After

something happened, one must believe

that whatever occurred was exactly as

Hashem planned it, and nothing could

have been done to change it. Hakadosh

Baruch Hu who does everything, caused

it to happen. Therefore, the person who

placed the breathing machines under the

bed isn’t guilty, and the family members

who didn’t consider looking there aren’t

guilty either. This was Hashem’s plan,

and nothing people did or did not do

could have changed it…” Only after they

heard these words, were they ready to

receive condolences. Approximately

twenty years ago, a bachur from Yeshivas

Chevron was killed by Arabs, and Reb

Nota Zehnwirth zt”l came to be

menachem avel the father. (The father

was a talmid chacham, one of the magidei

shiur of Yeshivas Chevron.) Reb Nota

came in, sat down, and immediately

asked the father, “If Avraham Avinu

would have slaughtered Yitzchok at the

akeidah, would Avraham Avinu need to

sit shivah for him?” “Of course he

would,” the aveil replied. “Why shouldn’t

he?” “I had my doubts,” Reb Nota

explained, “because the death was

Hashem’s will…” The father replied,

“That isn’t a reason not to mourn. Every

death is Hashem’s will. Whenever

someone dies, it is Hashem’s decree, and

yet, there is an obligation to sit

shivah.” Said Reb Nota Zehnwirth,

“That is exactly what I wanted to

hear.” And then Reb Nota stood up,

said the brachah, Hamakom

yenachem eschem mitoch shaar

aveilei tzion veyerushalayim, and

left. His message was understood.

He wanted the father to know that

even this hard situation was part of

Hashem’s plan. Reb Leibke

Glauberman zt”l was one of the

many tzaddikim who lived in

Yerushalayim (in his younger years,

he was among the chassidim of the

Yanuka zy”a, Rebbe Yisrael of

Stolin zy”a). In his old age, his legs

were ill, and one day the doctors in

the hospital decided that they must

amputate them. Reb Leibke accepted

Hashem’s decree, and he was

brought in for the operation, while

his loyal children waited outside the

operating room. After the operation,

a doctor told the children that they

made a mistake; the operation

wasn’t really necessary. They could

have saved his legs. “But it is too

late now,” the doctor said, “What’s

done is done.” Reb Leibka’s children

were very angry with the doctors for

making this terrible error. When Reb

Leibka woke up they told him that it

was all a mistake, it shouldn’t have

happened. “Your legs didnt need

amputation.” Reb Leibke replied, “I

heard from my holy rebbe, the

Yanuka: ‘Volt ich, zolt ich [if only I

would have done things

differently…] is apikorsus.’

Everything is destined from heaven,

including this amputation. The

By: Rabbi

Elimelech Biderman

doctors manuals

say that an illness

such as I had,

doesn’t call for an

amputation. But

my foot needed to

be amputated

nonetheless. My

proof is that this

is what occurred.

It wouldn’t have

happened if it

wasn’t Hashem’s will.” This is the

approach of the righteous, always

knowing and believing that whatever

occurs, it is Hashem’s will. Reb Gad’l

Eisner zt”l, the renowned mashgiach of

Yeshivas Gur, suffered immensely during

the Holocaust. He went through

Auschwitz, but throughout this terrible

ordeal he remained strong in his emunah.

He would often tell his students the tests

he endured and how he remained strong

with his emunah. One student asked him,

“How did you remain faithful to our

emunah even during these terrible times,

and even after losing your only daughter

at the hands of the reshaim?” Reb Gad’l

explained: “During the Holocaust,

Hashem was very concealed; it was

extremely hard to find Him. This is the

reason so many people fell from their

emunah. But I knew that Hashem was

always with me, and therefore I never lost

hope.” To demonstrate his point, Reb

Gad’l took a bottle cap off the table, hid it

in his hands, and asked the student, “If

someone would come into this room, and

seek the cap, will he find it?” “No,” the

student replied, because it was concealed

in his hand. Reb Gad’l explained that

during the Holocaust, Hashem’s presence

was so concealed, that even those who

looked for Him, had a hard time finding

Him. That is the reason so many people

fell from their emunah. “Now I have

another question for you,” Reb Gad’l said.

“If someone knows that I am holding the

cap in my hands, would he search for it?”

The student replied that he wouldn’t

search for it, because he knows where it

is. Reb Gad’l explained that throughout

the hardships of the war, he knew that

Hashem was always with him and

therefore his emunah remained strong. If

he would search for Hashem, he may not

have found Him, but he didn’t need to

search for Hashem, because he knew that

Hashem was always there. Reb Gad’l

gave his student another analogy, “If

someone lost a diamond that is worth

billions in a dark room, will he stop

searching for it because it is dark and it is

hard to find? Of course not! He will crawl

on his hands and knees and scan the floor,

until he finds it. Similarly, when darkness

covered the earth during the Holocaust,

and it was hard to find Hashem, I knew

that Hakadosh Baruch Hu was there. So I

continued searching for Him, despite the

difficulties and hardships.”