פרשת וירא
In this week’s parsha, Avraham Avinu hosts three angels. Assuming them to be Arabs, Avraham nevertheless treats them as if they were royalty and provides them with a lavish feast. After the meal is finished, one of these “Arabs” tells Avraham that he and Sarah will be blessed with a child. Sarah, overhearing the conversation from the privacy of the tent, laughs at the absurdity of the angel’s comment. Hashem, however, doesn’t find it funny. G-d can do anything. What’s Sarah laughing about? The Midrash in Breishis Rabba 18:20 says that Hashem generally doesn’t like to rebuke women and tries to avoid it, but Sarah’s laughing could not be allowed to go unpunished. However, we can ask a very simple question. What was so bad about Sarah’s laughing? If three Arabs showed up at your grandmother’s front door and told her she would have children, would you expect her to take them seriously? Neither Sarah nor Avraham knew that these men were actually angels and messengers of a truthful prophecy. Furthermore, Sarah was very old. She hadn’t had a period for years and the Midrash attests that her physicality was shriveling away more and more every day. So why not laugh?
The Ramban answers that Sarah’s laugh revealed that she had despaired of ever having a child with Avraham. If she really believed that it was still possible for her to have a child she wouldn’t have laughed even if the spokesman was just a guy off the street. She would have given a hearty “Amen—ken yehi retzon!!!” Instead, Sarah considered the idea of bearing a child to be ridiculous. This is why Hashem rebuked her. One should never give up. Hashem can always turn things around. Just as G-d created the laws of nature, so too He can the break the laws of nature. The gemara in Brachos 10a says that even if a sword is on one’s neck, one should never despair of salvation. This is the way that Jewish people must look at life. There’s no such thing as impossible. We’re supposed to dream and live inspired. It’s not even over when it’s over. It’s true that sometimes things don’t turn out the way we want them to, but this is only because we are undeserving or because what we want is in fact harmful for us. However, for Hashem anything is possible. Hashem can perform wonders for us even when we are in the most trying circumstances with all the odds stacked against us. This is a basic pillar, a foundation of faith itself.
There’s a pasook in Devarim 20:1 that says: “When you go to war against your enemy and you see the horses and chariots and an army that’s bigger than yours, don’t be afraid of them!!!” It is actually prohibited by the Torah to be afraid in battle. Even a lone soldier severely outnumbered by an advancing enemy army is prohibited from exhibiting any distress. The reason is that this fright comes from lack of faith in G-d. Hashem is in control, so a Jewish warrior should have no reason to fear. He has an obligation to know that anything that may happen to him will only be by Hashem’s hand. Rabbeinu Yona writes in Shaarei Teshuva 3:31-32 that this applies to every person and any problem one may have in life. If a Jew is intimidated by anyone or anything he is actually denying that Hashem is completely in control of the situation. Even if we don’t see the possibility of our situation ever changing or improving, it does not mean that Hashem can’t override the normal course of events and reverse the irreversible. We learn from Rabbeinu Yona that it’s not only good to live with this belief, it’s an obligation.
Rav Aryeh Leib Shteinman observes that nowadays most people don’t relate to the concept that Hashem can change nature and perform miracles for them. They feel that surely miracles are only for people in the Tanach and very big tzaddikim, not for people like them. However, argues Rav Shteinman, this attitude is wrong, and not the correct outlook for a Jew. He cites Rashi in Shmos 15:32, who recounts how Yirmiyahu HaNavi would rebuke the people for not learning Torah and working too much. The people challenged Yirmiyahu, asking “So how are we going to support ourselves?” Yirmiyahu dismissed this argument by taking out a flask that still contained the mann that the Jews had eaten in the desert in the days of the exodus from Egypt. “G-d supported you then,” said Yirmiyahu, “so too He will support you now.” Even though the days of being fed mann that fell from the heavens had long passed, Yirmiyahu told the people that G-d had not changed. It may be true that the times have changed as well as the circumstances and other details. However, Hashem is still Hashem. Anything can happen. Just as He performed miracles for our fathers, He can perform miracles for us too.
However, Rav Shteinman adds that although Hashem is able and willing to perform miracles for all of us, we must show Him that we’re above nature as well. Only if we rise beyond our physical desires and engage more in Torah and mitzvos, becoming more spiritual people, will we become people deserving of Hashem’s Divine assistance. The gemara in Taanis 21a tells us the story of Nachum Ish Gam Zu, a great rabbi in a severely debilitated condition. He was blind, had no hands or legs, and what remained of him was covered with boils. His students put his bed posts in buckets of water so that ants could not mount his bed and crawl all over him. One day, his students noticed that the house he lived in was on the verge of collapse and they begged their rebbi to let them take him out. Reb Nachum requested that they should first take out his few personal possessions, then himself. Feeling the tremors in the house beginning to increase, the students begged Reb Nachum to let them carry him out first, for the house was surely about to fall. “Don’t worry,” said Reb Nachum, “as long as I’m in the house, Hashem won’t let anything happen.” Sure enough, Reb Nachum was right. The students removed the valuables from the house, then Reb Nachum, and only then did the house fall. How was Reb Nachum so sure that Hashem would protect him? Answers Rav Shteinman, it is because of this concept. As the gemara in Makkos 10b says, “On the path that one wishes to walk, he is brought.” Reb Nachum lived his life believing “גם זו לטובה”, that everything was ultimately for the good. He lived with this belief every day of his life because every day he saw that G-d was miraculously intervening and was constantly there to help him with anything he needed. He needed those items and was sure that just as G-d had provided for him even in the most trying circumstances, so too He would let him remove his possessions before letting the house collapse. Reb Nachum trained himself to see miracles everywhere and he learned to live with them, eventually even being able to rely on them. This was the way he chose to live his life. Hashem, in return, continued to lead Reb Nachum on this path because that was where he wanted to go. If we aspire to grow spiritually and commit ourselves to doing Hashem’s will, certainly Hashem on His part will assist us on our way as well. Moreover, the more spiritual we become the more we can expect.
One of the most memorable quotes I found in my father’s diary after his passing was on this very subject. My father chided himself about worrying, writing: “Don’t worry!!! You should know that you have a Father in Heaven! He’s taking care of you. All I have to do is put all my effort into learning and davening to Hashem with great cavana.” My father merited many great miracles and many of them went against the normal laws of nature.
May we all be zoche to strengthen our faith in Hashem and may we all be zoche to see Hashem’s Divine assistance!!!