Welcome to the Daily Chizuk (encouragement). It's very easy to talk about Emunah (faith), but it's not as easy to live with Emunah. How do we live with Emunah? When we talk about it over and over and train our minds to think with Emunah, then, if a challenge ever presents itself and we are introduced to a world of uncertainty and don't see a solution, we'll have the tools to reach out to Hashem and realize that He is right next to us, He knows exactly what we're going through, and He is able to help. The Pasuk (verse) says, which means we have to talk about Hashem's kindnesses in the morning, when times are good, and that will enable a person to have Emunah at night, when things get dark. Even if we don't respond immediately with Emunah, if we have the tools, we'll eventually be able to overcome anything.
Rabbi Fischl Schachter told—he told the story of a woman who had been childless for 12 years and was sitting with a doctor on Madison Avenue. The doctor looked at the charts and told her, “Madam, please listen. I'm saying this for your own good. I want you to give up. Medically, there is nothing we can do for you, and when hair grows from the palm of my hands, that's when you'll have a child.”
The woman left the office, got onto the Madison Avenue bus, and began to reflect on her life. She said—she started remembering when she was a little girl, growing up in Poland and hiding from the Nazis in a house that had a trap door beneath the dining room table. She volunteered to be the one to close the door, cover it with the carpet, and push the table over it. She used to climb up on a piece of furniture and hide there, all curled up, watching as the Germans came in, smashed things, and searched the house. Time and time again, they just left. But on one occasion, they came in and started banging on the floor. They felt a hollow spot, and she watched as they dragged her family away. She was the only survivor, and she managed to get to America and so desperately wanted to start a family of her own. Now, after 12 long childless years, all of her dreams were being shattered right in front of her eyes.
She said, “I have no reason to get off this bus,” and just sat there for the rest of the day, until the driver said, “We're going into the garage now. You have to get out.” She said, “I have nothing to live for.” He told her, “Listen, lady, I had a very hard day today. I don't know what your problem is, but you're not going to solve it by staying on this bus.” Then she said, “Ribono shel Olam (Master of the universe), Hashem, you were with me all along. You saved my life countless times. You brought me here; you let me start over. My life is in your hands. I have no right to give up. The driver is right. You didn't save my life for me to live on the Madison Avenue bus. Please, Hashem, tell me what to do. I'm not going to give up, and I'm going to continue to serve you no matter what.”
A year later, she had a child, and that child got married and had grandchildren. Before this woman passed away, she saw enough great-grandchildren to make that doctor's hair stand up. The rabbi said the reason he knows this story so well is that this woman was his mother.
The rabbi concluded by saying, “There are going to be times in our lives when our hopes are going to be shattered, and everything we were banking on was going to be lost. But at that moment, we could either fall into the trap of feeling the ultimate sense of betrayal and just give up, or we could say, ‘Hashem, I don't have to understand everything. My life is in your hands. I'm going to try my hardest to succeed in the situation that you presented me with.’ And if you could do that, then you have Emunah, and then you open up the door for salvation and blessings that would never have been available to you if you weren't first faced with this darkness.”
Have a great day.