Welcome to the Daily Chizuk. Rabbi Eliezer Zusia from Skulen, known as the Skulen Rebbe (Hasidic master), brought hundreds of Jewish children back to the religion after the Second World War. Someone once told the Romanian government that the rabbi was convincing boys not to join their army. The authorities investigated and found that it was true, and they threw the rabbi into solitary confinement with an anger. They said, “You’re never getting out of here.” He woke up the next morning and wanted to pray, but they had taken everything from him, even his kippah (skullcap). So he put his sleeve over his head and started to pray. He got up to Baruch She'amar and said, “Baruch She'amar vehayah ha'olam, baruch hu, baruch omer ve'oseh” (Blessed is He who spoke and the world came to be; blessed is He; blessed is He who speaks and acts). He was saying it with such kavanah (intention). He got up to the words, “Baruch gozer umekayem,” and started thinking, “What does this mean? Gozer means Hashem makes decrees on us, which doesn’t sound so good. So why do we praise Hashem that He’s mekayem them, that He fulfills them?” Then he thought a little more and said, “No, that’s not the explanation. I figured it out. ‘Baruch gozer’: Hashem, You are great, even when You make decrees, because You are mekayem us; You sustain the person during the decree.” This gave the rabbi strength to endure that hard time until, Baruch Hashem (thank God), he was released. This explanation in the Baruch She'amar had already been said a thousand years before by Rabbi Saadia Gaon. If someone is going through a difficult time, they must always remember, “Baruch mekayem,” blessed is Hashem who gives us the strength to get through it. This is a rule: Hashem only gives a person a challenge they’re able to handle. The Pasuk (verse) says in Tehillim that Hashem sends down the snow; it also mentions how much wool you have to protect yourself.
There’s a well-known story about a certain Jew who had a business in another town. Word arrived to him on Shabbat that there was a fire there and his store had burned down. The man fainted on the spot. They poured water on him and revived him, but he fainted again, and this kept happening. Finally, the Kotzker Rebbe told him, “It’s not true. Everything burned down except for your store.” On motza'ei Shabbat (after Shabbat), they found out that the rabbi was right. The store hadn’t burned down, but everything else had. They asked the rabbi, “How did you know?” He said, “I have a rule. I know Hashem doesn’t give a person a test that he doesn’t have the strength to overcome. I saw this man. He couldn’t handle it, so I knew it couldn’t have been true.”
It says in the book of Daniel that Nebuchadnezzar constructed a large golden statue and gave Chananiah, Mishael, and Azariah an ultimatum. He said, “Bow down to this or be cast into a fiery furnace.” They stayed strong. They were thrown into the fire, and Hashem performed a miracle, and they survived. But the Gemara in Ketubot says, “If they would have been tortured, they would have bowed down to that idol.” The rabbis want to know: What is the Gemara trying to teach us? The Baal Shem Tov started to say, “The Gemara is trying to teach us this lesson.” Why didn’t Nebuchadnezzar torture them? Because they wouldn’t have been able to handle it, Hashem made sure they didn’t have that test. Hashem only gives us a test that we can handle, and then He gives us the strength to get through them.
One time, a Chasid (Hasidic Jew) went to see his rabbi, the Rizhiner, to get a blessing. While he was waiting, the rabbi’s young son asked him, “Why did you come?” The man said, “I have a young child at home who has a lot of problems, and I need a blessing from the rabbi.” When the man came out, the boy asked, “What did my father tell you?” He said, “Hashem Ya'azor,” that Hashem should help me. The boy asked, “But what’s going to be until Hashem helps you?” The man said, “I don’t know.” He went back to the rabbi and said, “Rabbi, what’s going to be until Hashem helps?” The rabbi told him, “Hashem will help you until Hashem helps you,” which means that while you’re going through the problem, Hashem is also helping by giving you strength. There’s nothing that we can’t handle. If a person is ever feeling overwhelmed, he could ask Hashem for more help anytime. Hashem is there for us. Hashem helps us get out of the difficulties, and Hashem gives us strength to get through them.