Welcome to the daily chizuk (encouragement).
As Hashem guides us through life every second of the day, He makes decisions for us that are based not only on the present. Hashem has the past, present, and future revealed before Him at all times, and He deals with us accordingly. Our rabbis tell us that if we knew the reason for each and every event that happens in our lives, not only would we never complain, we would have personally begged Hashem to do what He did, although at the moment it doesn’t seem that way. If we trust Hashem, it will save us so much heartache.
Rabbi Pincus once told the story of a young man who was hiding from the Germans with his sister in a bunker. They were the last two survivors of the family, and the boy felt it was his responsibility to look after his sister. One day, he left to find some food, and when he returned, his sister was gone. Someone told him she had been taken by the Gestapo to their headquarters. So he ran there, barged through the doors, and started yelling, “Give me back my sister!”
The Nazis started to laugh as the general came down and asked what all the commotion was about. They said, “This Jew wants us to give him back his sister.” The general looked at him with a stare of death and said, “When hair grows out of your palms, I’ll return your sister. But until then, I will kill all of you Jews.” The young man then stuck out his palm, and it was full of hair. They were all taken aback, and the general said, “He must be the son of the devil.” Then he said, “Take your sister and get out of here fast before we kill both of you.” They ran away and eventually survived the war.
It turned out that years before, this boy had gotten a terrible burn on his hand, and they had to do a skin graft. They took the skin from a part of the body where hair grows. At the time, it must have been very traumatic, but it was Hashem saving his life.
Another Jewish boy was being drafted into the Polish army during World War I, and his parents were beside themselves. Both his physical and spiritual lives were at stake. They went to get a Beracha (blessing) from the Chafetz Chaim to be saved from having to go. After a few moments of silence, the Chafetz Chaim said, “What’s so bad if he learns how to shoot?” The father couldn’t believe it. He felt like the rabbi was cursing his son.
They bribed the doctor who examined the potential soldiers to see if they were fit for military service. But right after the examination, when the doctor completed the false report, the rabbi said, “A general came in and caught them lying.” The general said, “Not only is this boy being drafted, but he’s going to be in my division, and he’s going to be in charge of putting together the machine guns under live fire.”
So he went to the army, and he learned how to shoot and put together the guns. He eventually survived the war, and years later found himself in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. He managed to escape with a bunch of his friends, and they ran deep into the forest and met up with some partisans. They said, “We will help you fight the Germans.” But the partisans were also anti-Semites, and they said, “No, we’re going to kill all of you.”
At that moment, this man, who had learned how to shoot during World War I, said, “Wait, I could really help you. You see that broken machine gun on the floor? I could fix it and shoot any target.” They said, “Okay, let’s see.” He proceeded to fix the gun, and he shot an apple off a distant tree and divided it into quarters. The partisans were very impressed, and that man and all of his friends survived. For the rest of his life, he kept remembering the words of the Chafetz Chaim: “What’s so bad if he learns how to shoot?”
What could appear as the worst curse is really just another one of Hashem’s merciful ways of helping us. I read a story of a little girl who fell into a pool, Rachmana Litzlan (May the Merciful One save us), and went under the water for a few minutes, but miraculously survived with no trace of brain damage whatsoever. After investigating, the doctor said it was because she had sleep apnea, which enlarged her tonsils and trained her body to survive on very low levels of oxygen. Imagine the anguish of the parents going through all those sleepless nights. But that, again, was another manifestation of Hashem’s kindness.
Let me tell you a different story of a boy who grew up having terrible seizures. It got so bad that they had to do surgery and remove part of his brain, but he was totally cured. A few years later, Lo Aleinu (may it not happen to us), he was hit by a car and landed on his head, and amazingly, he survived. The doctor said it was only because of that previous surgery that there was a place in the brain for all that blood to drain.
We don’t understand Hashem’s ways, but that’s only because we are limited. Hashem always has the complete picture revealed before Him, and He always does the very best thing for us.
Have a great day.