We are now studying perek לא pasuk כה of tehilim. It’s a beautiful pasuk that shows up in our tefilot, which means that the Rabbis felt it was important, and therefore inserted it into our daily prayers.
חִ֭זְקוּ וְיַאֲמֵ֣ץ לְבַבְכֶ֑ם כׇּל־הַ֝מְיַחֲלִ֗ים לה׳
Strengthen and be courageous in your heart, all of those that hope to God.
Rashi explains that this means that you’ve seen Yeshuot/salvations in the past (from your hopes), and that will give you strength for the future.
It’s a very important points for us. We are in a very long Galut/exile.
We should set aside all the personal challenges that we all have, because we are now starting the three weeks. We have to think about the national, global challenges that we have had endured for close to 2,000 years. And, in the end of times, it only gets worse. The Ramchal, in his Maamar HaGeula, quotes the pasuk, “In the end of time, it will be very difficult- all the tragedies described in the Torah will come upon us.” Therefore, David HaMelech said that you have to be strong and courageous. We need a lot of strength and courage, in order to be able to hope in the long, dark, difficult times.
Those are the times that we are in now, and it’s our job -all year but especially during the three weeks- not to get down, but rather, the opposite- to strengthen our hearts that the Geula will come.
Rav Sadya Gaon flips everything around. In his sefer Emunot V’De’ot, he says that we’ve been through a lot of difficulties, and we have seen a lot of Yeshuot. We went through Yetziat Mitzrayim and came out with a Rechush Gadol/ a great bounty, and this was followed by Kriat Yam Suf, the manna, the Slav, Har Sinai, the sun stopping….and those were all extras! All Hashem promised us at the time was a Rechush Gadol. Everything after that, was a bonus.
Similarly, he says that Hashem said, “Dan Anochi I will judge the nation.” That was all He said, and then 10 plagues decimated the Egyptians over the course of a year- based solely on those two words!
We cannot fathom what will happen when Mashiach comes, but we know that all of the goodness that we will have will be double or triple the difficulty that we had.
All of the difficulties are compared to a second, in comparison to an eternity of mercy and kindness. As the pasuk says, “God will give us much, much more than in the past.” Therefore, although we’ve suffered very much and have been waiting so long, we should not get upset or disgusted. Rather, the opposite. We are going to be stronger than ever, because the more we suffer, the more Crusades the more Holocausts…the more we know what is waiting for us.
He says that the goyim look at us and they don’t understand. They are either impressed or they think we are fools, because they have not experienced what we have experienced. They don’t believe like we believe.
I heard a mashal over 20 years ago about a Jewish man who who lived during the feudal system. He worked for his local feudal Lord, and paid his rent generally on time. If he fell behind, the feudal Lord worked with him and he had a decent life.
Then, the feudal Lord had to leave the country for a year, and he handed over his land to his friend. The friend was very very harsh on the Jew. If he was a day late with his payment, the man would beat him and torture him. At the end of the year when the feudal Lord returned, he saw the Jew all bruised, hobbling along and asked what had happened. The Jew explained that he’d been beaten repeatedly. The feudal lord asked how many times he’d been hit. The Jew estimated about 43 times. Then the feudal lord told him that for every time he’d been whipped he’d give him a gold coin, because he felt bad.
When the Jewish man came home with the bag of gold, he was crying. His wife asked him why, and he told her that if he knew he was going to get a gold coin for each time he’d been hit, he would’ve taken 100 hits! And then how much more gold he would’ve had! The Nimshal for us is that we have to believe that for every whack, every taunt, every anti-Semitic tweet, for every insult, we will get paid.
Therefore, we have to strengthen ourselves.
This is on a global level but it is also applicable to every individual as well. But there’s a difference- for the final Geula, we have a promise from Hashem that the redemption will come, so we believe and rely without a question.
But as we know, the sefarim say that even on regular bitachon you are supposed to feel, in your heart like it’s guaranteed.
As the Sefer Ikarim says, “When a person has complete bitachon, that will fulfill his hope without a doubt.”
You have to be confident and keep getting stronger.
The Alshech had a beautiful thought on this pasuk. Up until now, we have been talking about the person. The person’s strength, the person’s courage. But the Alshech says, the person strengthens himself a bit, and Hashem helps him alot.”
If you’re חִ֭זְקוּ- if you strengthen yourself, then וְיַאֲמֵ֣ץ לְבַבְכֶ֑ם Hashem will strengthen your heart.
So start with a little bit of strength, and Hashem will finish it off. This is our job, every day, but especially these days. Whether on a personal or global level, we have to constantly strengthen our hope for the final Yeshua/ salvation.
Amen.