URGENT APPEAL for ISRAEL from ITORAH.COM
https://itorah.com/campaigns/s
This is a special war edition class. We are currently in a very challenging situation for the Jewish people at large and for the people living in Eretz Yisrael specifically. Everybody wants to do something. There’s been a tremendous outpouring of acts of kindness, with people trying to help in any way. People Baruch Hashem, are sending money, food, bulletproof vests, Tzizit and many other things, and we have to understand what exactly we are doing with all of that.
There are people that feel that they need to do more and they're just doing and doing. They are people that feel like their actions aren't really helping as much as they should. Someone told me of someone that sent bulletproof vests that were the wrong color. “Did I fail in my mission to help,” he asked.
In a beautiful letter written by the Chazon Ish, he says, “It’s just like when it comes to going to business, our efforts are just paying off a debt-“
Meaning, what's going to happen is going happen anyway.
Heaven forbid to think I'm doing anything. It's not my actions. When I go to work, I don't make money. And when I go to war, I don't win the war. Even when it comes to saving somebody's life, it’s a mitzvah. But we have to remember we're not doing anything. So what are we doing it for? The answer is very important line-
Through our actions, we're arousing at the gates of mercy above, which means God sees what we're doing and it’s not so much what happens. Little children are standing on Avenue K at a table selling candies to raise money to send to Israel. They're accomplishing. They raised $3,000. Is that going to make a dent? It's not about the dent, it's about the mercy that they aroused in the heavens. And therefore, he continues and says, Someone who's praying and increasing the supplication for the salvation, he's doing more than the actual person that's doing. That means when you are praying, you're really doing more than the soldier.
He says, Of course, if you see someone drowning, and instead of saving him (or calling Hatzalah) you say tehilim, you're a murderer. You can't say,”Oh, praying is the main thing. I'm not going do anything.” That's murder. But what happens if you're not a Hatzalah member and you can't save the person? If you don't pray, the ambulance is going to get a flat tire beause you didn't pray. So, we have to realize that hishtadlut, even when it comes to saving lives, it’s just hishtadlut.
What does it do? What's the person who's doing do? He's arousing God's mercy. Ultimately, I need God's mercy. But what can I do if I can't actually do anything?
I can pray.
And when I am able to pray but I don't pray, I'm doing more damage, because the person that's trying to help can't succeed if he doesn't have God's help. We want to know, “What can I do?”
So of course, we whatever we can do, we can do. If we're soldiers, we fight. If we are Hatzalah members, we save. And if we can send money, we send money.
But all that is not really doing. Are we going to solve the problem? Are we going to solve the problem with our money, with our bulletproof vests or whatever else we're doing? Thr prinke is too big for us.
We're not solving the problem. God is going to solve the problem. We're arousing God's mercy, whether we accomplish or don't accomplish.
That's has to be our focus. That has to be our hishtadlut, how we look at these things.
Whether my food gets there or doesn't get there, or whether my bulletproof vest are used or aren't used, it doesn't make a difference because I am arousing God's mercy. And when I pray, I'm doing the greatest thing that I can do.
This is an important outlook because people get overwhelmed, in a state of chaos and panic, grabbing, doing who knows what, and just sending, just to send, because, ‘I need to do something. I have an urge to do,- which is a great urge. But how do we channel it?
The best way is praying and Fong Mitzvot. That's a great thing. If you want to do something, take out a tehilim and pray.
You can also give money, but understand that the main focus is to arouse Hashem’s mercy.
B’Ezrat Hashem, all of our hishtadlut should make an impact.
URGENT APPEAL From iTorah.com
https://itorah.com/campaigns/s