The Gemara teaches that one of the questions we will be asked after leaving this world is ציפית לישועה – “Did you anticipate salvation?”
At first glance, this appears to refer to our nation’s final redemption. However, the Bet Ha’levi and the Peleh Yoetz both explain that this refers also to all our personal struggles and challenges. We are required to “anticipate” and trust that every problem we have, no matter how difficult and intractable it seems, can be solved by Hashem. Indeed, the Arizal taught that when we recite in the Amidah prayer the words כי לישועתך קיוינו כל היום (“for we have waited for your salvation all day long”), we should have in mind our own personal challenges, that we anticipate Hashem’s assisting us to overcome them, and this practice helps us earn His salvation with whatever we are going through.
The Hafetz Haim wrote a work entitled Mahaneh Yisrael, providing guidance, encouragement and inspiration for the young Jewish men who were conscripted into the Russian army. He cites there several the prophecies found in Nevi’im which foresee a glorious future. In one prophecy, Yeshayahu tells that “all your boundaries” will be filled with אבני חפץ, and the Pesikta explains this to mean that the streets of Yerushalayim will be laden with jewels. At first glance, the Hafetz Haim writes, this seems impossible. How could all Yerushalayim be filled with precious jewels? Indeed, the Gemara in Masechet Baba Batra relates that Rabbi Yohanan once shared this teaching with his students, and one student did not believe him, asking how such a thing is possible. But then one day, that student went into the sea and saw underwater very large jewels being chiseled by angels. He realized that this will, in fact, happen.
The Hafetz Haim writes that whenever we doubt whether this is possible, we just need to look at our nation’s history.
Avraham had his first child with Sarah when he was 100 and she was 90. Would anyone have imagined him and Sarah producing a large nation, when they were in their 90s, without children? Yaakov Avinu ran away from his homeland, and all his possessions were taken from him. Would anyone have imagined that he would later return to Eretz Yisrael with a large family and vast fortune? Yosef was sold as a slave and thrown into a dungeon. Would anyone have imagined that he would end up being the vizier of the most powerful kingdom on earth? Beneh Yisrael were enslaved by Pharaoh, downtrodden, persecuted, and powerless. Would anyone have imagined that Pharaoh would actually order them to leave?
The Hafetz Haim says that similar situations occur למאות ולאלפים – hundreds and thousands of times. Throughout history, things have happened, and situations have changed in ways that nobody could have ever imagined. These serve to reassure us that Hashem runs the world, and His capabilities are unlimited. Just as He could perform all those miracles, He could pave the streets of Yerushalayim with gold. Nothing is beyond His capability. And so, no matter what challenges we face, we can and must have complete confidence that Hashem can help us overcome each and every one.
The Hafetz Haim adds that he then found a passage in the Midrash (Bereshit Rabbah 88:7) which makes this exact point:
מי היה מחכה לאברהם ושרה שהיו זקנים שיולד להם בן?
מי היה מחכה ליעקב שעבר במקלו הירדן שיפרוץ ויעשיר?
מי היה מחכה ליוסף שעברו עליו כל הצרות האלו שיהיה מלך?
מי היה מחכה למשה שהושלך ליאור שיהיה כמו שנהיה?
מי מחכה לרות שהיתה גרה שחזרה למלכות ישראל?
מי מחכה לדוד שיהיה מלך עד סוף הדורות?
מי מחכה ליהויכין שיצא מבית האסורים?
מי מחכה לחנניה מישאל ועזריה שיצאו מתוך האש?
מי מחכה לישראל בימי המן שיצילם הקב"ה?
מי מחכה לגליות שיהיו לשם ולתהלה?
Who would have expected Avraham and Sarah, who were elderly, to have a son born to them?
Who would have expected Yaakov, who crossed the Jordan River with only his staff, to attain great wealth?
Who would have expected Yosef, who endured all these troubles, so become a king?
Who would have expected Moshe, who was cast into the river, to become what he became?
Who would have expected Rut, who was a foreigner, to return to Jewish royalty?
Who would have expected David to be king for all eternity?
Who would have expected Yehoyachin to be released from prison?
Who would have expected Chanaya, Mishael and Azarya to leave the fire [of the furnace unscathed]?
Who would have expected the Jews in the times of Haman to be saved by the Almighty?
Who would have expected the [Jewish] exiles to become so glorious?
All this could never have been expected. Moshe was put into the river. Rut was a beggar. David was the lowliest brother in his family. And yet they all achieved greatness. The Jewish people were cast into exile among the nations, persecuted and exposed to a foreign culture, and yet they achieved extraordinary things.
Rabbi Shelomo Diamond applied this to the Syrian community. Our grandparents who came to these shores were a small number of immigrant families who built a handful of synagogues and barely supported themselves peddling. Who would have thought that our community would become what it has become? This is true of other communities, as well. After the Holocaust, who would have thought that Satmar would emerge as the large, flourishing hassidut that it is today? Rav Aharon Kotler started a yeshiva in Lakewood with a small group of students, at a time when there was hardly any advanced Torah learning in the United States. Who would have thought that Lakewood would become what it is today?
Of course, this perspective works also in the opposite direction. Who would have thought that we would all be wearing masks, that there would be mandatory quarantine?
Hashem does things which nobody could have ever imagined, let alone predicted.
Thus, the Hafetz Haim writes, we should never despair. We should never lose hope. Rather, he says, כל איש ישראל צריך לצפות לישועת ה' בכל יום – “Every Jewish person must anticipate Hashem’s salvation every day.”
As mentioned, this is true not only of the state of the Jewish Nation and of the world, but also of our individual struggles. An older girl who is still not married can one day have 100 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A struggling businessman can one day be prosperous. Home Depot was founded by two men who lost their jobs and decided to start a business to support themselves. After losing their jobs, who would have believed that they would end up being so successful?
This is a very powerful way of strengthening our emunah – by asking ourselves, “Who would’ve believed?” There are so many things that have happened which nobody could have possibly anticipated. And so, no matter what trouble we’re facing, we must firmly trust that Hashem can turn everything around and solve every problem we have.