We continue with words of hizuk from Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, from the new sefer about him, Gaon Yisrael (page 390).
There was a Rosh Kollel, who felt tremendous pressure to raise money for the kollel. It was causing him so much stress and anxiety that he thought he would collapse under the pressure so he went to Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. The Rabbi asked him how long he had been running the Kollel. The man answered that it had been for a year. The Rabbi then asked him if it was a difficult year, and the man said it was. Rav Shlomo Zalman then asked if Hashem had sent him the money that he needed in those difficult situations, and the man said that Hashem had indeed sent him the money. But he added that every single month, it was a new challenge, and a new pressure. To this, Rav Shlomo Zalman answered, “You see that your Father in heaven is directing everything, so why are you worried.” And then he added, “My dear one, you are not the only one that has this problem. This yoke is on every Rosh Yeshiva, every businessman, and everybody who is marrying off their children. The answer to all one’s worries is the exact opposite of worry, which is the full reliance on Hashem.
Easier said than done.
How can you get there?
Rav Shlomo Zalman said, “I will give you advice that has been tested and proven. Take a small notebook and guard it with your life. Every time you see a Yeshua/salvation from Hashem, write it down in you little a thank-you pamphlet.” Rav Shlomo Zalman was a man of Halacha, so obviously this was halachically correct. He said that before you say Modim in the Amida, take out the pamphlet and look at what you wrote down.
The miracles and wonders that Hashem does to save you should not be something abstract, and you should actually thank Hashem for them when you say the words of Modim. Literally thank Hashem for them.
If you do that, says Rav Shlomo Zalman, I guarantee that all of your worries will disappear.“
In this powerful technique of inserting the thank-yous for all the miracles in Modim, you are accomplishing two things: You are thanking Hashem for the miracles, and you’re constantly remembering the miracles.
This is similar to the concept we have mentioned in the past, where people write down their own personal hashgacha pratit stories in a journal. This goes back to a letter from Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky and Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, explaining the great importance of writing down one’s experiences. Here, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach is adding that you take out the pamphlet before Modin to thank God for those miracles. That way, the miracles will stay alive, and your worries will go away.
Hashem makes miracles for us.
This past Wednesday night there was a major women’s event, were tens of thousands of ladies gathered to strengthen themselves in the area of technology, staying away from unnecessary smart phones and other types of improper technology usage such as social media and like.
One of the women that spoke was the wife of the creator of Mike’s Chicken, Mike Abadi. He’s a wonderful young man. He was a student in our yeshiva program many years ago and he went on to open this very successful business in Lakewood. He and his wife were struggling with the use of smart phones, technology and social media, but they gave it up and decided they didn’t need it for their business, and Baruch Hashem, their business is successful. They use simple regular phones and they are not living by smart phones.
Mike’s wife got up and told their story in front of tens of thousands of people.
What better advertising can you get, than tens of thousands of people there love and untold numbers listening later on. It’s probably the best advertising Mike’s Chicken ever got. Hashem showed that you can make a miracle. You can cut yourself off from all modern technology and social media, and God will bring about, in wondrous ways, a large, impactful message in advertising that is better than anything else.
So, Mike, write that one down.
Have a wonderful day.