Translated from Rabbi Arush’s feature article in the weekly Chut shel Chessed newsletter. The articles focus on his main message: “Loving others as yourself” and emuna.
Faith in the Valley of the Shadow of Death
What does a young, hungry woman, taken hostage by the Hamas, do when she is the only one of the hostages who gets a pita without knowing when the next pita will show up?
That is the question that Sapir Cohen was debating when she was being held hostage by Hamas.
Sapir Cohen was abducted from kibbutz Nir Oz on Simchat Torah and was released from her captivity by the Arab murderers, may their names be blotted out, in the final stage of last year’s deal. Her story is amazing and inspiring and strengthens one’s emuna pshuta (simple faith) and belief in the power of prayer. But one “minor” anecdote that she tells about those days of terror is especially inspiring.
One day, she and the rest of the hostages received no food at all, and then one of those cursed terrorists gave her – and no one else – a pita. Sapir knew that the pita would not assuage her hunger pangs, and, besides, perhaps she should keep part of it for the next day. But she felt that that was not the right thing; no – she must share it with her friends. It was an impossible decision in an impossible situation.
She tells, in her own words, that she said to herself: “Sapir, you are, after all, a believing person, and if Hashem wants to give you food – He will give you food.” And so, she decided to divide the pita among the other captives. Sapir remained physically hungry, but her soul was calmer and happier…
Providing Their Food at the Right Time
That same week, an unexpected thing happened. The terrorists who were guarding the room where the food was, decided, for some reason, not to guard it anymore, and the hostages, who were being held in the next room, slipped in there one after another and obtained a quantity of food that they had never seen in their captivity. Sapir says that she saw in this a clear sign from Heaven, that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, was telling her: “Sapir, you have passed the test. You held on to your emuna (faith) and did the right thing.”
She tells how during all those days in captivity she repeated again and again: “Elokim, thank you, Elokim, thank you, thank you for helping me to do the right thing.”
Sapir’s release, too, was amazing and a complete surprise. Her name did not appear in the list of hostages that were supposed to be released as part of the deal, and she didn’t have the required criteria, so her release was an amazing miracle.
The Saving Emuna
There is no doubt that Sapir’s strong faith that Hashem loves her and will not desert her and will give her food according to His will is what indeed brought to her the abundance and the food both for her and her friends, and one can assume that it brought all the protection and the salvations that she experienced, culminating in her geula (salvation) from captivity – as well.
Geula means finding Hashem in the galut (exile). Because the only difference between the word gola and the word geula is the letter aleph, which hints to Alufo shel olam (Hashem), to emuna and to ahavat Hashem. When you insert Hashem’s light into the galut, you turn it into geula.
We have already explained that the words “Hashem yitbarach always loves me” provide chizuk (encouragement) for a Jew in any situation, even in the deepest darkness, even in captivity, even in slavery, and even with any problem and difficulty one may encounter in life. In all situations, one must never lose this knowledge and the feeling that Hashem loves me and that I will have only good.
The stronger and more illuminating this feeling is, the more you will see that Hashem loves you and accompanies you and hints to you and helps you and lights up the way for you in the darkness as well, and He will continue to do for you good, and more good, and even better, until you will go from darkness to light ….
Paving the Way for the Geula
In this week’s parasha [Shemot], Bnei Yisrael go down to the exile in Egypt. The Jewish People did not fall into Egypt in one fell swoop; rather, Hashem prepared the way, providing the cure before the illness struck, in a series of events, each one of which seemed terrible at the time:
First, Sarah Immeinu was abducted in Egypt. She and Avraham withstood the trial and held on to their emuna, thus beginning the process of vanquishing the klipa (shell) of Pharaoh and allowing them to come out of there with much wealth.
Afterwards, Yosef was torn from his father and sold into seemingly permanent slavery. He was taken to Egypt, found himself in prison, and still held on tight to emuna and joy and complete trust. He then rose to become the ruler of Egypt and rectified all of it.
And then Yaakov and his sons, the Tribes of Israel, arrived. It is written in the holy books that had they not gone into exile first, the Jewish people would not have been able to withstand the trials. Also, as long as one of the shvatim (tribes – the twelve sons of Yaakov) existed, there was no subjugation of the people.
Because when a Jew believes that Hashem loves him and that he will have only good – he really will have only good and even better, and he is also paving the way for other Jews, so that they can come out from darkness into light and from subjugation to geula.
As long as the brothers were alive and they knew that they would have only good, they were ministers and important people, part of the ruling class, which means that they experienced the decree of galut with chessed and mercy, in a sweetened way. But the moment that entire generation passed on, the recognition of Hashem’s love weakened – and that was when the subjugation began, practically speaking, similar to what we mentioned in previous years in the name of the Or Hachaim Hakadosh.
Yisrael – Trust in Hashem
Dear Jew, your faith, your bitachon, your complete knowledge that you are in Hashem’s hands – that is what determines reality, that is what determines what will happen to you!
“May your loving-kindness be upon us, Hashem, for we place our hope in You.”1 According to the degree that you hope and wish for Hashem’s goodness and chessed – so too you will see Hashem’s chessed in your life, and Hashem will show you His good and do only good and even better with you, until the complete Yeshua (salvation): “I have trusted in Your chessed – my heart will delight in Your salvation.”2
This emuna must be felt in the heart and spoken by the mouth. Because the words that you say affect your pnimiyut (inner essence), as David Hamelech says in Tehillim: “I have believed because I have spoken.”3 The words you say build your emuna, and your emuna creates the reality.
We Were Like Dreamers
Here is Rabbi Natan’s explanation of the matter of hatavat chalom: When a person has a bad dream, he goes in the morning to three of his friends and they do a hatava for him in that they say to him a few times: Your dream is good, and it will be good.
It’s amazing – a person can have a bad dream, and then a few Jews say to him repeatedly that the dream is good and that only good will come upon him – those words have the power to change reality – and they do! The bad dream is annulled and even becomes something good. Rabbi Natan says that that shows the power of speech, that if you speak and say, “I will have only good,” then everything indeed becomes good.
It is like what is said in the name of Rabbi Nachman, that if you say “Baruch Hashem, all is good in my life,” Hashem yitbarach says: “You say ‘good’? I’ll show you what ‘good’ is!!!”
We have here a message for every person: Even if your life looks like a nightmare, go to the one who loves you most, Hashem yitbarach, and say to Him: “You love me and do only good for me, and I will have even better and better” – and you will see how all the dinim (harsh judgments) sweeten, and how everything becomes even better, in a tangible way.
Your knowledge that Hashem loves you is what turns your own private galut into geula and a great light. That fact that now all of the Jewish people are singing, “Hashem loves me, and I will have only good”, is undoubtedly a very important step in bringing the general geula and the Mashiach, speedily, in our days.
1 Tehillim (Psalms) 33:22
2 Tehillim 13:6
3 Tehillim 116:10
