Questions To Rabbi Mandel Dealing With Difficult Weather And Difficulties in General

Questions To Rabbi Mandel

Dealing With Difficult Weather (And Difficulties in General)

Question: What is the purpose of black ice, i.e., when the snow becomes all icy? How can I view it in a positive way, when all I see from it is how it is so scary to walk on the streets when it’s full of ice?

Answer:

1. Avoid the streets as much as you can. If it’s really that bad, then there’s no Chiyuv to go outside and get hurt. There’s no Mitzva.
2. If you are forced and you have to go out, then you daven. And you daven not only for yourself, but for the whole town. Daven that you don’t want anybody to slip. That works, by the way. I do it, and nobody slips when I daven.
3. There’s a thing called Yissurim, and that is weather. There's Gehinom Shel Sheleg (snow), and there's Gehinom Shel Eish (fire). How do you get through these difficulties and other types of stress? When people are M'kabel difficult weather with a smile, and they laugh at it, and they say “it’s taking away from my Gehinom”; when they accept and say: “We’ll be with it”, or make a joke out of it. Don’t go stress yourself out. Do the best you can, and laugh as you do it; then you’ll be a happy person. You'll say: “I love this weather!” “I love the cold / I love the heat”. Keep saying it; keep saying I love it. Or make believe. I've seen Novardokers do these things. You live longer and happier and healthier, and you won’t make such a Shpeil out of difficulties in life. You'll say: Yissurim? I just lost my Gehinom, I'm overjoyed!

And probably it’s not that bad. Always play it down and say: “It’s not so bad”. And don’t read the newspapers; not reading the newspapers is a Segula not to get negative. They're going to scare the living daylights out of you. They report all the accidents, and everything else. Keep away from that, and live in a happy world, and you'll be fine.

You can submit your questions to Rabbi Mandel by emailing them to [email protected]