Let us step back and consider what we have been shown. Moshe Rabbeinu gathered Klal Yisrael not to rehearse their failures, but to reveal to them the hidden kindness of every step of their journey. Like a father recounting to a child who has recovered: "Here we were afraid - and you survived. Here you were in pain - and you were healed." Every moment was a station on the way toward wholeness.
Ki Hashem diber tov al Yisrael - and that promise does not expire. From the edge of the Jordan until today, it holds. Every road we have travelled has been held within it. And the correct response is not to despair, but to hope. To hope again. To keep hoping.
Let us reflect an find comfort in the words of the Navi (זכריה ט יב), שׁוּבוּ לְבִצָּרוֹן אֲסִירֵי הַתִּקְוָה - "Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope." And indeed, may we merit to be "prisoners of hope" - bound not by our fears but by our longing. And may the day come, bemheirah b'yameinu, when we look back across every year of our journey and say with full understanding: "I thank You, Hashem, for Your anger was upon me - and it was always, only, love."
כֵּן יְהִי רָצוֹן, בִּמְהֵרָה בְּיָמֵינוּ, אָמֵן.
א גוט שבת
