An Answer to Age-Old Question
As we learn the yesod that יבושו, לא קויך כל one who hopes to Hashem will never be ashamed, some may ask—and we don’t always have the answer to the question: “But this person davened, and he wasn’t answered. This other person had bitachon and I don’t see his yeshuah! And what about ehrliche Yidden who experience tzaros in their lives?
We have already discussed this topic in the past. But sometimes we hear this challenging question, and we don’t have a ready answer, and really, we should. It should be clear to us that יכשלו לא לעולם דורשיך כי בך, החוסים כל לנצח יכלמו ולא one who takes refuge in Hashem is never ashamed.
We’re Still in the Middle of the Story
The truth is that it’s a complex sugya, but the simplest answer is the principle that we don’t show a fool an unfinished work, because he doesn’t have the wisdom and the imagination to visualize the end result. If you see that the yeshuah hasn’t yet arrived, it means that we’re still in the middle of the story—and at the end of the saga, we will always see that there’s no exception to the rule. If you have a question, it means that the work is still unfinished: the end will always be good.
When the Chavrusa Came Late
This can be understood with a mashal of a Yid who has a chavrusa with whom he has been learning for the last twelve years. Every morning at nine o’clock, he is there; no monkey business about it—including Fridays and Sundays and all the days in between. On the day that he married off his child, he was there at 9:00 sharp, and the same goes for the day after the wedding as well. Even when he wasn’t feeling well... he was still there at his seat on time.
But one day, this Yid arrives in the Beis Medrash, and by a quarter past nine, his chavrusa still hadn’t arrived.
Just then, a Yid comes into the beis medrash and approaches the Yid. He tells him, “Do you sit here every day alone?” He says, “No, I happen to have a chavrusa.” “Ah,” says his visitor, “this is how it goes with chavrusos. I also have a chavrusa like this: One day I don’t come and one day he doesn’t come.”
You Don’t Know my Chavrusa!
To this, the Yid answers: You don’t know my chavrusa! If he’s late, it’s not because he woke up late, and it isn’t because he doesn’t have patience. It’s not because he spent all night in the hospital, either. Why isn’t he here? I don’t know. But one thing is certain: It bears no resemblance to the excuses that you and your chavrusa have for not showing up. I am certain of this; I have no question about it.
Furthermore, the Yid adds: The reason that my chavrusa isn’t here is...
