There are many levels in emunah that a person can achieve. This week, in Parashas Ki Sisa, when Bnei Yisroel sinned with the egel, it caused a pgam, an imperfection in emunah, so now is an ideal time to strive to attain a purer emunah in Hashem.
A Yid with a broken foot was brought to Rebbe Mordechai of Lechovitz zt'l. He was in great pain. The Lechovitzer said, "Repeat after me," and he read to him the second brachah of Shemoneh Esrei, pausing after each phrase so the person can repeat after him:
...להושיע רב ...אתה מתים מחיה ...'ה לעולם גבור אתה חולים ורופא . The man repeated after the Lechovitzer Rav, phrase after phrase. The Lechovitzer Rav asked him, "Do you believe in everything we just said?"
The ill person said he believed it. The Lechovitzer Rav rebuked him, "Don’t lie to me. We will say it again,” and they repeated the brachah a second time. The man recited each verse after the Lechovitzer, concentrating intensely, trying to internalize each phrase. When they finished, the Lechovitzer asked again, "Do you believe?"
"I do," he almost shouted.
The Lechovitzer Rav rebuked him again. His emunah wasn't perfect yet.
They repeated the brachah a third time. This time the sick person repeated each phrase with even greater hislahavus than before and when they were finished, he shouted, "I believe! I believe!"
The Lechovitzer said, "Get off the bed," and he got off. Now that he believed that Hashem is רופא חולים he was healed.
The Lechovitzer told him that he wanted to conceal the miracle and that although he was healed, he should remain in bed for twenty-four hours, as if he was still ill, and only then leave the bed.
The man later said it was hard to remain in bed for twenty-four hours since he was completely healed (Toras Avos, Maasei Avos, 55).
The Divrei Shmuel of Slonim zt'l tells us how this miracle occurred:
"Someone who has true emunah, his emunah becomes like his hand – literally. Just as a person can perform his needs with his hands, so can he do things with his emunah. The Lechovitzer Rav performed miracles, and he helped people because he had a very high level of emunah, and he imbued every Yid who came to him with clear emunah. With emunah, miracles beyond nature occur."
He says that this is implied in the words (Shemos 17:12), השמש בא עד אמונה ידיו ויהי, "His hands were with emunah until sunset." The connection between emunah and hands is that just as people do things with their hands, one can also achieve things with emunah. This occurred in the story we brought up above. With emunah sheleimah, the man was healed.
Therefore, emunah is mesugal for everything. Emunah is mesugal for having children, too. A hint to this is that the gematriya of אמונה is בנים. All yeshuos can come with emunah.
The agency wasn't pleased with his response. They asked Rabbi Shamni, "If you adopt a child, will you love that child more than the five items you listed here?"
Reb Shamni answered, "I will never love anyone or anything more than HaKadosh Baruch Hu!"
There was another religious couple in the agency at that time. They were also applying for adoption. They told Reb Shamni, "It's just a procedure. Tell them what they want to hear. You don’t have to tell them the truth."
Reb Shamni replied emphatically, "I love Hashem more than everything in the world, and I refuse to say differently."
The Shamni's were disqualified. Nine months later, the Shamnis had twins. The other couple they met at the agency was approved, but after nine months, they were still waiting for their opportunity to adopt. By this time, Reb Eliyahu Shamni and his wife were blessed with their own set of children. Reb Eliyahu Shamni told me, "When one doesn’t give up on the One, he ends up with two."
Reb Refael Auerbach zt'l, brother of Reb Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt'l, met with an elderly Yid who had been by the Rebbe, Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk zt'l for shalosh seudos, and this is what he heard the Rebbe say:
In the generation before Moshiach comes, the yirei Hashem will be disrespected and on a low social standing, whereas sinners will have power and be successful. This situation will be so distressing, such a disgrace for the religious Jews, that if the students of the holy Baal Shem Tov had lived at that time, they wouldn't have been able to tolerate it. Rebbe Elimelech compared the situation to a pot cooking on the fire. The unwanted flour rises to the top and is removed, and the good food remains in the pot. This is what will occur at the end of days. The resha'im jump to the top; they take power and control, while those who fear Hashem are trampled on at the bottom. But those sinners will all be removed, and only the righteous people will remain. In the final generation before Moshiach comes, it will be like Hakadosh Baruch Hu spreads out a long rope from one side of the world to the other, and all Yidden will grab onto the rope. Hakadosh Baruch Hu will shake the rope forcefully, and the fools will take that to mean that Hashem wants them to leave Him. But the wise will say, "This is a test. We must hold on with all our strength. Whoever holds on tightly will be saved. This is called משיח חבלי, the ropes of Moshiach."
Rebbe Elimelech of Lizensk zy"a once spoke to his students about how everything is destined from Hashem, and nothing happens by chance. He told his students that even the place where an animal drops its waste is also planned from Heaven.
One of his students thought to himself, "Why would it make a difference to Hashem where an animal drops its waste? This seems unrealistic."
The following day, this student was walking near a high cliff and slipped on the ice. Fortunately, there was a lump in the ice, which stopped him from skidding off the cliff. He looked to see what saved his life. It was frozen manure.
He returned to Rebbe Elimelech to tell him that he saw firsthand that the Rebbe's lesson was accurate. However, he didn't have to say anything because as soon as he entered, Rebbe Elimelech greeted him and said, "Nu? Now do you believe that even the place where animals drop their waste is also planned from Heaven?"
Once, two Yidden came to Rebbe Uri of Strelisk zy"a. They told him that they are looking for a Rebbe and are considering joining his chassidus. Rebbe Uri said to them that he only accepts chassidim who believe in hashgachah pratis.
The chassidim told him that they believe in hashgachah pratis.
The Rebbe asked, "When a piece of straw falls off a wagon, do you believe this was destined from Heaven?"
The chassidim replied that they don't have that level of emunah because why would Hashem care about such trivial matters?
A few days later, they returned and said that they believed that even if a straw fell off a wagon, it was planned by Hashem.
"Why did you change your minds?" the Rebbe asked.
The chassidim explained, "We used to think that Hashem only cared about the major episodes of our life. We understood that something major wouldn't happen by chance. However, we thought that unimportant details of life happen by chance, and Hashem had no reason to be involved in them. But then we realized that for Hashem, what we consider major is also, in a way, insignificant. We told ourselves, 'If we believe Hashem has hashgachah over matters we consider major, we should also believe that Hashem's hashgachah is over matters we consider insignificant.'"
Two friends came to the Husiatiner Rebbe zt'l: One asked for a brachah for parnassah, and the other asked for a brachah for yiras Shamayim.
After receiving the Rebbe's brachos, they shared a taxi home. The one who received a brachah for yiras Shamayim got off first and paid the taxi driver his share. The friend who received a brachah for parnassah traveled on, and when he arrived at his destination, he gave the taxi driver a large bill and asked for change.
"I'm not a bank or a money changer," the driver said. "Go to a store and ask them to change it for you."
The closest store was a kiosk that sold lottery tickets and other items. The storekeeper said, "If you buy something, I'll give you change." So, he bought a lottery ticket...and won!
The friend who asked for yiras Shamayim returned to the Husiatiner Rebbe and said, "I see that the brachah you gave my friend had quicker results than the brachah you gave me. He received a brachah for wealth, and in less than an hour, he became wealthy. But a week has passed, and I haven't received yiras Shamayim yet."
The Husiatiner Rebbe replied, "When you want yiras Shamayim as much as your friend wants wealth, your brachah will be answered, too."
Similarly, we add that if you really want emunah, you will be able to lead your life with the fundamentals of emunah. There are endless levels of emunah, and you can always rise to the next level of emunah in Hashem.
This week's parashah discusses the aveirah of the egel, which was avodah zarah. Baruch Hashem, we are not tempted to worship avodah zarah anymore. Chazal (Yoma 69:) tell us that the Chachamim abolished that yetzer hara. Yet, although we are not tempted to worship avodah zarah, there are aveiros that Chazal tell us are comparable to avodah zarah, and we must be wary of them.
Rebbe Leibele Eiger zt'l says that the lesson of this week's parashah is that even after committing the severe aveirah of avodah zarah, Hashem accepted Moshe's tefillos and the teshuvah of Bnei Yisrael, and the aveirah was forgiven. This tells us that no matter what aveirah we fall into, chas v'shalom, we remain Hashem's children. There is always hope for us.
Therefore, when we discuss the aveiros that Chazal compare to avodah zarah, we remember that just as Hashem forgave the Jewish nation for the egel, all aveiros can be forgiven, and we remain eternally Hashem's children and precious nation.
