How Can We Feel That We Have Everything?
So long as we operate with the first mehalech, we can get on board. We know what we must do to refocus from what we lack and from that which isn’t going right in our lives. But to feel like we actually have everything?! That everything is perfect?!
But the tzaddikim are clear that on Shabbos we must live with מעין הבא עולם on This World—we’re commanded to feel that we have everything. But how can we feel that if it isn’t true? This Yid concedes that he has many wonderful things in his life, and he’s not upset or disgruntled that not everything is perfect. He even has strategies for refocusing from these areas. But can he really say that everything is perfect?!
The answer to this question lies in the aforementioned Sfas Emes—to arrive at such a state of feeling that we don’t lack anything, we must feel that whatever we have already been given by Hashem is due to the fact that He constantly thinks about us and knows precisely what we need! The more we reveal the essence of the shefa that we already possess, the more we will be able to derive the true feeling that we indeed do have everything.
The Relative Behind the Scenes
A good mashal for this is when a person is upset with his wealthy brother-in-law. Why doesn’t he care about me? He knows that I struggle financially, and I’m making the third wedding within the last two years! He gives tzedakah to this one and that one... can’t he think about me too?!
But later, he finds out that unbeknownst to him, his brother-in-law has turned over worlds to help him. Without fanfare, he singlehandedly ensured that the weddings would cost almost nothing. He constantly worried for him and did for him. Suddenly, the Yid calms down and realizes that he should have judged his brother-in-law favorably—I didn’t realize that he’s mamash a tzaddik.
