6. Someone came to the Rebbe of Kotzk and said, "I used to be wealthy, but I lost all my money, and my wife died. When I was wealthy, I used to buy a lottery ticket every week, and the maid who worked for me would also buy one, and I would check both tickets to see if we won. I continued this habit even after I lost my money. One day, I checked the numbers of our tickets and saw that the maid had won the lottery. Now that she was wealthy, I wanted to marry her to share the wealth. But I realized that if she knew she had become wealthy, she wouldn't agree to marry me. She would want to marry someone wealthy like herself. So, I didn't tell her that she had won the lottery. I kept that a secret and hired a shadchan to ask her to marry me. She agreed, thinking that I, at least, had more money than she had. Shortly after the wedding, I told her that she had won the lottery and that we were rich. She replied, 'But what can I do? I sold the rights of that lottery ticket to my father.' "That is why I came here now," this man explained to the Rebbe of Kotzk. "I only married her because I thought she was wealthy. Now that she is poor, I want to divorce her."
The Kotzker replied, "Haven't you grasped by now how Hashem runs the world? He made you poor, took your wife away, made the maid win the lottery, all so you should marry her, and now you want to divorce her?!"
A yungerman lived in an apartment building where many neighbors were building and adding rooms to their apartments. The constant construction (noise, dust, etc.) disturbed this yungerman's peace of mind so much that he decided to sell his apartment and move elsewhere. But in his new home, his troubles followed him. His neighbors were extremely noisy. Despite his numerous requests, they kept their late hours and noisy lifestyle. He could hardly fall asleep at night from the noise. He regretted selling his first apartment. It was much better there than where he lived now. So he bought a third apartment. It was small for his family, so he hired a contractor to add another room. But then a new problem arose. One of his new neighbors complained that the added room was blocking his sunlight, so even before he moved in, he already had an enemy in the building. After trying and failing three times to find a peaceful home, he concluded that it was bashert from Heaven that he must suffer from his neighbors. Moving wouldn't solve the problem because what was meant to happen would happen. It is impossible to escape Hashem's hashgachah. Furthermore, he realized that he shouldn't complain about the place where Hashem put him because if Hashem placed him there, it was best for him. It might be challenging and hard to serve Hashem there, but that is his job, and succeeding at it would lift him to incredible heights.
An opponent of the Rebbe of Gustantin zy'a became ill, and the Rebbe davened extensively and fervently for his refuah. Someone asked the Rebbe, "Do you really need him so much? He is your opponent!" The Rebbe replied, "If it is decreed on me that I must endure opposition, it will happen. If the opposition doesn't come from him, it will come from someone else. However, I am already accustomed to his hisnagdus (opposition). I prefer that he recovers, rather than to have to deal with someone else's opposition, which will be challenges I'm not accustomed to."
We often don't know why we must go through hard times and challenges; however, Rebbe Dovid of Lelov zt'l said that in the future, everything will be explained. We will be told why we had to go through what we did. And then we will laugh at how worried and upset we were at the time. Then we will see that everything was for our benefit.
שמור sometimes means to wait (see Bereishis 37:11). Using this translation, Rebbe Boruch of Mezhibuz zt'l taught (Tehillim 107:43): אלה וישמר חכם מי, "He who is wise will wait patiently until he understands the reasons behind everything that happened to him." 'ה חסדי ויתבוננו, "and then he will recognize that everything was Hashem's kindness."
It is written, וסקלוני מעט עוד, "a drop more and they will stone me" (Shemos 17:4). Stoning, in Yiddish, is באשטיינערן, which sounds similar to פארשטיין, to understand. Rebbe Mordechai of Nadvorna zt'l explained, וסקלוני מעט עוד, wait a drop longer, and everything will be understood. Right now, you don't understand why things are as they are, but there will come a time when everything will make sense.
Nothing Happens by Chance
7. It states (35:11) מקלט ערי לכם והקריתם, and Rashi writes, הזמנה לשון אלא הקריה אין, "The translation of הקריתם is to prepare." So the translation of the pasuk is "Prepare for yourself arei miklat." The word והקריתם is found in this week's parashah (35:11). והקריתם sometimes means by chance (from the root word מקרה), and in this week's parashah, Rashi writes that it means "prepared." This teaches us that the matters that seem to have happened by chance were prepared and arranged by Hashem, because nothing happens by chance.
The Mishnas Chasidim writes, - מקרה אמר כי הוא טהור בלתי (I Shmuel 20:26), if someone says that something happened by chance, that person is impure because he lacks the fundamental awareness that Hashem plans and arranges everything. Tzaddikim said that מקרה, happenings, can be unscrambled to read 'מה רק, only from Hashem.
