The mashgiach, Reb Yechezkel Levenstein, zt”l, used to give over a vaad to avreichim. On one occasion, he related that he had heard that the Chofetz Chaim said after WWI that there will be a second war which will cause the First World War to appear like child’s play. Then there will be a break and then be a third war, which will make the second war appear like child’s play.
A sense of dread and gloom fell over those listening, and Rav Shalom Schwadron found the courage to ask the mashgiach why it was necessary to utter such harsh words. Wouldn’t it be preferable to simply daven to be saved from future harsh decrees?
The mashgiach became very agitated and said, “You completely misunderstood what the Chofetz Chaim intended with these words! The Chofetz Chaim’s main intention was that there will be a dearth of emunah! The dearth in emunah during WWI was child’s play compared to the dearth of emunah during WWII, and the darkening of emunah that will be during the third war will make everything previous seem like child’s play. During a war, they shoot a few guns, but this is not the essence of the war! (She’al Avicha VeYagaidcha)
(Adapted from a lecture by Rav Yisroel Brog)
The Mishnah in Sotah (49b) lists all the things that will happen at the end of time — during the days of the ‘footsteps of Moshiach’. The Mishnah says insolence will increase, inflation will soar, the government will turn to heresy, there will be no rebuke, the knowledge of scholars will be lost, those who fear sin will be despised, youth will shame old men, the face of the generation will be like the face of the dog, etc., etc. Finally, the Mishnah concludes with the words, “And we have no one to rely on, only on our Father in Heaven”.
This concept is one of the most powerful tools we have. The ultimate emunah is to place our trust in Hashem, and Hashem alone.
It states in the Gemara: Ben David will only come in a generation that is totally זכאי or totally חייב (Sanhedrin 98a). Rav Dessler asked, granted, a generation that is totally worthy could merit the Moshiach. But what chance does a generation that is totally sinful have? How can they merit the Moshiach?
Rav Dessler answered, as long as a person has a mixture of good and evil, he uses his good to cover up the evil, and he fools himself into thinking he is a tzaddik. Such a person is far away from teshuvah, and far away from geulah. Only in a generation that is totally wicked so then the person can’t fool himself. He can’t cover up the evil. He has no merits left. Then he’s closer to teshuvah. He feels that if Hashem doesn’t help him, he’s finished. He doesn’t have what to rely on or who to rely on. Only on his Heavenly Father. That recognition in and of itself has the power to bring Moshiach.
It says in the Gemara (Berachos 32b) that if a person davens and he sees he wasn’t answered, he should go back and daven again. קוה אל ה' חזק ויאמץ לבך וקוה אל ה'. The word kaveh [hope] means to have such strong hope in Hashem that you strengthen yourself and don’t back out. Don’t give up. Go back and daven again. If a person sees that his davening wasn’t answered, it shows that he’s lacking in the קוה. It means that he didn’t throw his entire burden on Hashem. So go back and daven again with more emunah, more bitachon.
People daven to Hashem, but while they’re davening, they think that the salvation could come this way, could come that way, and it could also come through davening. Let’s imagine a person that has a certain medical issue. He believes that Hashem can heal him, but he also relies on a certain doctor. Or he relies on a certain medicine. Or a certain therapy. Or some other segulah. The eitza is that the person should go back and daven and be mechazek his mind that he has nothing to rely on, only Hashem. Then the yeshua [salvation] is going to come. As long as there’s a split, there’s a divided allegiance. Every time a person davens, he gets closer and closer to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And the closer you get to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the more you’re mechazek yourself that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the only one who can help you, and the only one who will help you.
The yeshua comes to a person after he is totally desperate. He gives up hope on all natural means; he is totally מייאש and he gives up hope. Now the yeshua will come, because now Hashem wants to teach him how to be boteach on Hashem and Hashem alone, from now on.
Avraham Halevi Horwitz, in his sefer Dvar Halacha relates that the Chazon Ish used to say, that the yeshua of Hashem Yisborach comes when the person doesn’t see any natural way out of his situation. So, the quicker you get there and rely only on Hashem, the quicker you’ll see a yeshua. But as long as you think you can do this, you can do that, the yeshua is pushed off.
Even if a sharp sword is on the neck of the person, he should never give up (Berachos 10a). In any matzav, there’s still hope to be saved if you are boteach in Hashem.
There is an amazing story of a Yid who lived in Manchester, England after World War II. He was an old yid and he said kaddish. But he had an interesting minhag when he said kaddish, he said it with tremendous intensity and fervor. A talmid chochom once came to that shul and he witnessed this site of the elderly Jew saying kaddish with tremendous emotion. He asked a number of people in shul. They responded he had been in the shul for a number of years and that was his minhag, but no one knew the reason. So, this talmid chochom decided he was going to go over and ask him.
He went over to this elderly gentleman and asked him, do you mind if I ask you a question? Why do you say kaddish with such fervor and emotion?
The man said, let me tell you my story. Hakodosh Boruch Hu wanted that during WWII I would end up in all the worst Concentration Camps. The worst. Things that I saw and witnessed I can’t describe. We waited constantly for the moment when we would be called and told to get in line to be marched to the crematoriums, to get gassed and burned up in the ovens. Everybody was walking around depressed and dejected. But I was zocheh at that time period to strengthen myself with bitachon in Hashem. And in that terrible pit, I was mechazek myself in bitachon with all my being and I repeated over and over again, ישועות ה' כהרף עין, “The salvation of Hashem comes in the blink of an eye.” I was so into saying that statement, my friends stopped calling me by my name and started calling me Yeshuos Hashem.
In one of my sojourns in one of the worst camps, the big day finally came. We were lined up and marched off to the gas chambers. We were one of the last groups in that camp and so we knew exactly what was awaiting us, and what to expect. We were under no illusions that we were going to a shower room or a spa.
They marched us into a room that was connected to the gas chamber. At the door, there was a nazi guard, a ruthless fellow standing guard to make sure none of us tried to escape. And he couldn’t wait to get his order to take us into the gas chamber. At that moment when the dread filled the room, we all knew what was coming. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and saw one of my friends tapping me. He whispered in my ear “Nu, what do say now?” as if to say, what did it help you all of your bitachon in Hashem? In spite of everything that was happening and what I was facing, I was mechazek myself in bitachon in Hashem with all my last strength. And I answered him out loud: ישועות ה' כהרף עין, “The yeshua of Hashem comes in the blink of an eye.” And I also mentioned
