The Midrash teaches that before creating this current world, Hashem was creating and destroying worlds. This holds a valuable lesson applicable to our lives. When faced with the collapse of our own, it is imperative to rise again and rebuild, even further surpassing what we have done until now. Initiating the building process is challenging, yet the greater test lies in rebuilding after the devastation of prior accomplishments. Nevertheless, the imperative is to start anew.
The narrative of R' Akiva serves as a poignant illustration of this. After the loss of his students, the world plunged into a desolation devoid of Torah. Despite investing years in nurturing those students, it was all obliterated within a matter of weeks. Undeterred, R' Akiva, an elderly man at the time, took on the formidable task of rebuilding Torah Jewry.
In the 1970s, one of the great Torah luminaries experienced the loss of his brother, mother and wife in a single year. At the conclusion of the third shiva he remarked, “Why did Hashem create worlds and destroy them? Because Hashem wanted us to learn from Him, that even if your worlds crumble and are destroyed, you must persist and rebuild, without surrendering to despair. Never give up.
