So it is in every situation that seems to us to be undesirable, including when a person waits for a shidduch or for children, may all Yidden be helped b’karov. A good architect takes the space that he has and makes the most of it, maximizing every centimeter. Here you can put a closet, and here you can place a freezer, and there you can make another door. Here’s a structural beam. What can we do with that? If we design an apartment without thinking about this, we will end up with a lot of dead space.
A Yid must internalize this into his bones. If he has extra time as he waits for a yeshuah... put in a closet! There’s no such thing as empty space and time in which we wait and do nothing. A wise person who goes to a doctor and knows that you can wait for two hours will bring along something to learn.
Making the Most of Our Time
I once spoke with a Yid who travels often from Eretz Yisrael to California—a trip of about 15 hours. I asked him how he manages such a long trip, and he said, “I will tell you the truth. I prepare so much to learn on the plane, that when we land, I am always disappointed that I didn’t get in as much learning as I planned.” Similarly, sometimes when we prepare a lot to do on a trip and we haven’t finished, we will ask the driver to go around the block once more...
Thus, even from a practical perspective, everyone understands that it is wise and prudent not to wallow, not to fixate, but rather to look at the good and be grateful for our situation. In this way, the yeshu’ah will come sooner—both on a practical level as well as from an emunah and bitachon perspective.
Illuminate the darkness of your space! Light the flame and work from there! Every Yid who does so will see illumination because הלל והודאה is one of the best ways to ignite the flame and to illuminate the darkness of our lowest מעשרה" "למטה situations.
The avodah of Chanukah—and the power that we have during these days—is to illuminate the spaces of concealment. When we do our part to bring brightness and illumination, we will merit that the Ribbono Shel Olam will brighten and illuminate as only He can.
