Similarly, we can understand the structure of the Torah: If the Torah had told us about the entry into Eretz Yisrael, we would possibly miss the point of the Torah completely. Is this what Yiddishkeit is all about?! Of course, if the Aibishter promised something, He will fulfill the promise. But that is not the point of Moshe Rabbeinu’s life, and it is not the point of the Torah. This is not the story of Klal Yisrael building itself!
Do you know how Klal Yisrael is built? Through במדבר, אחרי לכתך ol�f lowing Hashem into the desert... relying on Him completely when they had nothing to eat... when they had mighty nisyonos—and failed—and were then able to return to serving Hashem, knowing that even after a failure, the Ribbono shel Olam will not abandon them. This is the point of the Torah! This is the purpose of all the pesukim in the Torah!
A proper understanding of the Torah is seen when a person fails in his nisayon, but he controls himself. He has tremendous shame before the Ribbono shel Olam, but he nevertheless returns to avodas Hashem, because he has internalized the fact that Ribbono shel Olam will never abandon him. He knows that the Aibishter is with him not only when he says בחרתנו אתה on Yom Tov, but also when he says חוננתנו אתהon a winter Motza’ei Shabbos.... The Ribbono shel Olam waits for his teshuvah even when he fails! He sends him messages: People who will tell him exactly what he needs to hear in order to rectify and repair, because the Aibishter knows that the best thing for him—in This World and in the Next World—is for him to stay close to Him... there is no limit to how close one can become.
This World Is a Place of Pitfalls
When we learn the parashiyos of the Torah, we see that when the Ribbono shel Olam created the world, He immediately created man in such a way that he will have nisyonos. The nisyonos of This World were very difficult, as it says regarding the Eitz Hada’as, העץ טוב כי להשכיל, העץ ונחמד לעינים הוא תאוה וכי למאכל that the tree was good for eating, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a means to wisdom.
It is very easy to fall into the trap, for the nisyonos seem very desirable... and indeed, the reality is that ולא טוב יעשה אשר בארץ צדיק אין יחטא, even tzaddikim sometimes fall prey to the yetzer hara. The Ribbono shel Olam didn’t create a world where most people are successful, and some aren’t. No! Even our leaders were people who sometimes failed. It is true that there are rare individuals who managed to go through life without ever sinning, such as דוד, בן ישי יעקב, בן בנימין and a few others (see Bava Basra 17a). But this is not the story of the Torah.
The Aibishter wanted a world of another sort! He created the world with such darkness that it’s almost impossible not to fail occasionally. He could have made the yetzer hara somewhat weaker. But this was not His will, because the purpose of the creation is otherwise.
The Aibishter created a world where there’s a terrible, ferocious yetzer hara—and it is very easy to fail—but it will also lead to a person so that when he controls himself and does teshuvah he will feel deep shame and humility before HaKadosh Baruch Hu. This is what the Ribbono shel Olam desires: That a Yid should know how much he needs to rectify and repair his aveiros (see Imrei Pinchas Sha’ar HaAnavah). Such a Yid will daven with deep humility and bittul to Hashem—more so than a person who has never sinned. This is the type of avodah that the Ribbono shel Olam desires. Davka through our failures, we can reach our tachlis.
The world is indeed filled with nisyonos, but this is the entire Torah. Through these failures, a Yid can reach so high! The love that the Ribbono shel Olam has to a Yid cannot be described: He lifts him up and tells him, “You can attain extremely lofty madreigos, but don’t become downhearted due to your failures! Move forward!”
