Hashgachahh Pratis in the Sefarim Hakedoshim
Excerpts from the popular shiur by Harav Hatzaddik R’ Beirish Shneebalg shlit”a
True Light and Joy
Purim has just ended, and we are looking forward to Pesach, with holy Shabbosos to make our days pleasant in the meantime. Baruch Hashem, Who has bequeathed us Shabbosos and Mo’adim.
The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh (Shemos 39:1) states that in every mitzvah are hidden many details, many lessons and understandings, and only a small part of them are revealed to us. Due to their value and gravity, we cannot know them all.
Every Shabbos and Yom Tov has the form that is known to us, a sort of set mold in our minds: This is how Shabbos looks, and this is how Yom Tov looks. There are those who think that honoring Shabbos and Yom Tov is done through buying special foods. Indeed, it is appropriate to honor Shabbos and Yom Tov with food and drink, with nice clothing and with a clean apartment, as is befitting.
But in every Shabbos and in every Yom Tov are hidden elevated matters, things of great value that we cannot know. A great light is hidden within them; the light of the Shechinah, the beloved glory of Hashem, shines through.
When we think about Shabbos and Yom Tov in terms of the Divine light, matters of food and drink do not have to preoccupy us so much. We are not meant to enslave ourselves financially in order to feel the joy of Shabbos and Yom Tov.
Now, when we are at the height of preparing for the Yom Tov of Pesach, the Yom Tov of freedom, facing a marathon of shopping and other preparations, we should look into the hidden treasures of the kedushah of the Yom Tov, and act accordingly. We should try to keep in mind what will contribute to our feeling the holiness, and what will only enslave us and cause us to lose the true joy of the Yom Tov.
He Should Not Hold Back from Pleading for Mercy
Yeshayahu said to King Chizkiyahu: “Instruct your family of your last will, for you are about to die.” Chizkiyahu answered him: “Stop your prophecy and leave, because I have a tradition from my ancestors, all the way back to Dovid Hamelech, saying: Even if a sharpened sword is being pressed on your neck, you must not give up, but rather pray for salvation.”
This corresponds to the pasuk (Iyov 13:15), “Even when someone is in the process of killing me; I still hope for His [salvation].”
Rav Chanan says: Even if a master dream-interpreter tells someone that he will die that day, he must not stop praying for mercy, as it says (Koheles 5:6), “Despite a multitude of threats, and many words; fear only the Lord.”
(Based on Maseches Brachos 10a)
