When we begin a new year, every Yid learns to live with the truth: Yamim Noraim and Sukkos are the ultimate preparation for living with Olam HaBa. Just as Shabbos is הבא, עולם מעין a taste of the Next World, the sefarim hakedoshim tell us that the Yamim Tovim are a taste of the Days of Mashiach.
The Yamim Tovim infuse a person with the awareness that even when we see an entire world before us, all we see is the Ribbono shel Olam and opportunities to do good things in This World. If we see money, we see opportunities to be honest in financial dealings, and so forth; in every aspect of the world, we see opportunities to elevate the world. This is the great battle with the nations of the world: How to view our existence on This World.
This attitude pushes a person to seek material success in the world, and when faced with a choice, he will choose the gashmiyus side, since he feels he is beholden to that world. Similarly, when a person is faced with yissurim, and he feels broken by those yissurim, the secular attitude will not allow him to utilize it as an opportunity for closeness to Hashem, for bittul to Hashem, to load up on emunah, submissiveness, and humility, and being joyful only in Hashem Yisbarach. For, in reality, yissurim are only outer trappings that contain within them so many opportunities for אלוקים. קרבת It all depends on our attitude and our perspective of life in This World.
