Fool’s Gold
“Oh, that’s silly,” somebody will say, a chochom. “I'm going to waste my life thinking about the things that happened, imputing them to sins which I don't know about? I should say that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is sending them upon me because of this or that? Maybe it's not because of that. It's so silly!”
The answer is it pays to be silly. If you'll discover a pot of gold, it pays to be silly. And there's no question you'll discover it. It could be it's not the true reason, but what's going to happen? The result is that you’re going to become better! And that's what the Rabbeinu Yonah says. It's none of your business why Hakadosh Baruch Hu sent it. Your duty as a Jew is to attribute it to your own faults, and the result will be you'll become improved. That's what counts. And that’s how you’ll discover that chest of gold.
