Let’s build a mishkan (tabernacle, place of Divine Dwelling)! I can tell with my ruach hakodesh that every single person reading this paper has great potential, and can be themselves a great koach in zikui harabim (doing for the public). Going out and doing for Klal Yisrael is the greatest z'chus (merit), and Hashem will pay you back. Rebbi Moshe Shapira z"l says that more than anything, it is simply the teaching and spreading of Torah, which is the biggest mitzva.
In Novardok they said that as much as you are doing for others, number-one you are doing for yourself! You are giving yourself a place to bring yourself out in a positive way, and become the gadol that you are already deep-down inside (which is buried deep under all the mud of misplaced humility). What is the number-one reason that holds people back from engaging more in zikui harabim? Because they think that they are a zero! They think that they are a nobody with nothing to offer! They think that they are no good! Rabosie, all these thoughts are nothing more than a trick and trap of the yeitzer hara (evil inclination), who wants to keep as many great stars as possible from every coming out, rachmana litzlan. So let's go to the opposite extreme and give ourselves positive labels, and do our daily exercise in breaking bad midos through saying: "I am great! I am a gadol! I am G-d's gift to humanity! I can save the world!" Do this once a day for thirty days, and don’t be surprised when you start turning over worlds and saving the day, all over the place! (With your rabbi's supervision).
Story:
Baruch* was in a frenzy—the letter had just arrived saying that his entire area was slated to be bulldozed the next week, something that he wasn't exactly looking forward to. So he called up a big baal bitachon (a person who specializes in closeness to Hashem) who told him: "Take that letter and throw it in the garbage!" Baruch took the advice, and needless to say that the plans were changed.
Question:
I follow the news closely and am very nervous." "
Answer:
I say not—Shaar haBechina (and Bitachon) of the sefer Chovos haLevavos teaches us that only Hashem is running the world and in the most perfect way, with nothing to worry about whatsoever. Throw all the fake news in the garbage can, and get in touch with the real news, the true news, the only news, that only Hashem is running the world, from start to finish and everything in between, with absolutely nothing to worry about whatsoever. Rebbi Chaim Volozner z"l teaches us in his sefer Nefesh haChaim (3:12) that the concept of ein ohd milvado ("there is only Hashem") is not just a nice saying—it's a fact, and the only fact, and with the recognition that only Hashem is running the world entirely and completely, in turn Hashem does for us great miracles and saves us from all our worries, with no exceptions to the rule. Hashem tzilcha al yad y'minecha ("Hashem is your shadow"): If you want a life that is 100% perfect and positive, Hashem will give it to you, guaranteed. All people's issues and problems come from exactly the same place that one's desire for reading "horror stories" and hearing negative news and lashon hara comes from—an innate desire for evil! Yeitzer leiv ha'adam ra m'nuirav ("The inclination of man's heart is for evil from his youth"). So comes out that insisting on positivity is breaking midos #1, and is the key to all that is good, with the help of Hashem. Let's get rid of that sick, suicidal (and often subconscious) desire for evil! (Which is the concept of Amaleik).
