Feeling Crushed
There was a Talmid, Tanjvi, who kept testing and challenging Rav Dovid Trenk ztl. But there was one thing Tanjvi couldn’t do: he couldn’t get Rav Trenk to give up on him.
Tanjvi said, “I tried pushing Rav Trenk away, but he just wouldn’t give up on me, and after a while, he won. He waited and had patience and his love beat my anger.”
What’s the lesson?
- Never give up on anyone or yourself. Have patience.
- Hashem also never gives up on us.
This connects to Shabbos Zachor:
Question:
Why do we have to remember Amalek and erase their memory more than Pharaoh?
Answer:
Pharaoh was against Hashem and didn’t believe he controlled the world, but Amalek was even worse than that. Amalek said that the Creator isn’t interested in you, that if you fall, you are lost, and Hashem is finished with you. To tell a person that he has no hope of coming close to Hashem is much worse.
It’s the negative voice of Amalek that always says, “You’re bad, and Hashem gave up on you if you failed and sinned.” We must erase such thoughts... A Yid can always come back to Hashem. It’s never too late.
