The Novardokers were known for this. It’s all up to you; your job, marriage, even health. The more you decide that you’re healthy, the more it can become a reality.
STORY
R' Kalman Krohn Zatzal told me that R' Yaakov Galinsky was sent by the Steipler Zatzal to go to a hostile Arab country, and deliver a message to some special person who lived smack in a crowded Arab Shuk. He went fearlessly, with his beard and Payos, etc. And if I remember correctly, he was sent twice on this mission. I heard that the Chazon Ish Zatzal sent him on a similar frightful mission.
During the war, he was flown to the front lines to speak for the Israeli soldiers. He told me, that Baruch Hashem he was successful in cheering them up. R' Kalman Zatzal asked him why he wasn’t afraid to go to such a dangerous place. He said: “What is there to be afraid of? Hashem is everywhere!” He was the greatest celebrity, and he took the microphone on Purim and entertained BMG.
I remember him mentioning that: “If the women who are gossiping in the marketplace aren’t raving over you, it’s not a problem at all”. I understood that he was trying to get through the famous Yesod of Novardok of “not caring what people think of you”. He taught the Yeshiva'leit in BMG songs like the famous: אַשְרֵּי מִי שֶעֲמָלוֹ בַתוֹרָה, וְעוֹשֶה נַחַת רוּחַ לְיוֹצְרוֹ. There is a picture of him dancing on the table holding an umbrella (it was a rainy day) at the Chasuna of R' Chaim Kanievsky’s Mishpacha.
I was once driving him in my car, and his window was wide open, during an extremely cold and windy night with rain drizzling at him. He didn’t seem to be affected in the least. I asked him if he worked on these things, and then I remembered that he had been in Siberia. He once came to a Chasuna, and he remarked: “The Chosson and Kalla are already happy; we have to try to make OURSELVES happy!”
Learning Chovos Halvavos Can Change Your Life
About 10 years ago, a Yungerman from Brazil called me for Eitzos (advice), since he had all kinds of difficulties. In the end, he spent 10 minutes first-thing in the morning thanking Hashem for about 60 Chasadim in his life, and every day he learned Chovos Halvavos for ½ an hour. Sometimes he gave a Shiur on different: שְ עָּ רִ ים sections of Chovos Halvavos; especially Shaar Cheshbon HaNefesh was Geshmak. He fell in love with the Sefer, which is extremely positive, and it teaches you how to feel grateful to Hashem instead of always feeling shortchanged, albeit in a Ruchaniyus area.
That year, he married off two children, and his daughter who was married 6 years without children had a baby.
R' Yaakov Galinsky
