Rav Ephraim Wachsman said that if we know that Hashem is behind everything, it is much easier to deal with our challenges. Rav Wachsman related that many years ago, a friend of his, we’ll call him Eli, who was eighteen years old at the time, visited a museum in Eretz Yisroel.
When he went to purchase an entry ticket, the ticket seller told him, “You could pay half price. You’re under eighteen.”
Eli replied, “No, I’m eighteen. I want to pay full price.”
The man said, “No, you look younger than eighteen. The guard at the door will never realize. Just pay half. It’s okay.”
Eli repeated that he was eighteen, and he wanted to pay the full price, and that is what he did. When he handed his ticket to the guard, the man said, “Thank you. I just won 100 Shekels.”
Eli was confused, and the guard explained, “When you were approaching the ticket agent, he said, ‘Look, a Yeshivah boy is coming. He’ll probably try to lie about his age and pay less.’ I said, ‘No way. Yeshivah boys tell the truth.’ And you proved me right.”
Rav Wachsman observed, “That was a difficult test for Eli, but Baruch Hashem, he passed. Imagine if Eli had been told beforehand, ‘There are people betting on you to see if Yeshivah boys tell the truth.’ Would it even have been a question in his mind? He would have come confidently and stated with conviction, ‘I’m a Yeshivah boy. I always tell the truth. I’m always honest.’
In truth, this is how it always is. Hashem sends people to test our patience, just to see how we will respond. If each time we could remind ourselves, ‘It’s a test. Hashem sent him to me,’ we would be able to pass these challenges much easier!”
Reprinted from the Parshas Shemos 5784 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
