The Bobover Rebbe zt'l used to say that during the second world war, there was a time when it was possible to receive a passport to travel to Costa Rica and thereby be saved from the Nazis. The Rebbe paid a lot of money ordering passports for him and his family. On the designated date, he went to pick up the documents but when he arrived, he was told that they had stopped doing this service. For whatever reason, they had stopped giving out passports. The Rebbe was very broken. In addition to the great expense he had paid for the documents, this was the only way he had found to escape from the Nazis. He didn't want to return home empty-handed, so he went to a beis medresh to learn something, hoping to find an idea that would give him chizuk. He opened Tiferes Uziel, and he found a commentary on Tehillim (ch.22:2-3):
"...far from saving me, from the words of my roar. O Hashem! I call out by day, but You answer not; and by night, but there is no respite for me."
He explains this pasuk with the Shlah HaKadosh who explains (Tehillim 69:14): "As for me, may my prayer to You, Hashem, be at an opportune time; O Hashem, in Your abundant kindness, answer me with the truth of Your salvation." Sometimes, a person davens for something that he thinks is good for him, but it is not good for him. Therefore, one should daven that if Hashem knows that what he is asking for isn't for his benefit, Hashem shouldn't listen to his tefillah, and he shouldn't fulfill his request. This is the meaning of "give me only that which is truly good for me. If it isn't good for me," (Eichah 3:8) "Though I cry out and plead, He shut out my prayer."
This is the meaning of the pasuk: if the matters that I am asking for are distant from my salvation, then I request Hashem shouldn’t answer my tefillos.
The Bobover Rebbe saw this vort and it gave him a lot of chizuk and consoled him. He understood that it was bashert that he didn't receive the passports that he tried so hard to obtain. It was for his good and his family's good, although now, it seemed terrible to him. With this idea in mind, he returned home.
Later it became known that all the people who received documents to Costa Rica were killed by the Nazis. The Bobover Rebbe's family was saved because they didn't get the documents. (Imrei Kodesh Admor m'Bobov Shlita, Naso, ט"תשס).
There are many situations in life that we think are bad, but they are all for the good. It states in this week's parashah (46:2) "And Hashem said to Yisrael in night visions..." Nighttime represents hardships. "Night visions" tells us that it is merely a vision. It is a vision, an imagination, and not reality. Everything is always bright and good.
The same idea can be said on the pasuk (Tehillim 94:18) "If I said, 'My foot falters,' Your kindness, Hashem, supported me." It is only "I say that my feet falter," but it isn't ever the reality. This is how it appears to me, but not how it really is.
Rebbe Hershele Spinka zt'l asks two questions:
- How does one see bad? Isn’t bad something one experiences?
- The opposite of afflictions is kindness. So, why does it state "Gladden us according to the days You afflicted us"? It should say, “Bestow kindness upon us according to the days that You afflicted us."
But the answer to both questions is that everything is for the good. Even things that appear bad are indeed good. Therefore, we say, "the years we saw bad." We saw bad, but it wasn't bad. We request, "Gladden us according to the days You afflicted us." We ask for joy; we don't ask for chesed because chesed was always there. The affliction was also chesed. We request that now Hashem should give us chesed that we can accept with joy.
The Ramban had a student who was niftar young. The Ramban wrote a kameia, put it in his student's hand, and had him buried with it. The Ramban said, "When you go up to heaven, find the chamber called Thrones of Justice. In that chamber, ask why you died so young. Also, ask why the Jewish nation in this generation suffers so many tzaros."
Sometime later, the Ramban was learning Torah near the window. Suddenly, the window opened, and he saw his student as though he were alive. The student reported, "With your kameia in hand, I went from chamber to chamber, and none of the malachim stopped me. I reached the chamber called Thrones of Justice. But I didn’t ask the questions you instructed me to ask because Hashem's kindness is evident in that chamber. Even matters that seem bad here are all solely for the good. So I had nothing to ask."
As a bachur, Reb Binyamin Zev Deitsch (later the Manahel of Yeshivas Ponevezh) lived in Hungary, and he and another forty-nine bachurim were called up to serve in the Hungarian army. Their parents put together a large sum of money to bribe a doctor to "find" illnesses in the fifty bachurim, that would exempt them from military service. Reb Binyamin Zev's parents and the parents of one other bachur contributed the lions-share of the funds because they were wealthy and could afford it.
The doctor's documents, attesting to each bachur's "illness," arrived on the morning they were ordered to present themselves to the army. The problem was that the doctor only sent forty-eight documents. He accidentally didn’t write a letter for Reb Binyamin Zev and for one other wealthy bachur. (Although they paid the most for the letters, it was their letters that were forgotten.)
Without an exemption in hand, they had to flee as quickly as possible. Reb Binyamin Zev remembers not having time to say goodbye to his family as he promptly packed up and ran to the port to escape to Eretz Yisrael.
Reb Binyamin later said that he considered that day a "dark day, a bad day." He was jealous of his friends who were able to remain with their families while he had to escape like a thief. Living in Eretz Yisrael, alone, without family, was also very difficult. However, it was all for his benefit. The war broke out, and only these two survived from the original group of fifty bachurim. Reb Binyamin married and had children and grandchildren, some famous roshei yeshiva. Let this remind us that even when something seems bad, it is good in disguise. With time, be'ezras Hashem, you will understand how.
The Secret of Shema
The Zohar writes "This is the secret of Shema." When we say Shema, we cover our eyes. This indicates that there are things that don't appear good to us, but our eyes are limited. We close our eyes and proclaim that everything is from Hashem and for the good.
Hashem said to Yaakov Avinu (46:4) "I shall descend with you to Mitzrayim, and I shall also surely bring you up, and Yosef shall place his hand on your eyes."
The Meshech Chochmah explains that Yaakov was worried about going down to Mitzrayim. He didn't understand how it could be for his good. Hashem told him, "Yosef shall place his hand on your eyes." What happened to Yosef will say to you that even those matters that seem bad, are for the good. It didn't appear good when Yosef went down to Mitzrayim, but it turned out to be good. So, it will be for Yaakov. Even if it doesn't appear good right now, it will be good in the end.
We quote the Meshech Chachmah: "Yaakov shouldn't wonder what purpose and benefit will come from going down to Mitzrayim... Hashem said, what happened to Yosef will close your eyes from thinking about this matter and from trying to understand Hashem's hashgachah, which is beyond us. Who would think that good things would come from Yosef's tzaar? Yet, Yosef became the ruler of Mitzrayim, and he taught the people of Mitzrayim his righteous ways. The entire land was under his influence. This episode is sufficient to place a hand over your eyes from thinking about Hashem's ways and trying to understand matters with your logical mind..."
The Torah (45:27) tells us that when Yaakov saw the wagons that Yosef sent to bring him to Mitzrayim, "Yaakov's spirit was revived." The Kedushas Levi writes, "Yosef hinted to Yaakov that he shouldn't worry about going into galus because the galus will bring about redemption." The Kedushas Levi explains that the wagons represent a circle. A circle represents the route and the means (the reason) of how Hashem sends us His chesed. The wagons were a hint to Yaakov that good will come from going down to Mitzrayim.
After revealing himself, Yosef cried on Binyamin's shoulders for the two Batei Mikdash that would be built on Binyamin's portion and would be destroyed, and Binyamin cried on Yosef's shoulder for Mishkan Shilo that would be built on Yosef's portion and would be destroyed (see Rashi 45:14). Yosef and Binyamin met after years of separation. We would expect a more joyous meeting. Why was it that the first thing they did was cry?
It is because the root of the churban happened just then. Yosef revealed his identity to his brothers early. It would have been better had Yosef waited a drop longer. Only, (45:1) "Yosef couldn't restrain himself..." The Sfas Emes notes that it seems that if Yosef had contained himself a drop longer, it would have been better for the future of Klal Yisrael. The churban Beis HaMikdash wouldn't have occurred. But Yosef couldn't contain himself any longer, watching the distress of his brothers.
This is a reminder that things aren't the way they appear. We think yesurim are only bad, but every difficulty has a purpose. Every tzaar and hardship saves us from much greater troubles. If Yosef could have concealed himself a drop longer, the tzaar of his brothers would be greater, but it would have been so good for them and Klal Yisrael.
When Yaakov was traveling to Mitzrayim, he brought korbanos, as it states (46:1) "Yisrael set out with all that he had, and he came to Beer-Sheva where he sacrificed korbanos to the G-d of his father, Yitzchak." Rashi and the Ramban ask why specifically Yitzchak is mentioned in this pasuk. The pasuk could have stated, "He sacrificed korbanos to the G-d of his fathers," and both Avraham and Yitzchak would be implied.
The Be'er Mayim Chaim answers that Yitzchak represents the attribute of harsh justice. At this time, Yaakov discovered that harsh justice is also a form of Hashem's kindness. Yaakov suffered immensely when he lost Yosef, but now he realized that it was all in his favor so that he could be supported during the hunger years. Chazal say, that if it weren't for Yosef being in Mitzrayim, Yaakov would have been brought down to Mitzrayim in chains, like a slave. Yosef’s stay in Mitzrayim enabled Yaakov to arrive in Mitzrayim with honor. Therefore, Yaakov praised Hashem, the G-d of Yitzchak. He realized that the din and hardships were also for his good.
