Rise to the Occasion

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

Hashem has many ways of helping a person. Sometimes the person has a middat hadin upon him, and because of it, he is unworthy of being helped. In those instances, Hashem will first give the person an opportunity to gain the zechuyot that he needs to overcome that middat hadin , and thereby be able to access the help that Hashem wants to give him. Sometimes it requires a very big act of self-sacrifice, and when the person is being asked to do it, he'll naturally want to say no. He must remember, every mitzvah opportunity that he gets is hand-picked by Hashem, and if he is able to rise to the occasion, he will always gain from it. Sometimes we see immediate benefits, and sometimes we don't. But guaranteed, whenever we do a mitzvah, especially a difficult one, we always win. A man from Yerushalayim related that his friend, who we'll call Daniel, who made aliyah fifteen years ago, received an urgent call from his brother's family in America, asking him to come and give emotional and physical strength to his brother, who was suffering in the hospital. Although they hadn't seen each other in fifteen years, the family felt only a brother could do the job that was necessary to be done. Daniel understood he was needed, and so heroically, he bought a plane ticket and planned to spend a full week in America, giving his brother the chizuk and encouragement that he so desperately needed. Daniel did the job wholeheartedly, and really was able to lift his brother's spirits. One day, while in the hospital with his brother, Daniel suddenly had a terrible headache. It wasn't the first time his head hurt, but the intensity of the pain was cause for concern. He said to himself, he's in a hospital anyway, so he might as well have it checked out. He was taken for an examination, and the doctors were in shock. Daniel needed immediate medical intervention, and because of it, his life was saved. What would have been had Daniel gotten this headache on a routine day in Yerushalayim? He surely would not have gone to the hospital to check it out. The act of mesirut nefesh that he did to help his brother, helped him in a much bigger way. Another man from Israel told, that one day last year he got a call from a neighborhood friend, apologizing for his request in advance. He said his wife was not feeling well, and was not able to get the house ready for Pesach. Additionally, he had a very important guest coming that evening, and they had to get the house organized. He did not have the means to pay for cleaning help, and so he humbly requested if perhaps one of his daughters could come and help. The man told his neighborhood friend not to worry, as he would send one of his daughters as soon as possible. The man approached his eldest daughter, who was engaged to be married at that time, and asked her if she wanted to do this great mitzvah before her wedding. She happily agreed, and went right away. As soon as she arrived, she understood the situation, and started working immediately, clearing up, cleaning, organizing, shining, and polishing. A few hours later, the house was sparkling. A few minutes before she was going to leave, the important guest from Antwerp arrived. He greeted everyone there, and then asked about this girl, who he knew was not part of the family. The baal habayit told him about the tremendous mitzvah that she had just spent hours doing, and also said she was a kallah, with her wedding just a few weeks away. The guest said, “If that's the case, I want to give her a wedding present as hachnasat kallah to help pay for her expenses.” He gave her a check for $10,000, which her family needed very badly. Her act of self-sacrifice seemed to be just for helping others, and in the end, she and her family were helped even more. Many times, the difficult opportunities we are presented with are Hashem's ways of giving us the help that we need.