16 Nisan 5775
1st Day Chol Hamoed Pesach
Excerpt from the Questions and Answers section of Binyamin Golden's most recent message...
Q. The Passover holiday is getting close, and the Passover holiday is a matter of faith [emunah], and it needs to be very significant for us, the great test of the End of Days, as is known, is a test of faith, 'and the righteous will live by his faith'...
A. Faith [emunah] - that's one thing, and trust [bitachon], that's another thing. Faith - it's a very high level, but trust is an even higher level. Because, with trust we are ready to sacrifice ourselves and to know that everything is from HKB"H, to know that He is the Almighty, and it doesn't matter what - whatever He does is for our good. Even if it causes us pain - it doesn't matter.
Q. The great elevation of Am Yisrael is that they went out of Egypt without any basis as to how they would live in the desolate desert...
A. That's it. That's trust. Faith - it's belief that HKB"H exists and that He is the Almighty, but trust - it's when they went out, they took the sheep and tied them to their bed and did not fear the Egyptians, because they had trust in HKB"H. Faith and trust together, the moment that a Jew has these two things, no one can defeat him.
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My ten agarot's worth: You might have emunah that airplanes can fly, but if you refuse to get on one, you have no bitachon. Taking the idea a bit further, a Jew can have emunah that Hashem gave us Eretz Yisrael and that all Jews should live there, but it takes bitachon to actually go and settle there. If you are a Jew still living in the physical exile, you really should be checking your level of bitachon. Seriously.
I am the Lord, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, to be a God to you. (Vayikra 25:38)
Oh, how, at every mention of those words in the Haggadah and in other places did I vocalize how the yidden in America don't realize the deeper meaning of Eretz Yisrael. And when my husband would say that it's the Torah that keeps the Jews, not that they need to leave and settle in Israel, because as long as they keep the Torah they could live anywhere. And I would counter that with your above quote, that that is why HKB"H took us out of Egypt! We. Go back and forth over this all the time. I told him he's still in a Golus state of mind , that's a NY state of mind. However, my husband did agree to come live here :-) !
ReplyDeleteIt's a subject dear to my heart - especially at this time of year. I had the privilege of making my first ever trip to Eretz Yisrael in the weeks following Pesach 5754 and made aliyah during chol hamo'ed Pesach in 5756. It's very tied up in my mind to 'leaving Mitzrayim'.
DeleteI hope I didn't give the wrong impression. We moved to Yerushalayim from NY in July of 2010. Beforevthatbi was taking care of my Mother a"h. It's just that my husband agreed to come for shalom bayis. As for me, I too was here twice before, once single, and then again after we were married. Couldn't keep me away.
DeleteIf someone does not want to make Aliyah they will give any excuse and bend the truth till it looks like a pretzel. Even when I correct the person and say I did it with the limitation of X,Y or Z and you can do it to. They just will not listen to logic, emunah, trust or hope. After listening to them the real reason comes out as "They just don't want to change their ways or look at other options"
DeleteHi, Neshama and Devash.
ReplyDeleteI always find it very moving to read about people's soul motives/experiences regarding aliyah.
Thank you for sharing yours.