Facing the Incomprehensible

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

There are times when a person feels like he is being pushed to his limits. He already experienced one difficulty, and then another was added, and then another. He feels like Hashem is picking on him, and he's having a very hard time understanding how Hashem could do this to him, especially since he learned about how much Hashem loves him. We must constantly remind ourselves that the only things that are valuable and eternal in this world is our service of Hashem. Everything else in this world is just a distraction. When someone is able to serve Hashem at a time of extreme difficulty, and continue trusting in Him that He's doing the best for him, that could accomplish what would normally take a person ten lifetimes to accomplish. Let us learn from one example in the Torah. The Zohar Hakadosh tells us there is nothing in the world that has the power to nullify a decree of death, plague, or sickness, like the Parasha of Akedat Yitzchak. Of course, this doesn't just mean reading the words, rather, it's understanding and internalizing them. What was so special about Akedat Yitzchak? Let us analyze for a moment some of the difficulties involved in this great test of Avraham Avinu. He was promised at the age of 70 a child that would take over his legacy and continue his life's mission. He then patiently waited for 30 years to have that child. He then invested all of his time and energy building up the child for 37 years, and then Hashem told him to sacrifice the child as a korban. On the surface level, it seems like a very cruel request, something beyond comprehension, coming from a loving and merciful God. Furthermore, Avraham was being asked to do something that he was preaching his whole life against. He would tell all of the idol worshippers that God didn't want them offering their children as sacrifices. Moreover, Hashem seemed to be contradicting what He already told Avraham, that Yitzchak would be the future of Klal Yisrael. It was such a difficult request that made no sense. Avraham could have had many questions here, yet he chose to trust Hashem and do the command with joy and zeal. The Sefat Emmet gives us a beautiful insight into how Avraham was able to overcome this monumental test. He said Avraham was a navi. He was able to see the future, that Moshe Rabbeinu and all of the greats throughout history were destined to come from Yitzchak. We know that every tzaddik brings so much nachat ruach to Hashem with his Torah and good deeds. With the Akedah, Hashem would be losing out on all of those greats. Hillel Hazaken, Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Yochanan, Rav and Shmuel, Abaye and Rava, the Rambam, Rashi, the Baal Shem Tov, the Gra, the Chafez Chaim, and so on. It must be that this one act of sacrifice was going to be greater than all the deeds of all of the greats throughout history combined. Avraham contemplated how special this was going to be for Hashem, and that's what gave him the chizuk, to do it with joy. And indeed, we are still benefiting today, thousands of years later from that one act. Avraham heroically passed the test and amazingly did not tell one person afterward what he did. He was purely L'Shem Shamayim. We only know about it because the Torah told us. Hashem put Avraham in the most difficult circumstance and asked him to do the incomprehensible. That is where all of Avraham's glory lies. Similarly, when a person finds himself in a very difficult situation in life, and it keeps getting more and more difficult to the point where he can't comprehend how Hashem could put him in such a situation, and he feels like he wants to turn the other way in anger and frustration, that is when he must give himself chizuk and say, if he is able to overcome this and continue serving Hashem with joy now, that could be more valuable than what he does for his entire life. One deed done under extreme difficulty is worth infinitely greater than deeds done under normal conditions. The greatest chesed that Hashem can give a person is the opportunity to earn an eternity of bliss. We are in this world on a mission, and Hashem who wants us to succeed always puts us in the exact circumstances we need to be in to achieve that success