When G-d 'Plays G-d'

Passing the Test of The End of Days

bs’d

There's a story told — possibly apocryphal, possibly a complete lie — about a meeting that took place in Paris between Hemingway and Fitzgerald while both were vying for the mantle of America’s “greatest living writer”.

Apparently, numerous attempts had been made to get them to meet, all of which ended in failure.

And then it happened.

As far as I know, only Hemingway recorded his thoughts on the meeting.

And this is a paraphrase of what he said:

We found a bar, drank, chatted, didn’ t really have much in common.

Except for one thing…

We both agreed that everything that happens to you in life is your own damn fault.

And that, my friends, is a remarkably Jewish sentiment — from a couple of goyishe drunks!

Let me explain.

We all know that the good and the bad we receive in our lives comes from Hashem. He sends it to us as we need it, in the quantity we require, and precisely at the hour that’s most propitious. And he does it to assist us in moving forward with whatever tikkun we have to make in this world.

Hashgacha, is what we call it, often translated into English as ‘divine providence’.

But no matter how it's termed, it's verily the way the system works, and our understanding of that reality — and our belief in it — is what we call emunah.

Can you repeat that?

Yes.

Again: the belief that Hashem guides every aspect of our individual lives, as well as our broader communal and national life — and that of the rest of the planet — that is precisely the faith of a Jew.

Emunah vs Bitachon

Now, how we actually function with that knowledge, how we cope and operate within the confines of that faith — how we respond to the challenges and handle the tests and stresses and change that Hashem throws at us — that is what a Jew terms bitachon, our “trust” in G-d.

If we were philosophers, we might say that emuna derives from the realm of epistemology, whereas bitachon relates more to the ethical, middot side of our lives.

So, a Jew believes that Hashem is guiding his life.

Fine.

But when his car breaks down in heavy traffic, does he still believe that it's ‘all for the best’? does he understand it to be just part of his tikkun? and that there's no need to fret? that he should just be thankful for whatever the lesson might be, and b’ezrat Hashem it’ll all become clear in time…?

Does he trust that Hashem did it for the benefit of his eternal soul?

Or…?

Or does he curse his car and his mechanic and complain about the rotten job he did last go-round (and how he was overcharged by that dirty swindler), while he yells at his kids in the back seat for not being quiet while he’s trying “to think”.

The tests we get, fellow Jews, are tailor-fitted and hand-crafted for us and only us, and all we have to do when they strike is…

React correctly.

If we don't — if anxiety and stress and worry are the way we respond to the vicissitudes He daily hurls our way — then we merely testify therewith to our lack of trust in Him.

Now, let's carve this turkey up for serving!

So, here we are at the end of days, with the ikveta d’meshicha literally crashing all about us and the geulah shleima at our doorstep.

That said, it appears we still have a few more rivers to cross, and behold! they're rushing at us in the form of —

1. Rising inflation,

2. Mounting antisemitism,

3. Regional wars,

4. Extreme weather,

5. Food scarcity,

6. Societal polarization,

7. Absolute technological surveillance,

8. Increasing fissures in the global financial and economic edifice,

9. Civil strife,

10. A globalist push for totalitarian control, and

11. Credible threats of nuclear armageddon.

And the question every believing Jew has to be asking is — what in the world is Hashem doing?!

And why all at once?!

And the answer is the very same we offered above with our broken car analogy:

He's doing it simply to see how we react.

And that's that.

WHAT?!

That’s right. He wants to know who genuinely trusts in him, come what may, and who is merely ‘playing Jewish’.

And as we move into the final innings before Mashiach, and it becomes tougher and tougher to weather the onslaught of literally everything the Master of the Universe has to test us with (and, believe me, he possesses one amply equipped utility belt!), it becomes imperative that we rise to the occasion and face down every pitch he heaves our way with as much equanimity and trust as we can muster.

That is to say, as we approach the Ketz, Hashem wants more than anything to purify each and every one of us.

How?

By burning out every last vestige of faith we place in the false gawds of our day — from money to muscle to armies and air forces and iron domes and laser beams, from this or that political candidate, from technological prowess and academic credentials to medical science and expert opinions, and…

Well, you get the point.

Every possible trial you require to destroy your false beliefs, misplaced hopes and errant convictions will be sent to you.

And that's a guarantee.

And yes, again, it's all for the good of your eternal soul — to purge it of the dross and tumah that you’ve collected all the days of your life (and possibly from a few that came before).

It will no doubt be a frightening time, as everyone is tested to the limits of his ability.

And it may also be sorrowful, as those who are taken from us by war, famine, fear, or whatever other instrument He chooses, succumb to the perils of the day.

But know, too, that this is also a test, and perhaps the most difficult of all.

One that forces us to remember the words of the Kotzker Rebbe, who taught us that there’s “nothing more whole than a broken heart.”

As the mishna in Kelim (2:1) teaches regarding clay vessels — “in their breaking is their purification.” So, too, can a broken heart draw a person inestimably closer to Hashem.

What’s coming, according to the prophets and ChaZaL, will be especially demanding.

But it will also contain the seed of a new world entirely, from which we and our descendants will nourish ourselves spiritually until the end of time.

If, already at this early hour we embrace Hashem, and trust that he’s acting in the interest of our immortal, holy neshamot, and we stand firm in our faith that He and only He is guiding events toward the best possible outcome,

Then…

He’ll have less reason to test us.

And…

:וְצַדִּ֖יק בֶּֽאֱמוּנָת֥וֹ יִחְיֶֽה…

We’ll have merited to LIVE IN OUR FAITH, as the navi Chavakuk says — not just to possess it intellectually, but literally to live that faith, to trust in Him always —

Even as the car breaks down…

Again.

And again.

And to appreciate — with a smile — that it's all our own damn fault.

G-d be with you.

Dean Maughvet