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From: myysbyy via chicago-aneinu <chicago-aneinu@googlegroups.com>
Date: 3/30/20 12:51 PM (GMT-06:00)
To: myysbyy@aol.com
Subject: [chicago-aneinu] Powerful words from HaRav Mattisyahu Solomon shlita
WITH HEARTS FULL OF FAITH (from Hakhel)
We provide the following practical and meaningful words of Rav
Matisyahu Solomon, Shlita, as found in his Sefer With Hearts Full of
Faith (Artscroll, p.124-125). We strongly recommend this Sefer, so
directed to us and our times:
"From time to time, during the various exiles of the Jewish people,
there have been periods of deep darkness, of exceedingly terrible
suffering. And if we look back, we see that these usually took place
right before periods of redemption. People refer to these times as the
deeper darkness that comes before the dawn.. But why should it be this
way? Why should there be periods of such intense darkness before the
dawn of redemption?
"...When God wants to redeem us but finds insufficient merit to
justify a redemption, He intensifies the darkness. As the suffering of
the Jewish people reaches unbearable levels, certain people rise to
the occasion. They feel for each other. They bear the burdens of their
suffering brothers, and they move heaven and earth to help them. And
this extreme empathy brings the dawn of redemption for the entire
Jewish people.
"The times in which we live certainly qualify as a period of intense
darkness. The Jewish nation as a whole finds itself in a precarious
position, under attack from all sides, persecuted, abused, maligned.
Blood flows on the holy soil, and there is no end in sight. In Jewish
homes in all parts of the globe, there is also an unusual amount of
suffering. All around us we see heartbreak and heartbreak and more
heartbreak..
"I do not believe that all of this misery is being visited upon us
only in order to exact punishment for transgressions. I believe that
it is rather to bring us to reach up to God with higher levels of
prayer and to reach out to our fellow Jews with higher levels of
compassion. Our generation has apparently not accumulated enough merit
to earn redemption. But we are nonetheless in the final days of our
long and bitter exile. We are finally on the threshold of redemption,
but we lack the merit to actually make it happen. But God wants it to
happen. Destiny has brought us to our appointed time, to the last
moments before the dawn, but how shall we move forward? How shall we
cross the final barrier between oppression and liberation?
"God has given us the key. He has darkened our world, sending down so
much suffering that we cannot help but see it everywhere we turn. But
suffering is not always a punishment. It can also signal the opening
of the shaarei rachamim, the gates of mercy, and it is important that
those of us who suffer accept their lot with trust and faith. As for
the rest of us, this is our opportunity to respond to our suffering
brothers.... This is our opportunity to rise above our safe and
comfortable little corners and truly feel for our brothers and sisters
who live with…pain, anxiety and sorrow. This is our opportunity to
experience and express extreme empathy, to show that we hurt and weep
with our people, that their pain and grief are our own. If we do this,
then God will also bring to bear, middah keneged middah, measure for
measure, His own attribute of extreme empathy and send us the final
redemption speedily and in our days."
Let us take these words to deep heart--and act upon them, each person
in his/her own unique and special way, and may the result be our full
and final redemption-- speedily and in our days.
We provide the following practical and meaningful words of Rav
Matisyahu Solomon, Shlita, as found in his Sefer With Hearts Full of
Faith (Artscroll, p.124-125). We strongly recommend this Sefer, so
directed to us and our times:
"From time to time, during the various exiles of the Jewish people,
there have been periods of deep darkness, of exceedingly terrible
suffering. And if we look back, we see that these usually took place
right before periods of redemption. People refer to these times as the
deeper darkness that comes before the dawn.. But why should it be this
way? Why should there be periods of such intense darkness before the
dawn of redemption?
"...When God wants to redeem us but finds insufficient merit to
justify a redemption, He intensifies the darkness. As the suffering of
the Jewish people reaches unbearable levels, certain people rise to
the occasion. They feel for each other. They bear the burdens of their
suffering brothers, and they move heaven and earth to help them. And
this extreme empathy brings the dawn of redemption for the entire
Jewish people.
"The times in which we live certainly qualify as a period of intense
darkness. The Jewish nation as a whole finds itself in a precarious
position, under attack from all sides, persecuted, abused, maligned.
Blood flows on the holy soil, and there is no end in sight. In Jewish
homes in all parts of the globe, there is also an unusual amount of
suffering. All around us we see heartbreak and heartbreak and more
heartbreak..
"I do not believe that all of this misery is being visited upon us
only in order to exact punishment for transgressions. I believe that
it is rather to bring us to reach up to God with higher levels of
prayer and to reach out to our fellow Jews with higher levels of
compassion. Our generation has apparently not accumulated enough merit
to earn redemption. But we are nonetheless in the final days of our
long and bitter exile. We are finally on the threshold of redemption,
but we lack the merit to actually make it happen. But God wants it to
happen. Destiny has brought us to our appointed time, to the last
moments before the dawn, but how shall we move forward? How shall we
cross the final barrier between oppression and liberation?
"God has given us the key. He has darkened our world, sending down so
much suffering that we cannot help but see it everywhere we turn. But
suffering is not always a punishment. It can also signal the opening
of the shaarei rachamim, the gates of mercy, and it is important that
those of us who suffer accept their lot with trust and faith. As for
the rest of us, this is our opportunity to respond to our suffering
brothers.... This is our opportunity to rise above our safe and
comfortable little corners and truly feel for our brothers and sisters
who live with…pain, anxiety and sorrow. This is our opportunity to
experience and express extreme empathy, to show that we hurt and weep
with our people, that their pain and grief are our own. If we do this,
then God will also bring to bear, middah keneged middah, measure for
measure, His own attribute of extreme empathy and send us the final
redemption speedily and in our days."
Let us take these words to deep heart--and act upon them, each person
in his/her own unique and special way, and may the result be our full
and final redemption-- speedily and in our days.
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