Rabbi Peretz Chen | The immense good awaiting us at the end of this difficult period

00:00 Is there any logic to everything that’s been happening here lately? Threats from Iran, threats from Hezbollah. Who are they threatening? Us? We are children of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Would you agree to let someone threaten your child while you just sat quietly? How can it be that last Friday, we in Ashkelon woke up at ten to six in the morning to a siren and several explosions? How can it be that the residents of Kiryat Shmona who are still in the city received a message on Friday telling them to stay close to protected spaces? Flights are being canceled, and people’s lives are being disrupted. How can this be? What father would agree to let his child be threatened like that? And our Father isn’t just any father. He is the greatest Father there is, the King of kings. Yet we’re being threatened from every direction, and Jews are anxious. It makes no sense at all. How does Hakadosh Boruch Hu allow such a thing to happen? This is a piercing question that we need to ask at this time. After all, it makes no sense. In today’s class, we’ll address this point and work through the question, so that we can truly understand why things like this happen. We’ll get to the heart of it, draw a great deal of encouragement, with Hashem’s help, and see how we can use these ideas in our ordinary daily lives at home with our children, with Hashem’s help. I would be very, very grateful if you would take a small action to help this class reach more Jews: give it a like, share it, subscribe if you haven’t, and leave a comment. When YouTube sees these things, it will automatically show the class to many more people. Now, there’s a parable about a teacher and a student sitting together. The teacher is explaining a very serious, very deep, very fascinating subject to his student. And this teacher loves

02:30 his student so much that he wants him to understand it as well as possible. So what does the teacher do? He explains every last detail so that the student will understand it well. Suddenly, while he’s explaining it, a new insight comes to him—something he hadn’t thought of before. Because he loves his student, the teacher wants to share this insight too, this new idea that has occurred to him. But since it has only just come to him, he needs a few minutes to think it through and understand it well himself before giving it to his student. So what does he do? He tells his student, “I’m not going to speak with you for a few minutes. I need to think a little; we’ll talk again in a few minutes.” A foolish student will immediately say to himself, “What kind of teacher is this? Does he even love me? I thought he loved me. I thought he cared about me. And now he wants to spend a few minutes not talking to me at all.” That’s how a foolish student would understand it. But a wise student will say to himself, “Wait, wait, wait. I see how much this teacher does for me. I see how much he cares about me. I see how much he gives me. I see how fond he is of me. So what’s happening? Apparently he needs a few minutes to himself for my sake. He must have a new idea that he wants to organize in his mind so that he can give me that too. So these few minutes of seeming distance from my teacher are worth it, because afterward I’ll receive something far more powerful from him.” The Rebbe explained that when difficult times come—and now, in addition to the uncertain war we’re facing, when we don’t know what will happen, we’re also in the period of the Three Weeks, on the eve of Tisha B’Av—these are very, very difficult

04:32 times for the Jewish people. Why has all this happened? Why would a loving Father do this to His children? The answer is that this loving Father wants to give us something immensely powerful and great, something we cannot even imagine the magnitude of. And to reach that indescribable greatness, there are sometimes these few minutes when it might seem as though, G-d forbid, there is some kind of disconnect. There is no disconnect at all. It is a period of a particular challenge, through which and as a result of which we will reach something much greater. When the Rebbe said this, he also gave a very clear proof. He made a very interesting point. Let’s take an example. A person buys a house. When someone buys a house, he takes out a mortgage—a great deal of money, a large loan from the bank—and pays it back every month for a number of years. What happens? As the years go by, the amount he owes decreases. That’s how it works. Anyone who takes out a loan pays it back, and over time the balance goes down. The same applies here: if the entire purpose of galus, this long and difficult galus, were to atone for sins, then as time went on, the intensity and difficulty of galus should have decreased. Galus should have become less difficult because we would already have paid off part of the debt for those sins we committed. The punishment should have eased. But what do we see instead? As time goes on, galus becomes harder and harder, and things happen that we never imagined. What are these things? Wait—how can it be getting more intense? It’s supposed to be easing. Think of the decline of the generations from the destruction of the Second Beis Hamikdash until today. What great sages there were then—and where are we today? Look at the situations we face. How can this be? Surely it should be that, little by little,

06:37 the hardship diminishes, because we’ve already paid for some of the sins. Rather, the point of galus is not only punishment for sins. Galus is a journey of challenges, a journey in which new challenges keep arising. And when, with Hashem’s help, we meet those challenges without becoming confused or losing heart, when we remain full of hope, faith, and trust, knowing that everything is for the good and everything comes from Him, that no evil descends from Above, and that even what appears bad is something we simply don’t understand—because Hashem is good, and it is the nature of goodness to do good—and when we live according to the Torah, according to halachah, according to the Shulchan Aruch, according to the rules Hashem has established: when we do these things despite all the confusion and difficulty, that is what will lift us to something far more powerful. Those few minutes when the teacher tells the student, “I can’t speak with you right now,” are for the sake of something much greater that he is about to give him. This entire long challenge and hardship is for the sake of something very, very great that we will receive, with Hashem’s help, very soon indeed. It’s no coincidence that the Gemara tells us that at the difficult moments of the destruction, during the destruction itself, at the most dramatic moments, moments of unparalleled difficulty, when the non-Jews entered the Holy of Holies, they saw the keruvim above the Ark of the Covenant facing each other, embracing each other. Usually, when the Jewish people did not behave as they should, the keruvim would turn away and face in different directions, with their backs to each other. Yet at the most difficult moments, they saw the keruvim facing each other in an embrace. Wait, but the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed because we, the Jewish people, had done foolish things and made terrible mistakes. How could the keruvim be embracing each other? After all, what does that embrace signify? It signifies Hashem’s love for us,

08:43 His connection with us. So how can that be? Chassidus explains, and the Rebbe explains, that Hakadosh Boruch Hu is telling us: “My dear, beloved children, know that you are setting out on a long road—a difficult, challenging road that will demand a great deal of inner strength from us. But know that it all comes from My great love for you, so that you can reach something much higher.” That is His embrace. In those moments, the embrace tells us: “The road is long because I love you very, very much.” When a child starts school—well, starts preschool or daycare—how much crying is there? He cries so much; he doesn’t want to leave his mother and father. How hard it is to enter a new daycare. He doesn’t know anyone there. Poor little thing, so tiny, and this is what they put him through! His parents do it; they leave him there even though they won’t see him again until late that afternoon. A mother might say to herself, “No, no, I can’t. I can’t do it. This is hard for him. It will cause him problems; it will traumatize him.” But everyone does it. Boruch Hashem, it doesn’t traumatize children. We do it because we know that those minutes, those hours when he seemingly won’t be with us, are for his sake. He’ll get what he needs there. There are children his age to play with. We’ll have the time to go to work, earn a living, take care of errands—for whom? For whose sake? For his. And then we’ll see him again at the end of the day with renewed energy and great joy. These minutes, these moments, this challenging period—it’s a challenging period that we will get through, with Hashem’s help. We’ll get through it, we’ll be strong, we’ll stand firm, and we’ll believe

10:31 and we won’t lose heart for a moment. With Hashem’s help, we’ll merit to see it through. What do I mean, “in the end”? Very soon, we’ll merit to experience the great power for which there has been this entire exile, with all its confusion and all its challenges. Then, as I mentioned earlier, with Hashem’s help, we’ll receive something much, much greater. We are almost at the eve of Tisha B’Av, and on Tisha B’Av it is customary to read Megillas Eichah. There is a verse in Megillas Eichah that says: “Remember, Hashem, what has befallen us; look and see our disgrace.” Or, in the familiar melody: “Remember, Hashem, what has befallen us; look and see our disgrace.” It’s a very, very difficult verse. It speaks of the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, of a harsh exile. “Hashem, look and see our disgrace”—the disgrace the Jewish people are suffering. So on the one hand, yes, it is a difficult verse. But Chassidus explains—the Tzemach Tzedek, the third Chabad Rebbe, explains—that this verse also holds great strength, hope, encouragement, and direction. According to its inner, Chassidic meaning, the verse says: “Remember, Hashem, what has befallen us.” The word mah, “what,” represents bittul, self-nullification. As Moshe Rabbeinu says, “And what are we?” I am nothing before You, Hashem. The word mah expresses profound self-nullification. This verse says to Hakadosh Boruch Hu: “Remember, Hashem, the mah that we had.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu, remember our self-nullification before You, even though we live in difficult, challenging times, and life itself is challenging. Living as a Jew according to halachah, according to the Shulchan Aruch, is challenging. It demands a great deal of us, and it isn’t always easy. Yet we Jews don’t give up or let the difficulty shake us. We remain with You. Hashem, see how we nullify ourselves before You. Remember, Hashem, the mah—the mah we had, the mah we have—our

12:58 self-nullification before You, Master of the Universe. And we will try to deepen it. We’ll strive to continue, and we will continue to nullify ourselves before You. We won’t give up. Then the verse continues: “Look and see our disgrace.” Our “disgrace” can also be understood as the risks we take, our self-sacrifice. Look how Jews make an effort. Anyone who looks at the situation can see the tremendous effort Jews are making. In difficult times, so many Jews simply gave their lives for other Jews on Simchas Torah, amid everything that happened. Afterward, so many Jews helped other Jews whom they didn’t know, whose names they didn’t even know, with tremendous devotion. And so many Jews devote themselves every day to fulfilling G-d’s will. Hashem, see our self-sacrifice for You. Through that self-sacrifice, through our self-nullification before You, with Hashem’s help we will merit to see this story through. These few minutes when the father, the teacher, says to the student, “Wait a moment; I’ll speak with you shortly”—seemingly he isn’t with him, but in truth he is entirely with him. It’s all for the student’s sake. May these minutes come to an end already, and may we meet the Shechinah itself at the building of the Third Beis Hamikdash. And so, in these final moments before that happens, despite the present state of war, the Nine Days, and Tisha B’Av just around the corner, we need to do what needs to be done—but in our hearts, remain joyful, calm, and encouraged. We thank Hashem for His goodness to us, for His kindnesses to us, for the fact that Hakadosh Boruch Hu does everything solely, solely for our sake. We needn’t be shaken when there are periods of seeming difficulty, whatever form that difficulty takes. We needn’t let it overwhelm us. There is also a very important lesson here for raising our children at home. Sometimes, at home, we feel that we are good parents: we try hard, we do what we can, everything is going well, and the children are with us. Then suddenly all sorts of challenges crop up, and we say:

15:11 “Maybe we aren’t good enough parents. Maybe we made a mistake here or there, and we aren’t doing what we should.” That can make us lose heart. “Why did I respond to my son that way? Why did I respond to my daughter that way? I wish I hadn’t said those words. I should have done it differently, done this, consulted with someone.” So many things stir our conscience, make us feel guilty, and bring our spirits down. We need to know that, yes, we should always try to do our best, to be capable parents and do as much good as we can. That’s true. But at the same time, hold on: those few mistakes we may have made—why did we make them? For the children’s sake. For them. Perhaps we simply didn’t know exactly what the best approach was. But why did we do it? To work against them? Of course not—for their good. So when our hearts are set on their good, with Hashem’s help, everything will ultimately work out and be all right. They know, too, that we have their good in mind. It’s all right; don’t panic. Even when there is a period of concealment for a while, if it comes from a good place, from a desire to do good, then everything works out afterward, with Hashem’s help. Thank you very much. May we hear good news. May we merit, with Hashem’s help, for those few minutes when the teacher tells the student, “Wait,” to pass already, and may we meet the teacher, the father, the King—Hakadosh Boruch Hu. With the coming of Moshiach, may we encounter the Shechinah openly, with the Third Beis Hamikdash. We encounter Hashem every moment even now, for Hashem is with us, but may we encounter Him openly, as we will in the time of the Geulah with Moshiach Tzidkeinu, with Hashem’s help, very soon. May the Jewish people be blessed with success. With Hashem’s help, may the hostages return, may the wounded recover, may nothing happen to our righteous soldiers, and may the Jewish people know only good, with Hashem’s help. Good

17:10 news. Thank you very much. All the best.