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לימוד תורה

Challenges, trials and the exploitation of opportunities

The Parasha in our everyday life - Parashat Vayera 5783

Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald - Head of the Hesder Yeshiva 'Meir Harel' Modiin

Both in private life and in public life, reality presents us with challenges that we cannot choose, with varying degrees of difficulty that require us to change and test ourselves, whether we can or not...!

Some people fear a challenge because they perceive it as difficult and exhausting. They see it as an obstacle that is better not encountered, so they try to avoid it and find a way not to deal with it.

Others see the challenge as an opportunity to move forward in life. The difficulty and the effort required are seen as one of the ways in which the Almighty encourages us to discover the greatness of our soul and take action. By doing so, we reach a higher level. Putting oneself to the test is a way to gain life experience, because "The only source of knowledge is experience "*.

Sometimes reality does not directly challenge us. Our faith and worldview place demands and obligations on us, even as we face the challenges that come our way. Some are put off by the challenges and look for excuses not to put themselves in challenging situations, and there are those who are spurred on by the challenges and see them as opportunities not to be missed. Sometimes there is competition for the right to face the challenges and even to be at the top and lead others who join. Their test is to what extent they succeed in meeting the challenge.

The day after the elections, we awoke to a new dawn. Many hoped, acted and prayed that these would be the results. Those who did not see the events of the past year in a positive light, who feared that the situation would continue and even worsen, hoped that things would change and saw the current situation and the problems it created as an extraordinary and perhaps even unique opportunity to bring about significant change.

Before the voters were public deputies who offered to rise to the challenge and bear the burden of the public's needs, to change the existing situation, to restore governance and personal security, to restore national honor, to strengthen Jewish identity, to reform the judicial system, to reduce the cost of living, and much more. They asked that they be given the opportunity. The public voted. It expressed a desire for change and believed in the promises that things could be done differently and that its elected representatives had the right solution and knew how to implement it.

Now the proof and the test is on the shoulders of the elected officials to see if they will meet the challenges and fulfill the promises and the opportunity given. And we will all benefit from the fruits of their success.

There were also those who awoke to a new morning and felt deep disappointment, hoping that last year's situation would continue and even worsen. That the negative campaigning and intimidation about the terrible things that could happen if they did not win the election had touched their hearts. And they are afraid. The test for those elected is to fulfill their promise and ensure that the disappointed sector also benefits from the fruits of change.

We learn the model for personal and public challenges and trials from the ten trials of Abraham Avinu:

עֲשָׂרָה נִסְ'וֹנוֹת נִתְנַסָּה אַבְרָהָם אָבִ'נוּ עָלָ'ו הַשָּׁלוֹם וְעָמַד בְּכֻלָּם, לְהוֹדִ'עַ כַּמָּה חִבָּתוֹ שֶׁל אַבְרָהָם אָבִ'נוּ עָלָ'ו הַשָּׁלוֹם:

"With ten trials was Abraham, our father (may he rest in peace), tried, and he withstood them all; to make known how great was the love of Abraham, our father (peace be upon him)." (Pirkei Avot 5:3)

The Sages differ what the ten trials were, which include personal and communal trials (such as לֶךְ-לְךָ- Go forth). However, the greatest and most difficult of all, according to everyone, is the trial of the Akeida, which is also referred to in the scriptures as the 'trial':

וַ'ְהִ֗יה אַחַר֙ הַדְּבָרִ֣'ם הָאֵ֔לֶּה וְהָ֣אֱלֹק'ם נִסָּ֖ה אֶת-אַבְרָהָ֑ם וַ'ֹּ֣אמֶר אֵלָ֔'ו אַבְרָהָ֖ם וַ'ֹּ֥אמֶר הִנֵּֽנִ'׃

"Sometime afterward, G-d put Abraham to the test, saying to him, "Abraham." He answered, "Here I am." (Bereshit 22:1)

"How symbolic it is that the verse of the binding test ends with the word הִנֵּֽנִי׃ 'Here I am.' Abraham faces the challenge and the difficult trial, he does not try to find a way to avoid it, on the contrary, he mobilizes all the forces of his soul and says 'I am' with all that I am, with all my abilities. Because the 'trial' is not only meant to test the person, but "to bring something to a further or higher point." And so also נִסָּ֖ה "put him to the test" in relation to physical or moral powers means "to try out" or "to test"; namely, to put those powers before a task they have never faced before. Therefore, any test or trial is an ascent, for it strengthens and strains forces that were already there but had not yet been tested by a more advanced or higher task. A rope that has already withstood the weight of fifty pounds is tested to see if it can also support fifty-one pounds. When it comes to physical and moral strength, the test strengthens and increases them". (Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch ibid).

*Albert Einstein

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