|
By the Grace of G-d Dear Friend, Two hundred plus years ago a messenger was dispatched from the court of the Alter Rebbe to visit particular businessman. There was a pressing humanitarian need and the Rebbe was sending his messenger to ask the businessman to contribute the needed funds to save the unfortunate victims. The businessman opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a pouch with the required cash. Even before he fully heard the request. It was obviously prepared in advance. The messenger looked incredulously at the donor and said, ‘how did you have the money prepared before I even came to present the need?’ (Remember this is pre telegram days. Not to mention WhatsApp/email/Facebook 😊 ) The chassid said: ‘I recently had a successful business transaction that netted me a handsome financial profit. I thought to myself, why did G-d bless me with this blessed success? I immediately realized, my Rebbe must have an urgent need that he needs me to contribute towards. And Hashem has sent me the wherewithal to be able to help. So, I set aside a generous portion to Tzedaka and waited expectantly for your arrival’. This documented story happened in approximately the year 1800. Fast forward to 2021. Earlier this week I wrote an email sharing some of the opportunities for helping alleviate the suffering of those who are in need. I received very warm feedback to the email. Click here if you haven’t yet seen it yet. First of all let me say THANK YOU. It never ceases to inspire and uplift me when I see people open their hands and wallets to help others. I am so grateful that G-d has brought me into contact with the generous souls who dependably and consistently respond to these heartfelt requests, with lifesaving funds and with inspiring blessings. I wrote a quick note to a donor who had contributed generously. I received this following response. It grabbed my attention. And you will immediately understand why. Dear Rabbi Kantor, You know that I am always happy to help. Strange how your funding pleas sometime coincide with my rise in good fortune 😁 . Shabbat Shalom. Best wishes, D My response: Dear D, Hashem has built into His world giving and receiving…. It is so inspiring to hear how the synchronicity is visible!!! May G-d continue to bless you to be from the givers!! Yosef Hashem has provided enough for everyone. However, He has divided the world into two modes. Giving and receiving. A great Tzadik once told some wealthy people who were complaining about being asked time and time again to help the needy. He told them ‘Hashem has chosen some for the position of giving, and some for the position of receiving. If you are tired of the position of being the ‘giver’ that is fine. The receivers are beseeching G-d to be able to switch rolls and become givers. There is no shortage of volunteers to take your place as one of G-d’s givers. You can be reassigned to the role of a receiver…’. So let me bless all of those who are blessed to be in the role of givers, to be blessed to stay successfully in that role. What comes first. The receivers need or the givers resources? This week there seems to be some good news in the world. A second oral pill has been approved for treating Covid. Did you know that the Talmud teaches us that the ‘healing is created before the sickness’? According to this Talmudic reasoning, Covid could not have been allowed by G-d to develop and mutate, unless the antidote to it was in the offing. It is up to the medical community to work hard to reveal the antidote and make it available to the public. G-d provides the inspiration and knowledge in the minds of the professionals who are then tasked with persevering in developing the healing medium. I know I am going against conventional wisdom here. We tend to think that solutions only come to be after there are problems. The Torah looks at things differently. This week we read the portion of Shemot which describes the opening stages of the Egyptian exile. Do you know when the exodus from Egypt was promised? Before the exile of Egypt. Hashem promised to take the Jews out of Egypt. Only then did he allow their enslavement into Egypt. It is like this with regard to the overall existence of the world. The world looks gloomy and dangerous at times. We have a deep and fervent belief in the coming of Mashiach who will wipe away all suffering and vanquish all evil. In actuality, the happy end was created before the gloomy beginning. At the very beginning of creation the Torah describes the situation as follows: "And the earth was chaotic and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of G‑d hovered upon the face of the waters." The chaos is darkness. That is the source of the negativity in the world that rears its ugly head all too often. But the verse doesn’t describe only chaos and void. It also talks about the spirit of G-d. This ‘Spirit of G-d’ that hovered upon the face of the waters is described by our Sages as referring to ‘The spirit of Mashiach’. Click here for more on the meaning of this verse. Have you ever felt the perfect timing of events when the chronology of how things unfold shows you how Hashem is in charge? Have you ever helped someone out of a predicament, and then they ask ‘what would I have done if you wouldn’t have been here?’ There is a fascinating story told by the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe about his journey from Israel to the USA in the summer of 1929. “When the sad news of the pogroms perpetrated in the Holy Land reached me on Sunday [August 25], on the boat from Alexandria to Trieste, I fell ill with a kidney ailment out of sheer pain and distress. Thanks to G‑d, the most precious of men, the wise and truly G‑d-fearing Dr. Wallach was with us on the boat, and did much to relieve my illness . . . (Dr. Wallach was a very senior doctor and a devout Jew. The Shaare Tzedek Hospital on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem was built by Dr. Wallach in 1902). Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak related that at the conclusion of the voyage Dr. Wallach approached him and begged his forgiveness. “Rebbe!” he said, “How can I atone for my being the cause of your illness?” “You, the cause of my illness?” asked the rebbe in amazement. “Yes,” said the doctor. “There is no doubt in my mind that if I had not been on the boat with you, you would not have fallen ill. You, Rebbe, are a man upon whom the entire Jewish nation depends; surely, G‑d would not have allowed a life-threatening illness to befall you unless the instrument of your cure was on the ship with you.” I admit, this may be a bit of a reframing of how to view life. Perhaps like a chiropractic adjustment of sorts. However, if you try looking at life in this way you will be more empowered to step up to the plate when opportunities to be proactive come your way. You will realize that you don’t just ‘happen’ to be somewhere when help is needed. On the contrary, Hashem prepared your helping hand in advance by placing you in that location to be available to help. You should embrace your role and mission and run with it. Sometimes a guest comes to town here in Bangkok (in the olden days… and hopefully in the coming days it will start again) and we ask him to be the tenth man to the minyan. It may not be so convenient for them to come to the service, so sometimes the tourist will ask ‘what would you have done if I wasn’t here?’. There are two ways to answer that. Either, if you weren’t here there indeed wouldn’t be a minyan. Or, precisely because we need a tenth is the reason (or one of the reasons) that you are here. I have taught you the general perspective. Now go and have fun by putting on these glasses and seeing new vistas of responsibility, opportunity that are there in open view but you may not yet have fully engaged with them. Your life will become super meaningful and blessed. Shabbat Shalom rRabbi Yosef Kanto
|