Do you ever complain?
It is quite a normal thing. Life is not perfect. Far from perfect. Only when Mashiach comes will it be perfect. Till then…. We cannot control what goes on in the world, but we can control what we choose to focus on. Let us define the best possible life environment as Gan Eden (Garden of Eden - Paradice) and the worst possible surroundings as being a prisoner a Nazi concentration-death-camp. The Rebbe once shared this following observation with a person who was complaining about G-d, and that nothing good ever happened to her in life. Adam, in Gan Eden, when confronted by Hashem about eating the forbidden fruit blamed ‘the wife that you gave me’ for causing him to eat. Rather than being appreciative for the gift of companionship and love that Hashem had given him, Adam was ungrateful. Even in Gan Eden one can have complaints. On the totally opposite end of the spectrum, even in Nazi concentration camps people found reasons to be grateful to Hashem. There were Jews who recited the morning blessings of thankfulness for waking up etc even in those vilest and dire conditions. Even in the most excruciating circumstances one can find many spots of positivity. For the vast majority of people whose life is lived in the vast spectrum that exists between perfection and devastation, there are things that are joyous and G-d forbid there are also things that are challenging. The question is what will you try to emphasize in your life. The good or the not so good. What compounds the challenge of staying positive is that good and evil are sometimes happening at the same time. The Jewish people have gone through very very challenging times in recent times. I would like to highlight a day that was excruciatingly painful. Thursday February 20 – Shevat 22. During the day of Thursday, the bodies of the Bibas children, 4-year-old Ariel and nine month old Kfir, murdered by our evil enemies, were brought back to Israel for burial. On Friday the 21st in the evening their mother Shiri’s body was returned. Click here more articles relating to this heartbreaking tragedy that defies words. There was not a dry eye in the Jewish people that day. Every single humane person in the world could not remain apathetic to the sheer evil of the murderous groups who sanctified this barbaric murder. On the very same day, Thursday evening, a woman alerted a bus driver in Bat Yam (a suburb not far from Tel Aviv) that there was a suspicious package on her bus. The bus driver followed the police’s instructions. He drove to the depot and got off the bus. It was not a second too soon. The explosion ripped through the bus leaving nothing but a charred shell. Three other buses exploded in rapid succession at bus depots near Tel Aviv. Police searched all of the buses in the area and found another two unexploded bombs which they neutralized. The experts are saying that this was a mega-terror attack planned for 8:00 AM when the buses are packed. Instead, the bombs were mistakenly set for 8:00 PM when most of them were empty of people and parked for the night at the depot. From a planned mega-terror-attack designed to kill and maim countless victims, not one person was harmed. A miracle of epic proportions. On the very same day Am Yisrael concurrently experienced two radically different and diametrically opposite events. The most hideous barbarism in the Bibas side which plunged all of the Jewish people into a state of mourning. The most exalted miraculous gift from G-d in the averted mega attack. The best reason in the world for joyous celebration. One day. Two events. Deep sadness and grief. Uplifting joyousness. The story of life as a Jew. We mourn the tragedies and with resilience we celebrate the good things. When the month of Adar comes in, we increase in joy. We emphasize the happiness and the positivity. משנכנס אדר מרבים בשמחה Purim is the holiday of transformation. Agony turned to joy. Morning turned to celebration. Darkness turned to light. Haman wanted to exterminate our people. G-d made a miracle. Esther became queen of Persia. Mordechai her uncle saved King Achashverosh’s life. Haman perished. The Jewish people were given the right to self-defense. They fought and won. From a calamity that almost wiped out our people, was born the exact opposite. A holiday celebration that is celebrated with unbridled joy. Purim is the catalyst for the victory of good over evil. Of holiness over impurity. Of light over darkness. It is also a reminder to focus on the positive. To find the good things to be joyous about. Take a moment to fulfill the instruction of our Torah to increase in joy. Find the nice and good and happy things in our life and celebrate them. And most importantly, commit to fulfilling the mitzvahs of Purim. Click here. And may Hashem bring us to the complete transformation of all negativity into positivity with the coming of Mashiach NOW. Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Yosef Kantor
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