The Test of Life, Part 6: Gam Zeh Yaavor—Overcoming Life’s Challenges

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Now I'm going to teach you another lesson which I saw in the Chida. Something beautiful, beautiful. You know, Avraham Avinu, one of his nisyonot was he had to go fight the five kings. Who told him that there was a problem, that he had to go fight, and that Lot was taken and that he went to war? Not Og. HaPalit. Og, okay, vayavo hapalit. And what happened? It says in the pasuk, vayavo hapalit. And what did the palit do? It says in the pasuk, he spoke to Avram haIvri, right? Here, pasuk says like this: Vayavo hapalit. This week's parashah, vayavo hapalit. Vayaged l'Avram haIvri. First time he's called an Ivri, right here. Why is he called Ivri here? The Chida asks this for a question. So Chazal tell us Ivri means that the whole world was on one side, and he was what? On the other side. Ivri. Ask the Chida, but why here? Why are we being taught this here when he had to go fight what? Okay. So the Chida is busy with the word Ivri, and he gives different terutzim, and he says, V'li nirah, he says, I have a very big chidush. What does Ivri mean? Over. How did Avram take every challenge? Ivri, that it's over. Gam ze ya'avor. ... Chiddush. ... Vayavo, he came, layaged, l'Avram. What is Avram? HaIvri. What does he mean, the chiddah? Hakol over. But that's how he took everything. Oh, another guy takes, Oh no, not again. That's again. ... What do you want from me? What do you want? Yeah, yeah, yeah. If it's quiet, five minutes it's quiet, again. ... Vayavo hapalit, ... And then he brings a chiddush. Shamati, says the chiddah, I heard that Shlomo HaMelech had a ring, and on the ring it said, Gam ze ya'avor. Chiddah brings it down. Who here is dealing in diamonds? Everybody. Okay, that's a silly question in the Bucharian community. Okay. I also deal in diamonds. I deal in diamonds, and I deal in teaching diamonds. Okay. Could you tell me, you ever saw a necklace? Did you ever see a thing, Gam ze ya'avor? You should do it. It's called Shlomo HaMelech's jewelry. Do it. Do it. Open up a thing, a line of jewelry called Gam ze ya'avor. And it doesn't mean Gam ze ya'avor, someone's going to take it off your finger and steal it. That's not what it means. So what is gam ze ya'avor? Says the Chida that Shlomo HaMelech, in his wisdom, learned how to live, and that is, everything is gam ze ya'avor. It's gonna pass. It's gonna pass. And he explains how life is just piercing by us, and we all know the whole Mesilat Yesharim, prosdor. To me, it sounds very depressing. Imagine you tell a guy, Don't worry about all your problems. You'll die anyway. What's the big deal? Hakol over. You think it'll work? Could you imagine if I was a psychologist and I'd open up a practice, and any guy that comes to tell me about his problems, you know what I'd tell him? Al tid'ag, machar tamut, mach pat lecha. No? Hayiti matzliach kacha? Could you imagine if every guy that walks into my office and starts pouring out his heart to me, ואני אומר, אל תדאג, מחר תמות, מה אכפת לך? מה זה בסדר? I have news for you. Actually, it's an open medrash.

The Oruch L'Ner in Mesechet Sukkah, the last piece in the Oruch L'Ner, brings a Medrash Pliah. What's the Medrash Pliah? The Medrash Pliah is that Iyov was very, very pained by his yisurim, and he came to complain to Hashem, Borei Olam, I can't take it anymore. So what did Hashem do? He says, Come with me. Let me show you the sukkah in the backyard. What's the sukkah in the backyard? Sheva al sheva. Today the sukkah is beautiful. Today we live in a tekufah that the sukkah is even nicer than some of the rooms in the house, Baruch Hashem. Really, technically, what is a sukkah? A sukkah is sheva al sheva, seven by seven, the walls finished, shlosha v'tefach, three walls and a tefach, and it's good enough. And Hashem shows him this. Nitpayes Iyov. Iyov felt great afterwards. Ah, very good. So maybe he was thinking, Sukkos is coming, I'll simchas beis hashoeva. Well, great, maybe. Moshe! Matai yoshen? Ma koreh lecha? Mati sukkah? Yoshen ba'sukkah? What's the pshat? You hear the question? It's a great question. So the Oruch L'Ner says this pshat: Sukkah dira ara'ai. Sukkah, dirat arai. Hachaim z arai. Gam ze ya'avor. That was the lesson Hashem was telling him. I have a question for you. I have a question. This is the nisayon, גם זה יעבור. אל תדאג, עולם הזה זה הבל הבלים. קשה. קשה להבין את זה, קשה להבין את זה. רבותיי, you know what גם זה יעבור means? It's only there to test you. The minute that it's not שולט on you, you pass the test, and it's going to go away by itself. החיים זה לא מציאותי. המציאות זה התורה, ללמוד, להתפלל, לעבוד את הקדוש ברוך הוא. המפריעים, it's a mirage. You ever see what a mirage is? You think, Whoa, it's not there. It's not there בכלל. בכלל לא there. It's not really there. It's there to test you. The minute it's not שולט, אתה שולט על זה. The minute you say, אני לא נתפעל מזה, it doesn't affect me. I'm going to do, אני אלמד, אני אתפלל, הניסיון עובר. The nisyon is going to go away by itself. It's going to go away by itself. מרן החפץ חיים lost his child, Reb Leib. He loved Reb Leib. Reb Leib was the dayan of Radin. He passed away in the life of the Chofetz Chaim. The Chofetz Chaim, how did he respond to the death of his child? He got up in the beit knesset. And he gave a clap. He ka'al ha'amud, and אמר, יצר הרע, אתה חושב שאתה תשלוט עליי ותעכב אותי מלכתוב את המשנה ברורה? You think you're gonna stop me from writing the Mishnah Berurah? Ah, I win, you lose. I'm gonna write the Mishnah Berurah. He gained nothing. מה אתה חושב? You think you're gonna... No. I will write the Mishnah Berurah. And the Chafetz Chaim said, where did I learn this from? I learned this from a mother in the times of the Spanish Inquisition. That's what the Chafetz Chaim said, that there was a sipur of a mother who lost a child in the Spanish Inquisition, and she stood on top of the child that was bleeding and was dying, and he said, בורא עולם, עד עכשיו היה לי אהבה לקדוש ברוך הוא ולבן שלי. I had to share the love. I had to share it between Hashem and my child. עכשיו שהבן לא נמצא, כל האהבה שלי אליך, בורא עולם. אמר החפץ חיים, עם אמא, אמא רגילה, אמא פשוטה.

פשוטה. A simple Jewish mother could be so strong in her emunah to accept, and to be עובד הקדוש ברוך הוא בברירות, to not be lost, מיואש. שלטה על המצב, ולא המצב שלט עליה. אז קל וחומר אני, שאני בן תורה, קל וחומר אני, שאני לומד תורה ומלמד תורה, ומרביץ תורה, ומגדולי ישראל, יש לי את הכוח הזה. הקדוש ברוך הוא, אני אוהב אותך אהבה שלמה, המשנה ברורה ימשיך, ואני אכתוב את המשנה ברורה. This is what a Jew, every Jew has in himself, even לניסיונות קשים. But like I said, what are the stronger ניסיונות? The daily life ניסיונות are sometimes even harder. But we have the כוחות עמד בכולם, Avraham Avinu instilled in us, the ability to withstand life and the difficulties of life. אתה ידעתי כי ירא אלוקים אתה, that we can be יראי שמים regardless of what happens. And whatever it is, גם זה יעבור. It will go away. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.