The pasuk says (42:28) "... and they were afraid man to his brother saying 'why is Hashem doing to us?'" Targum Yonatan ben Uziel translates "... what is Hashem doing to us, it is not something that we are chiav for." The Rashbam says the brothers were asking "what is the middah keneged middah here?..."
Every day, twice a day we all say "Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokainu Hashem Echad." What are we saying when we say these words? In our saying of Shema we are testifying that Hashem controls the world. Every single event that happens in the world is perfectly orchestrated by Hashem, believing this is emunah peshuto (basic belief).
The brothers knew this very well, so the first thing that came to their minds when something bad happened to them was that Hashem had decreed this to happen. Therefore, they had to figure out which sin they did that caused them to have this event happen to them. This is what a person should do every time something happens to him. When a person has this basic belief he has everything. Once you have emunah everything else just happens.
We are told that in the time of Purim Haman wanted to destroy all of the Jews, but in the time of Chanukah the Greeks did not want to destroy us they wanted to get us to stop learning Torah and doing mitzvot. But knowing the information does not mean very much if we do not know the background story. By Purim the gemara is clear about the reason(s) why the story happened. Since the Jews went to the party of Achashvairosh and enjoyed the pleasures there, Hashem punished them that there physical bodies should be tested. In the story of Chanukah the Jews began to accept Greek Culture and leave Judaism. Since they did that Hashem tested the Jews with a test of the faith in Him. The ones who fought in the war against the Greeks were only the ones who were willing to give their lives up for Hashem.
Rav Brevda quoted the following story from the Siddur Harokaiach (I apologize for using the same story from last year but it is worth the chazara.) The Greeks came to attack the Jews with about 80,000 soldiers. Their opponents, twelve Kohanim with no weapons. All twelve kohanim stood side to side ready to die for Hashem. The Greek soldiers took out their bows and arrows and shot at the Kohanim. As the arrows fly through the air angels came and turned all of the arrows back at the shooters. The Kohanim did not do anything at all, yet all of the soldiers died in the battle.
The entire story with the Greeks was above nature. Every single action that happened was based on the merit of the Jews. Rav Brevda explains in Al Hanisim "Timai'im B'Yad Tahorim, V'Rishaim B'Yad Tzadikim, V'Zaidim B'Yad Oskai Toratecha" (The ritually impure by the hands of the pure, the evil ones by the hands of the righteous, and the wicked by the Ones Who Learn Torah) to mean that each Jew killed a Greek according to his level of faith. A normal Jew killed a normal Greek, a Jew who went against the Greeks and tried to keep the mitzvot killed the Greeks who tried to prevent the Jews from doing mitzvot, and the most religious of the Jews killed the Greeks who established the decrees.
This just shows us how much the event had to do with out faith. This is why everything was dependent on the emunah of the Jewish fighters.
From these events it is clear how Hashem plans every event to the smallest details. When we live on the level that we truly believe this whenever something happens to us the first thing we will think is "why is Hashem doing to us?"
Good Shabbat and Happy Chanukah!
No comments:
Post a Comment