Rabbi Yaakov Rahimi, well-known speaker, shared an uplifting shiur on emunah on behalf of Chazaq and TorahAnytime on Monday, November 30.
Rabbi Rahimi began by stating, “There is no question about it. Right now this period of time we are living through is a test. It’s a challenging time. It demands of us to understand that Hashem runs the world. It demands of us to understand that Hashem knows what He is doing. Everything He does is good. Everything He does is for our benefit even if we don’t see it right away.”
Rabbi Shmuel Birnbaum taught an interesting idea about the midrash on why Yitzchak became blind. Rashi says that the angels’ tears during the Akeidah caused the blindness. It says in the midrash that the Heavens opened up and then the angels cried. Why do we need these seemingly extra words that the Heavens opened up? In Olam HaBa, it is a calm, peaceful place where everything is clear. For the angels to cry, they had to leave that place of calm and come to earth where they can cry. Sadness and depression only come into a world like this where we don’t see the whole picture. We don’t see the reason behind everything but everything has a reason. There is a reason for all the hardships. “Crying only applies in a world like this where everything is confusion.”
We have to understand that there is a bigger calculation. Hashem has a plan. Our challenge is to bring that clear picture that we know exists in Olam HaBa to our view in this world. “Specifically, when we are going through a hard time, this is when Hashem wants us to scream our emunah in Him.”
In T’hilim, we recite, “Tov l’hodos LaShem.” This means that a person should always praise Hashem. The t’hilah says: “Praise Hashem in the morning and then scream emunah by night.” Why is it talking about emunah at night? Night means darkness. It represents confusion. Hashem wants us to scream emunah when it’s dark – when life is dark. When we are going through hard times, that is specifically when we need to scream emunah. Right now, the whole world is going through a dark time. We don’t know what is going to happen. We have to say, “Hashem, You run the world. You know what You are doing. Our job is to serve You. We have emunah that there is a bigger plan.”
The Nesivos Shalom teaches that everything in life has stages or levels, and this is true for emunah, as well. It’s not all or nothing. “It’s a life job to go up to 100 percent emunah – to see Hashem in everything in life.”
Rabbi Rahimi stressed that it’s our job to keep searching for emunah and see how much we see Hashem in our lives. Wanting to see Hashem is emunah.
”Our job is to clear our vision to see yad Hashem in our personal life and in the whole world.”
Rabbi Rahimi shared that the way to develop emunah is to constantly say, “Hashem, I believe in you.” Say Hashem will help. By talking about Hashem and talking about emunah, it will increase our emunah. We have an opportunity right now during this hard time to scream, “Hashem, we believe in You. We know You have a plan.”
“Make sure you are a person who always has Hashem on the tip of your tongue.” We have to say, “Though I don’t see the good, I believe it’s for the good. Every detail of my life is You.” He noted that inside every Jew there is emunah.
Thank you, Rabbi Rahimi, for this beautiful shiur. It can be viewed on www.TorahAnytime.com.
