This week’s Divrei Simcha is taken from two Divrei Torah from the book: Ta’la’le Oros.

The Mishna in Brachos states just as a person says a blessing on good tidings, so should he make a blessing on bad tidings. The commentators state this means just as a person says HaTov V’Ha’Mativ (Blessed is the One that does good) with much happiness over good tidings, so should he make the blessing Dayan HaEmes (Blessed is the True Judge) with excitement over bad tidings. The reason is because something that is good, may ultimately turn out to be something bad or something that is bad, may ultimately be something good.

In this week’s parsha, we have the sad episode of the two sons of Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, getting killed from Hashem for bringing a strange offering. The Torah points out Aharon’s response to this was he was silent. Rashi comments Aharon was rewarded for this silence in that he received the instruction of a law directly from Hashem. In Ta’la’le Oros, it is pointed out for Aharon to receive this law directly from Hashem, it required him to receive it through prophecy. A requirement to receive prophecy is the prophet needs to be in a state of joy when he receives the message. Therefore, it is concluded, Aharon, although saddened by what happened to his sons, still felt inner joy and trust in Hashem that everything was for the best. If he lacked this internal happiness, he would not have been able to receive the prophecy.

Aharon was on an extremely high level and to be able to reach such of level of remaining joyful inside even after a child passes away is impossible for us. Although this was Aharon’s test, there still is an important lesson we can learn from this exceedingly great behavior. Even though we are not Aharon, when the minor sufferings in life occur for us, how do we react to them? When our car won’t start in the morning, can we bless Hashem with joy? Or when our neighbors wake us up in the middle of the night because of a party they are throwing, can we realize it is all for the best? Although these things are very frustrating, if we take a step back and think about it, we will realize it really is not the worst thing in the world. And if we could go in a time machine and see what happens in the future, we will see this event is really for the best.

I recently heard a story on a tape from Rav Yisrael Reisman that I would like to share. There was once a king’s servant who always said “everything is for the best.” One day when the servant loaded the king’s rifle, he put the gun powder in the wrong way. When the king shot the rifle, the gun exploded and the king’s thumb was blown off. The servant said “everything was for the best,” but the king, full of anger, threw the servant into the dungeon. A few days later, the king went out to the woods to fire his rifle, but this time he needed to load it himself. Suddenly, he was surrounded by a group of cannibals. They took him to a huge pot of water boiling on a fire, which he was about to be thrown into. The chief cannibal told the others they needed to check this human to make sure he was whole without any wounds. Upon checking him, they found he was missing his thumb. They therefore, let him go as they did not want to eat a person missing a limb. The king went back to the dungeon and let the servant free saying, “you were correct; everything is for the best. The only bad thing was you needed to sit in the dungeon the past few days.” The servant then smiled and said, “No, that was also for the best. If I was not in the dungeon, I would have been with you and I have all of my limbs!”

Everything is ultimately for the best. Our job is to try to realize it even when we are going through the suffering.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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