‘This world is full of tzaros, pain and suffering.’
So says R’ Nosson. Sounds tempting?
Even if your answer is no, there’s no way to escape it, and no way to deny it. Man was born to toil. People walk around resigned to their fate of making peace with reality, struggling to hold their heads above the water. Shoulders bent beneath the strain of making a living, perpetual worry lines creased in the forehead for lack of knowledge in how to reach the rebellious teenager, medical bills reaching sky-high. No doubt about it, everyone gets their fair share.
The person feels totally consumed by his troubles, seeing no way out. Every age and stage brings in its wake its accompanying toils; childhood with its pressures from school, marriage with its added responsibilities, motherhood with its millions of tasks to be juggled at once, and even golden retirement with its ails and doctor’s visits.
With all this, how on earth does Hashem expect us to serve Him? Plain survival takes up all our energy, who can think about theoretical beautiful topics like coming close to Hashem and doing His will? ‘Due to all the unbearable tzaros, suffering, and obstacles in this world, it is very difficult for a person to come close to Hashem. Even just davening to Hashem and telling Him about our pain, is also hard, because of the many troubles that block up the heart until a person cannot even open his mouth.’
So is all lost? Can we sink into the black hole of depression and despair? See, even R’ Nosson says it’s difficult; it must be really impossible!
Before you fall into the place of no return, hold on one second. Can it be that R’ Nosson throws us off the deep end without handing us a life raft? The Rebbe’s way is to strengthen, never to discourage. ‘The Great Doctor, who can heal complicated, spiritual illnesses completely’, the one who exclaimed, ‘and I heal her’ surely has a remedy for this too!
R’ Nosson, ‘who was attached to him with a true and real connection, with complete self-sacrifice and nullification, toiled to gather from his Torahs precious pearls and everlasting remedies, in order to merit eternal life through them’. Which medication can he prescribe us now, in our current, seemingly hopeless situation?
‘One needs to train oneself to thank and praise Hashem for all the good He did with him. Through this, he can be assured that now too, Hashem will not remove His kindness and goodness from him, and it will strengthen his heart to cry out and pray to Hashem that He should save him from all his troubles now too.’
‘Because when we don’t thank for the past, it’s very difficult to call out to Hashem, due to the heart turning to stone from the many tzaros. Especially now in the long galus, when every day brings bigger tzaros than before chas veshalom, the parnassa is so tight, the yetzer hora puts himself in the length and the breadth to stumble us, and the jealousy and hatred spreads… until we are prevented from serving Hashem like we want to, or to pour out our hearts before Him.’
‘Therefore, we should remind ourselves of the many favors and kindness that Hashem did with our parents and us from always until now… and mainly that we were zoiche to be Yidden who received the Torah, that He separated us from those who stray in the paths of the philosophers…’
‘And every person, if he’ll take a look at what he went through since he was born will see and understand the kindness of Hashem, His never-ending good and wonders, like we say three times in Shemone Esrei: ‘We thank You and relate Your praise for our lives… and for Your wonders and Your good which are at all times…’ and through this, we will be able to come close to Hashem and properly pour out our hearts before Him.
When else are we so busy thanking and praising Hashem like now, with ‘V’al hanissim’…
‘And all this is the aspect of Chanuka, because the nes of Chanuka was in the days of the Second Beis Hamikdash, when the evil Greek Kingdom stood over us to make us forget the Torah, and wanted to stop the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash, and Hashem Yisbarach in His great mercy stood at our side and did with us wondrous nissim through Matisyahu and his sons, until they were victorious over the Greeks and they restarted the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash with the great wonderful nes that the small amount of oil burnt for eight days…
…and therefore He gave us the eight days of Chanuka, making us a new Yom Tov, and drawing down a wonderful light in the world that through the holy days of Chanuka, we’ll always have the strength to thank and praise! Amidst all the tzaros we are subjected to in this long galus, we’ll be able to enliven ourselves through remembering His wonders until now, and we’ll constantly thank and praise Him. On the holy days of Chanuka, through the strong nissim and wonders that Hashem did with us in those days in this time, we draw down this way of thanking and praising Hashem.
And we are sure that like He helped us until now with all these nissim, so too, He will listen to our tefillos and cries, until He will redeem us with a complete redemption and will rebuild the Beis Hamikdash, because the main Geula and rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash will be through our tefillos and cries. And all that we still strengthen ourselves to daven and plead to Hashem is only through Chanuka, through thanking Hashem for the past… and through this, we’ll finally be zoiche to the complete Geula and to truly return to Hashem.’
