This week's Miller's Musings is sponsored
חוה ברכה יעקב אהרן בן לרפואת
and is
לעילוי נשמת
לאה בת אברהם
|
BS'D
The threat of impending doom embodied in the form of Eisov,
would be enough to strike fear into the heart of any normal man. But
Yaakov was no normal man. He was a man of incredible levels of
righteousness and faith in Hashem. A man who must have surely had absolute
trust in his Creator. So where was there room for fear? And lest one
think that in fact the real matter he was fearful of was having used up all his
merit, careful examination of the words shows us that this was not the
case. He clearly specifies the source
for his dread by declaring "Save me...because I fear him"?
There are
certain characteristics that no matter who you are, are part of what makes you
a human being. Fear is one such attribute. No matter who you
are, no matter how courageous, there is always something that will make you
afraid. This is the nature of us all and there is nothing wrong
with experiencing this emotion, nor in reality is it a matter of choice.
What is a matter of choice however, says Reb Shimon Schwab zt'l, is how
we react to that fear. Whereas some may cower or run from the source, a
Tzaddik faces it head-on by putting their trust in Hashem and turning to Him
for help. Prayer and an abrogation of one’s natural inclination towards
anxiety, by focusing on the truth of it ultimately all being in Hashem’s hands,
is what is required. Once this has been
done, there is no more space for being afraid. It was not remiss of
Yaakov to be scared of Eisov. It was simply the catalyst to his putting
his total faith in Hashem, which, when done, meant all fear totally ceased to
be.
We are told
repeatedly that we must trust Hashem and if one does that we will never have
any worries or concerns. In terms of
what the ideal is, this is of course completely true. But the danger is that we may start to feel
guilty and remorseful every time that we do experience anxiety or trepidation
about something that has, or is going to happen. This is not all helpful and with what we have
said we should see that these feelings are natural, expected and no cause for self-reproach. This is how we are created and should elicit
no shame. What we are responsible for is
how we then react to it and this is where faith must come to the
forefront. When confronted by moments
that trigger distress, we must then put all our focus on prayer to Hashem and developing
our total belief in His absolute control over all that happens. Do not concern yourself with trying to combat
innate instincts, but rather work on what you can control, how you respond to
those moments that test us and turn swiftly and entirely to Hashem.
*May the power of Shabbos grant us deeper
faith in His total control*
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