PUBLISHED AND EDITED BY SHMUEL T. ADLER
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WRITTEN BY SHMUEL T. ADLER
In the previous article we explained the idea of the connection between Purim and Pesach. Purim is all about believing and realizing that Gd loves us and is with us and running every step of our lives, even b’hester panim, now when we don’t have the Beis Hamikdosh. The phenomenal miracles which Gd performed in Egypt which are commemorated with Pesach gives us the base and power with which we can use to tap into that belief and realization of Purim – that even nowadays Gd is so involved in our lives. Chazal command us every year to look at it as if we ourselves experienced the geula of mitzrayim, because in that way we can more easily inculcate the lessons of yetzias mitzrayim into our lives – even to this day.
To take this a step further, one may ask – but its still difficult to tap into what happened so many years ago and believe based on it that Gd nowadays will go so far to help us!? Such a long time has passed since then!?
The answer is that the lesson of mitzrayim symbolizes something to us – and that is that we aren’t expected to go all the way back to mitzrayim to give us strength nowadays in our day to day lives. Rather we all have “makos mitzrayim” moments ouselves even nowadays in our own personal lives. We all have moments in our lives that something clicks or something really works out well, possibly in an unexpected manner, and we see – Wow! Baruch Hashem!, Gd really helped out over there! These are our “nowaday pesachs” that we can much more easily tap into. We don’t have to go all the way back to hundreds of years ago. We can tap into our very own nowaday nissim which we can see much more clearly and easier either in our lives or in our friends and families lives – and we must tell ourselves that the same way Gd took care of us so clearly with whatever happened then – He can and will take care of us now when we may be experiencing another difficulty!
When my wife and I embarked on our journey with our son Yehoshua, the first few months were at times so unbearable and overwhelming – particularly every time the doctors told us their terrible heart-wrenching predictions about Yehoshua. Listening to a doctor tell you so arrogantly and confidently with no doubt in his mind that your son will not survive ch”v or other similar horrific predictions can be one of the most horrible, torturous things a parent can endure. But once things started unfolding we slowly saw how Gd got involved and these predictions which the doctors insisted on did not pattern out the way the doctors had told us. After this, though things were still very difficult, at the same time to a degree it became easier because instead of despairing when I heard a doctors negative prediction, I was able to tap into the other times that the doctors were wrong and I was able to convince myself that this time as well there is no reason why Gd won’t get involved and prove the doctors wrong!
B’chasdei Gd we were zoche to make an upsherin for yehoshua a few months ago (in the rehab hospital). I spoke for a short few minutes. I ended my short remarks with the following thought. I said, “We cannnot know what the future will bring for Yehoshua. There is no way we can predict now how far he will go. But we see from that the past 3 years that Yehoshua has a track record. Over the past 3 years, practically every single thing the doctors predicted negatively about Yehoshua – turned out to be wrong! So though, it’s true, we cannot know what the future will bring; yet still, based on Yehoshua’s 3 year track record, all the negative predictions which have been made about Yehoshua will prove to be untrue”. At this point I lost myself and I started yelling. All the pain and frustrations of the past three years came crashing down into my voice, and I screamed. “I AM TELLING YOU, THAT JUST LIKE THE PAST 3 YEARS YEHOSHUA HAS OVERCOME PRACTICALLY EVERY SINGLE NEGATIVE PREDICTION ALONG WITH ALL THE OBSTACLES WHICH HAVE BEEN THROWN HIS WAY, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON WHY IN THE FUTURE THERE WILL BE NOTHING IN THE WORLD WHICH WILL STOP YEHOSHUA THAT YEHOSHUA WILL NOT BE ABLE TO OVERCOME!!”
I would like to end off this article with the following.
Hashem, You know that we are only human. Humans forget. However the experience that You have provided us with our dear Yehoshua yells out loud and clear to us in a way that only one who is entirely deaf and blind would not see Your message in big block letters – Everything in is in Your hands!
Hashem, it may not be easy for me to always see this clearly, but I know inside of me – You’ve got this!
This is what Purim and Pesach are all about. Purim and Pesach are all about Gds track record which He has with us and the energy-block that we can tap into – today!, from our own personal nowaday lives! In our every day lives if we just look we can see clearly that even today Gd is with us, loving us and taking care of us all the time.
L’zchus Refua Sheleima Yehoshua Ben Nechama Aliza; L’iluy Nishmas Chaim Pinchos ben Yaakov Yitzchok
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